Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 392: Mad

Dawn woke up very late the next morning. She had finally fallen asleep in the early hours of the morning after hours of tossing and turning, so when she opened her eyes, the sunlight in the room was already bright.

She blinked slowly as she pushed the duvet aside and sat up. The other side of the bed was empty, letting her know Josh was up and about.

She reached for her phone on the bedside table and checked the time.

10:18 a.m.

Her brows pulled together as her eyes moved to her phone’s screen again, and she checked Jamal’s name in her recent calls.

He hadn’t called. And there wasn’t a single message from him.

She had other message notifications. Her video was still trending. There were more comments and new followers. Her podcast page, too, had gained thousands of subscribers overnight.

Brenda and the other girls had sent lots of messages to the Soul Sisters group chat about Dawn and argued over whose repost had attracted more followers.

Dawn stared at the messages. A few days ago, she would have been laughing and responding to all their messages, but right now, she was tired and annoyed.

She locked the phone and set it down.

She did not doubt that Jamal was in the office by now. He had failed to call last night to let her know he was home, and this morning, there was no apology or good-morning text from him. It was obvious Jamal wanted a fight.

Her jaw tightened slightly. "Fine. If he can go about his day like nothing happened, so can I," she muttered quietly to herself as she slid out of bed and walked to the bathroom to freshen up.

A few minutes later, she returned dressed in comfortable morning clothes and headed downstairs to find Josh, leaving her phone behind.

The house was quiet as she had come to realise it always when the Bees weren’t home.

As she stepped into the large kitchen, one of the domestic staff looked up immediately.

"Good morning, Ms Dawn."

"Good morning," Dawn replied with a polite smile. She looked around instinctively. "Where is Josh?"

"He’s in the reading room with Amelia. She is teaching him to read," the woman said with a smile.

Dawn exhaled softly in relief. "I’m glad."

"And Tom and Lucy?" she asked.

"They left for work already after having breakfast with Mrs Hank."

Dawn nodded slowly. Of course, they had left for work. It was already past ten.

She walked over to the counter and poured herself a glass of water. Her head still felt heavy from the poor sleep.

Her chest tightened when her mind drifted again to Jamal. She pushed the thought away and headed for the reading room.

Josh was seated at a little reading table designed just for a kid his age, and beside him was the maid who was teaching him how to pronounce simple words.

When he saw his mother, his face lit up.

"Mommy!" He jumped up and ran to her. "You’re finally awake!"

Dawn laughed softly and bent to hug him. "Good morning, baby."

"You slept forever," he pointed out.

She smiled. "Says the young man who slept through the long drive home and didn’t bat an eye when I changed his clothes."

"I’m a baby," he corrected sweetly, and both Dawn and Amelia laughed.

Josh pulled back and looked at her carefully. "Are you sick, Mommy?"

"No."

"Then why did you sleep so long? And why are your eyes sad?" He asked, looking at her closely.

Dawn smiled. "I didn’t go to bed early. I was up for a long time, and now I feel tired."

Josh nodded seriously, like that explanation made perfect sense. "Okay."

She brushed his hair gently. "I was told you ate already."

"Yes," he said proudly. "Grandma Lucy made me pancakes."

"That sounds good."

"I saved some for you," he added, pointing to a covered bowl on the table.

"He insisted on keeping it with him," Amelia explained.

Dawn smiled. "Thank you, baby."

"You’re welcome," Josh said before returning his attention to his lesson with Amelia, while Dawn sat down beside him and ate quietly, even though it was tasteless in her mouth.

After a moment, Josh looked at her. "Where’s Daddy?"

The question caught her off guard. She paused. "He’s probably at work right now."

"Will he come today?"

Dawn’s heart ached. "I don’t know."

Josh frowned. "Can we call him to ask? I miss him."

Her chest tightened again. "He’s probably very busy. He will call us when he’s less busy."

Josh thought about that for a moment. Then he nodded. "Okay."

After eating silently for a while, Dawn rose. "I’ll be upstairs if you need me," she said, kissing his cheek before walking away.

Just as she walked into the bedroom, she heard her phone buzzing. Her heart jumped before she could stop herself, and she hurried over to pick it up.

Although her stomach tightened, she scowled when she saw it was Jamal.

Dawn’s heart raced as she stared at the screen, watching the phone buzz.

She wasn’t going to take his call. She wasn’t going to talk to him over the phone. If he wanted to talk to her, he should drive down and come talk to her as he was supposed to the night before.

She watched the call disconnect and then another call entered. Again, she ignored it.

After four calls, he sent a WhatsApp text. The message appeared on the screen.

Jamal >: Are you ignoring my calls?

Dawn exhaled slowly through her nose as she stared at the words. She did not respond, but she made sure to open and read it so he’d know she could see his message but was choosing not to respond in the same manner she had ignored his calls.

The phone buzzed again almost immediately as another message from Jamal entered:

Jamal >: Dawn. Can you please pick up the phone?

Dawn laughed softly, but there was no humour in the sound.

"Please?" Now he remembered manners.

For a moment, she almost answered, but the memory of the previous night came rushing back. The way he had spoken to her so stiffly and left without even a kiss.

Her throat tightened again.

She locked the phone and placed it on the nightstand. "No. I won’t give in easily," she whispered to herself. "If he wants to talk, he can come here."

"Mommy?"

She looked up to see Josh standing by the door, wearing a worried expression. "Yes?"

"You look mad."

She forced a small smile. "I’m not mad."

Josh studied her carefully. "You look mad. Your face looks this way," he said, pulling his brows together and wrinkling his nose.

She laughed softly. "I’m just thinking about something I find annoying."

"Daddy thought me a magic trick. He said when I’m sad or mad, I should close my eye and go to my happy place. I think about something that makes me happy. Want to try it?"

Dawn smiled genuinely this time. "I don’t need to close my eye. My happy place is right in front of me. You."

Josh laughed happily at that. "Me and Daddy. Since Daddy is not here, you can close your eye. He always makes your eye smile."

Dawn smiled wryly at that. Her happy place was the reason she was upset right now. Some happy place he was.

"I thought you were having lessons with Amelia? Why did you leave?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Because I want to play with you," he said easily as he climbed into her thigh.

"That’s good. Let’s play some games then," she said, placing her phone on flight mode and giving Josh her whole attention.