Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 385: Dinner With Family

Callan’s hair was damp. He wore a simple shirt and sweatpants with a towel hanging around his neck as he sat down to eat.

Neither of them said a word. They were both too preoccupied by their thoughts over what transpired earlier and by the phone calls they’d made and received.

For Callan, his thought was on what to do about Cindy, and for Emily, her thought was on her conversation with Stefan, and she wondered if she was being too hard on Callan.

It wasn’t like she was ignorant about his lifestyle before she agreed to be with him.

The room felt tight. They did not look at each other much as they both toyed with the food in front of them.

After dinner, Emily stood and began collecting plates.

"I’ll do the dishes and clean up," she said.

"Let’s do it together," he replied.

She didn’t say no. They cleaned up in silence.

When they were done, Callan cleared his throat. "It’s almost dawn. I think we should call it a night and get some sleep. We both have to go to work in a couple of hours."

She nodded. "Yeah."

They walked down the hall. When they got to her bedroom, Callan stopped at her door, wanting to say goodnight to her.

But she kept walking ahead to his room. She turned when she noticed he wasn’t with her and looked at him. "Why did you stop there?"

He hesitated. "I thought you’d want to spend the night in your bedroom."

She rolled her eyes and opened the door to his room and went inside.

Carl exhaled and then followed.

Inside his bedroom, he closed the door slowly. "Are you sure you still want to sleep here?" he asked carefully.

Dinner had been awkwardly silent, and he wasn’t sure he could deal with being with her in his bedroom all night in that same awkward silence.

She turned to him, and her heart ached when she saw the boyish confusion on his face. "I’m upset, but that doesn’t mean I want things to change between us. We agreed I’d spend the night with you," she said. "I want us to go forward, not backward, Cal."

His chest tightened.

"I love you, so I’ll find a way to make this work." She promised, stepping forward to embrace him.

His arms went around her, and he let out a deep sigh as he hugged her tightly. "Thank you, princess. I love you, too," he whispered.

They stood there in each other’s arms for a while until she giggled.

He pulled back. "What?"

She pointed downward. "Something is poking me."

He shut them in embarrassment and stepped back. "It’s nothing."

She tilted her head, her lips curving with amusement. "That didn’t feel like nothing."

He groaned softly. "Em, please."

She giggled and climbed onto the bed.

He scratched his head. "Are you sure sleeping on the same bed is a good idea?"

"Yes," she said simply. "Come here."

He threw the towel into the laundry basket and walked slowly to the bed, lying beside her.

She moved closer immediately and pressed her body against his, resting her head on his chest.

After a moment, she turned her back to him and pressed her backside against him.

He swallowed hard. "I’m not sure I’ll get any sleep at this rate," he muttered.

She laughed softly. "I will. Goodnight, Cal."

True to her words, within minutes, her breathing slowed.

Callan stared at the ceiling, unable to believe that she’d slept off so easily.

Unable to sleep, he lay awake, disturbed, and feeling very much in love with Emily.

********

After spending the rest of the day with Jamal at his office, they got into his car to drive to his parents’ house for dinner, since his grandparents were there with Josh.

As Jamal drove, Dawn leaned back in the passenger seat and scrolled through the comments on her post. After a while, she decided to check her podcast page when she received a congratulatory milestone pop-up from the podcast app.

She had been so focused on the social media apps and had not bothered to see what was happening there all day.

She gasped audibly when she saw the number of followers she now had.

Jamal glanced at her while driving. "What now?"

"You won’t believe it, Jam! My followers increased on my podcast page."

"How many now?"

"I have about twenty-eight thousand new followers on the podcast page alone."

He gave a low whistle. "That’s fast."

She scrolled through the new comments. "Listen to this comment. ’Dawn Hank is grace under fire.’ Another says, ’The way she speaks is so calm. I’m hooked already.’ Oh— this one says, ’So Jamal Jonas is the lucky man?’"

He laughed softly. "I guess I am."

She smiled as she looked at him. "They don’t know I am the lucky one," she paused, then added. "Now everyone knows you’re my boyfriend."

"I don’t have a problem with that," he said easily.

She raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

He glanced at her. "Of course. I just worry about putting myself out there physically. But I don’t mind them knowing you are mine."

She smiled at the possessiveness in his tone as she lowered her phone. "Yeah, they should all know you are mine. I got one of the most eligible bachelors."

He chuckled but kept his eyes on the road. "My mum tried so hard to protect me from the media when I was young. She almost didn’t marry my dad because of it," he said after a while.

Dawn turned to him. "Because he was a famous actor?"

"Yeah," Jamal said. "She didn’t want cameras around her or her son. She didn’t want the attention, especially because of her past." He paused at a traffic light and turned to Dawn, "She used to be a stripper."

"Oh," she said softly. He had told her about his mother’s reunion with his grandfather, but he had not mentioned that particular detail.

"Yeah. But it’s no longer a secret. I mean, she did an interview and talked about it on air. But she didn’t want her past to affect me in any way or for me to be bullied in school because of it. She didn’t even let me have my own social media account for years."

"I see," Dawn said slowly.

"I don’t want scrutiny," he added quietly. "I don’t want attention. I don’t want people digging into every part of my life. I want Josh to be protected too. I want him to be able to decide when he’s old enough whether or not he wants his business to be out there in public."

Dawn was silent for a moment as Jamal resumed driving. She looked down at her phone, then locked the screen and placed it on her lap.

"I understand," she said softly. "I’ll do my best to keep my career separate from my personal life."

He glanced at her quickly. "I hope you don’t feel bad about this."

She shook her head and smiled. "I’m okay. The life I have right now is more than I ever thought I could get," she said gently. "I love it. And I’ll do all I can to protect it and keep it this way."

His shoulders relaxed slightly. "I’m glad you understand," he said.

Soon, the car turned into a long, quiet road lined with tall trees.

Jamal smiled as he drove slowly. "I always love driving down this road," he said. "It brings back good memories."

Dawn looked ahead. The estate gates stood tall and white. "What kind of memories?"

Jamal grinned. "Jogging with my Dad down this road. Sometimes when we want to have some boy time, we take evening strolls and chat."

Dawn tilted her head. "You both didn’t seem very close the other day when he welcomed us at the airstrip."

He chuckled lightly. "That’s because the whole clan was there. It’s always loud and overwhelming. We are close. My Dad is a wonderful man," he added. "I love him a lot. Although he was mostly away because of work, but when he was around, we had the best boy times. Movies. Football. Late-night games and talks. He gave me my first alcohol. He said he wanted to before either Tom or Harry did," Jamal smiled faintly. "I never lacked a male presence though. I always had my grandfather, Tom, and Uncle Harry."

"That’s nice," she said softly. "I suppose you have a little of them all in you," she said, and he chuckled.

"Yeah. I do. My Dad taught me to take care of my stuff. He always said a man needed to be careful and security-conscious. He taught me how to be meticulous. From Tom and Harry, I learned mostly about business and how to treat a woman right. From my grandfather, I learned how to be a gentleman."

"Aww."

Jamal turned the wheel gently, and soon the car rolled to a stop in front of the house.