Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 468: Professional Mari

Forty minutes later, Dawn pulled into the parking garage of Mari’s office building and headed inside.

The building was sleek and modern. It had glass walls and steel accents. Professionals moved in and out, carrying laptops and folders.

The receptionist immediately recognised her. “Miss Dawn. It’s a pleasure meeting you in person. I’m an ardent fan and follower of your podcasts.”

Dawn smiled and looked at the ID card hanging from the lady’s neck. “Hi, Ms Addison, thank you for listening to me. It’s a pleasure meeting you too.”

The lady beamed at her. “Miss Alexander is expecting you,” she said, then told her how to get to Mari’s office.

A few minutes later, Dawn stepped out of the elevator and headed towards Mari’s office.

When she got there, she knocked lightly on the partially open door.

“Come in.”

Then paused when she stepped inside, and for a moment, she simply stared.

Mari looked completely different at work. She looked very professional.

She wore a tailored cream-coloured pant suit. The fitted blazer hugged her figure perfectly, and a silk blouse peeked out beneath the blazer.

Her hair was pulled back neatly, and her glasses sat perfectly on her nose bridge.

A tablet sat beside a desktop and laptop. Several files were spread across her desk.

And the woman currently speaking confidently into a headset looked nothing like the chaotic friend Dawn knew.

“Let’s move the meeting to Thursday afternoon. No, don’t cancel it. Just move it. Thank you.”

Mari ended the call.

Immediately, her eyes lifted and landed on Dawn, and a warm smile appeared on her face.

She pointed at one of the chairs in front of her desk. “Please give me two minutes.”

Dawn nodded and sat down quietly.

The smile vanished from Mari’s face the second she looked back at her monitor.

Dawn watched as Mari adjusted her glasses and clicked through several windows on her computer.

“Bring the incident report up on my screen,” she instructed someone through her headset.

A few seconds later, she frowned. “No. That’s not the latest version.” Her voice remained calm. “The timestamp is wrong. Open the one from fourteen minutes ago.”

Dawn blinked at how oddly specific the request was.

Mari continued. “Has the client been notified?”

She listened. “Good.”

Another pause. “No, don’t isolate the server yet.”

Dawn watched Mari’s fingers move across the keyboard. “First, verify whether the traffic is malicious or simply abnormal. If we shut everything down without confirmation, we create a bigger problem than the attack itself.”

She listened again, then nodded. “Exactly.”

A moment later, she added, “And tell Kyle if he tries to patch that vulnerability without backing everything up first, I will personally revoke his coffee privileges for a month.”

Laughter came through the headset.

Even Dawn laughed.

Mari didn’t.

She ended the call. Then immediately, she looked up, the professional expression vanished.

“DAWN!” She screeched like she hadn’t really seen her before.

Dawn burst out laughing.

There she was. Crazy Mari.

Mari rounded the desk and hugged her tightly. “You’re late.”

“I am not.”

“You absolutely are.”

Dawn laughed. Then she stepped back and looked Mari over again. “I’m impressed.”

Mari blinked. “Why?”

“You look and sounded so professional.”

Mari placed a hand over her chest dramatically. “Are you saying I don’t normally look professional?”

Dawn pressed her lips together and looked everywhere else but at Mari.

The look alone made Mari laugh. “Okay. Maybe I don’t.”

Dawn laughed too and shook her head. “I can’t believe this is what you’re like at work.”

Mari smiled. “I keep my personal and professional life separate.”

She pointed at herself. “Only my friends and family get crazy Mari. The people here know me as competent Miss Alexander. I don’t want them thinking I’m just a pretty face working there because her father owns the company.”

Dawn laughed. “Well, after what I’ve seen, I’m sure no one would dare to think that.”

Mari nodded seriously. “Even if they do think so, they better not voice it out else they’d be out of a job faster than they can say sorry.”

Dawn giggled. “Fair enough.”

Mari he grabbed her handbag from her desk.

As she did, Dawn asked, “Do you know if Emily and Callan are on their way already? She told me when we last spoke that they’d be leaving this morning but I’ve been unable to reach her.”

Mari nodded. “The last time we talked, they were heading for the airport.”

Dawn smiled. “Good. She needs to be there for her fitting tomorrow evening since her dress is being made in her absence.”

“They should be in Ludus in time for Genevieve’s surprise bridal shower. Emily will come directly to Callan’s house with Callan and join the shower.”

Dawn looked relieved. “Perfect. I told the dress shop we’d be there in the evening.”

Mari checked her watch. “Emily will probably be exhausted though. Considering she just got on the plane after her shift.”

Dawn grinned. “She will be fine. She’s with Callan. Nothing like being with the love of your life to release happy stress-relieving hormones. And after the fitting we can encourage Callan to give her a massage.”

Mari laughed. “I doubt Callan would.”

Then she slung her handbag over her shoulder. “Ready?”

Dawn nodded. “We are still going over to Callan’s after shopping for gifts, right? Did you let Callan’s mom know we are coming over?”

Mari immediately giggled. “She is the one who let me know we are coming over. She’s so excited about hosting the surprise bridal shower at her place.”

They needed to go over the plans for the bridal shower with Delilah since they were having it at her place for privacy and so Genevieve wouldn’t know what they were up to.

As they headed toward the door, Mari turned to Dawn. “You’re so good at this whole planning stuff, Dawn. I hope you’re going to be this involved in planning mine when the time comes.”

Dawn giggled. “Of course. I’m enjoying myself so much. By the way, we received Jax’s invitation to attend his exhibition.”

Mari grinned. “Yeah. He’s been working so hard. I can’t wait to see all he’s been spending all his time painting.”

Mari then narrowed her eyes. “You do remember we have a double-date dinner tonight, right?”

Dawn giggled. “Of course I remember.”

“Good. I can’t wait to unwind tonight and have dinner. The week is just starting but I’m exhausted already. Not in a bad way though.”

“I get you. I feel exactly the same way,” Dawn assured her.

The two women smiled at each other as they stepped out of the company together.