Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 449: Two Kids

Emily sat comfortably in the passenger seat, sipping from the coffee Callan had bought for her on the way as he drove her to the hospital.

The car was silent for a moment, save for the soft music playing in the background from the stereo.

Callan glanced at her briefly before returning his attention to the road.

"Can I ask you something?"

Emily smiled. "You just did."

He rolled his eyes. "Smart mouth."

She grinned. "What do you want to ask?"

Callan tapped lightly against the steering wheel. "When exactly do you plan on telling your colleagues that we’re together?"

Emily studied his face and noticed that he looked completely serious.

"Why are you suddenly asking that?"

He shrugged. "I figured it would solve a lot of problems."

She frowned. "What problems?"

Callan shot her a look. "Do I really need to remind you of what happened yesterday?"

Emily immediately remembered the incident with Dr Loma and Dan.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh."

A smile tugged at her lips. "Well, you could have told Dr Loma that you’re in a relationship."

"I could have, but I didn’t want to," Callan admitted.

Emily frowned. "Why not?"

"Two reasons. One, because that would imply that I was turning her down only because I was in a relationship. I wanted to make it clear I had no interest in her, whether or not I was single."

Emily laughed so hard she almost spilled her coffee. "For real?"

"Yeah. Secondly, if I wanted to tell her I was in a relationship, I wanted to state exactly with whom I was in a relationship. And knowing how you’re still hiding that from your colleagues, I couldn’t do so. Unless you did. I highly doubt she would have boldly asked me out right in front of you if she knew I was your boyfriend."

Emily giggled. "Probably not. But then again, I wouldn’t put that past her, considering how boldly she claimed to be me."

"True. And I also think letting them know we are in a relationship would keep the other guy away. Hopefully, he won’t be inviting you to any more parties."

Emily laughed harder. "You really don’t like him, do you?"

"I absolutely don’t," Callan said, making her laugh.

"So?" He asked seriously.

She smiled. "I’ll tell them today."

Callan looked satisfied. "Good."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "Look at you being all possessive."

Callan smirked and turned to her when they stopped at a red light.

"I’m almost tempted to announce our relationship on a billboard. Emily Williams is mine! Men, stay away! Signed, Callan Quinn."

Emily giggled. "You should as well ask my male colleagues and patients to stay away."

"You think they’re not included?" Callan retorted. "Especially the colleagues. And most especially Dan!"

Emily stared at him.

Callan stared back.

Then they both laughed.

"Be honest, what do you have against Dan? Do you not like him simply because he escorted me to dinner?" Emily asked.

"Because he is suspicious," Callan said as he resumed driving again.

Emily rolled her eyes. "He’s not suspicious."

"He is."

"He’s not."

"He is," Callan said, then hesitantly added. "Since we are on the subject, there’s something you should know."

Hearing his hesitant tone, Emily raised an eyebrow. "What have you done this time?"

"Why do you sound like I’m always doing something?" Callan asked, and she laughed.

"You sound like you’d rather not tell me whatever it is you want to say. From my experience with you, it means you’ve probably done something I wouldn’t like."

Callan smiled slightly. "Well, I did a little digging around Dan."

Her eyes widened. "You did what? He only invited me to a party, Cal! I already told him no. Why invade his privacy that way?"

Callan snorted. "Privacy indeed. For starters, I didn’t do the digging yesterday. I did it long ago."

Emily frowned. "How long ago?"

Callan shrugged. "The day you said he was escorting you to the dinner party."

Emily gasped. "For real?"

Callan looked completely unapologetic. "For real."

Emily stared at him in disbelief. "Callan Quinn!"

"Emily Williams!" He called back.

"I can’t believe you investigated my colleague because he escorted me to a dinner."

Callan shrugged. "In my defence, I was trying very hard to be a mature guardian."

Emily laughed. "That was you being mature?"

"Very mature."

She shook her head. "I don’t even want to know what immaturity looks like on you."

