lia murphy
40
art curator / philanthropist
BIO.
Lia comes from old Southern money, raised within a family known for its ties to the arts and philanthropy. Though her roots remain important to her, Lia has always traveled often and built a life that feels broader than any one place.
As an art curator and philanthropist, Lia moves easily through galleries, museums, private collections, charity events, and cultural circles. She has always been drawn to beauty, meaning, and the softer human things that money can either protect or completely distort.
Lia met Oskar Ranstrom six years ago and fell for him quickly, despite the obvious differences between them. Where Oskar was restrained, disciplined, and difficult to reach, Lia saw the man beneath the control. His dry humor, the rare softness, the well-meaning grin that appeared when he forgot to guard himself.
They married a year after meeting, and a year later, their son Lukas was born. For a while, Lia believed they could build a life that made room for both Oskar’s duty and the warmth she wanted for their family. Their marriage ended last year, when Lukas was three. The divorce came around the time of Olaf Ranstrom’s death, as Oskar retreated further and further into work, grief, and the world of Zenith. Lia was not the one who initiated it.
Since the divorce, Lia has remained in New York so she and Oskar can co-parent Lukas as effectively as possible. Where she can, she avoids relying too heavily on nannies or au pairs, wanting Lukas to have a softer, more present upbringing than the one Oskar seems to understand. Lia often struggles to connect with Oskar on those differences. She wants warmth, emotional presence, and a home that feels lived in. Oskar, even when well-intentioned, often defaults to structure, duty, and distance.
Despite everything, Lia misses him deeply or at least, she misses the man she loved. She misses the version of Oskar who could be gentle, funny, and unexpectedly open when the rest of the world was not watching. Lia has since met Victor Ashford, and the two are now in a relationship. She knows the situation is complicated, and perhaps a little petty in ways she does not always want to examine, given Victor’s proximity to Zenith and Oskar’s world.
Still, Victor genuinely fits into her life well. He is warm, supportive, attentive, and able to make time in ways Oskar often could not. Lia is not blind to the comparison, but she also cannot deny the relief of being with someone who shows up without needing to be taught how.
Graceful, perceptive, emotionally intelligent, and quietly stubborn, Lia is not as fragile as people sometimes assume. She can be soft without being weak, forgiving without being foolish, and loving without forgetting what something cost her. She is trying to build a life beyond Oskar while still grieving the version of him she knows existed, even if he rarely knew how to keep that version alive.