Her voice grew softer, heavy with loss. “Malia promised she would keep in touch, and she did—through milestones, birthdays, your birth, Jaime’s birth… But there were no photographs. And then… it all stopped.”
Tears shimmered in Dahlia’s eyes as her voice cracked. “Seven years ago.”
Maya’s brows furrowed, voice small but urgent. “But… why? Why all the secrecy… all the moving, all the hiding?”
Her eyes searched Dahlia’s face, desperate for answers, for something that could make sense of the mystery surrounding her mother.
Dahlia sighed, brushing a stray tear from her cheek. “Your mother… she loved fiercely. But her family… they would never have accepted your father. They would have done everything to tear them apart. She chose to fight for the life she wanted, for the love she believed i