Callan grinned. "Trust me. Neither do I. But that’s not the point."

Emily narrowed her eyes. "Then what is the point?"

Callan drummed his fingers lightly against the steering wheel. "The point is that I found out some things."

Emily sighed dramatically. "Here we go."

"I’m serious."

"So am I."

Callan glanced at her, then he sighed. "Look, I wasn’t trying to invade his privacy."

"You literally investigated him."

"I was making sure he was safe. I wasn’t letting you go just so you’d end up with a worse jerk than I was. That was me looking out for the love of my life."

Emily raised a brow. "I’m assuming you found unflattering things. But so we are clear, I want to know what you’d have done had the search come up clean and he was the perfect gentleman."

Callan opened his mouth, then closed it again. He was silent for a moment, then he muttered. "Let’s not dwell on that."

"Fine. What did you find?"

Callan’s expression became serious. "He has two kids."

Emily blinked. "What?"

"You heard me."

Her brows rose. "That doesn’t make sense. He’s not even married. At least that’s what we know."

"You know very well that one doesn’t need to be married to have kids," Callan pointed out.

Emily frowned slightly, but she nodded. "True. And there’s nothing wrong with having kids."

"Yeah."

"If you agree, why are you making that face?" Emily asked.

Callan sighed. "Because the kids have different mothers. And both ladies are not aware of the other’s existence. And he’s not very involved in their lives."

Emily sat up slightly. "Oh."

For a moment, neither of them spoke as the information settled between them.

Emily stared out the window for a moment, then she looked back at him.

"That’s... interesting."

Callan snorted. "Interesting is one way to describe it."

Emily sighed. "Did you find anything else?"

Callan hesitated again.

That immediately made her suspicious. "What?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "He seems to have a thing for women from wealthy backgrounds. He’s had a couple of affairs with wealthy married ladies."

The car stopped at a traffic light. Callan turned slightly toward her.

"Look, I’m not saying he’s a bad person. But what I’m saying is that he doesn’t exactly have a history that inspires trust. So, I’d be careful if I were you."

Emily stared at him, then she laughed.

Callan frowned. "What’s funny?"

"What do you mean you’re not saying he’s bad? What good thing have you said thus far?"

Thinking that she was insinuating that he was deliberately trying to make Dan look like a bad person, Callan felt offended.

"I’m not deliberately trying to paint him as the bad guy. I’m only trying to protect you. You can check the file on my phone and see for yourself. I’m not lying to you."

"Relax, Cal. I’m not doubting you. I’m just saying from everything you discovered, he’s a bad person. So it was pointless giving me the line about not saying he’s a bad person."

Callan chuckled then, "I guess you have a point."

They were silent for a moment, then she reached across the centre console and squeezed his hand.

"Thank you."

Callan blinked. "For what?"

"For caring enough to investigate him," she said softly. " "I’ll avoid him," Emily said, grateful that she’d not followed Dan back to his place on the night of the dinner party as Dan had tried to convince her to do.

Something warm settled inside Callan’s chest. He turned his hand over and intertwined their fingers. "I’ll appreciate it if you do."

"And I’m sorry about last night. Now I understand better why you reacted so strongly," she added thoughtfully.

"That’s behind us now," he said softly.

Emily quickly finished the rest of her coffee as they approached the hospital.

"We are here," Callan said as he stopped the car in front of the hospital.

"Thanks for the ride," Emily said as she leaned over and kissed him.

Callan kissed her back softly. "Have a lovely day," he told her when they finally broke the kiss.

"You too," Emily said as she opened the door. "I’ll see you later. Love you."

"Love you too. And don’t forget to announce to everyone that you are mine."

Emily giggled as she got out of the car. "Will do."

Callan chuckled as he watched her go into the hospital before driving away.

The moment Emily entered the building, she threw the empty coffee cup into the trash can and then she went looking for Dr Loma.