Read Chapter 15: — A DAUGHTER WHO WASN’T

Maya brought up family history weeks later.

They were inspecting rebar cages when she said, “Dad has a biological son.”

Daniel nearly dropped his marker.

“What?”

She shrugged. “I’m adopted.”

Daniel stared.

Maya explained that her biological parents had been engineers working with Graham decades earlier. Both died in a site accident when she was a toddler. Graham took responsibility for her and later adopted her.

“He was married before,” she said. “There was a child. Something went wrong. His wife left and took the boy. Dad never talks about it.”

“How old would the son be?”

Maya looked directly at him.

“About your age.”

Daniel felt the city noise recede.

“No.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You are saying a lot with your face.”

“I’ve watched you two for months.”

“That is not evidence.”

“No.”

Daniel became angry because the alternative was fear.

“My father is dead.”

Maya’s expression changed.

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s what I was told.”

The sentence came out before Daniel realised what it meant.

That night he searched old family photographs Maggie had scanned years earlier. Most showed him with his mother, aunt and grandparents.

One image sat at the back of a digital folder. Maggie in her twenties beside a railway construction camp. A broad-shouldered young man stood half-turned away from the camera.

His face was blurred.

The posture was unmistakable.

Daniel closed the laptop.

For the first time in his life, he was afraid to call his mother.