Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 515: Break Up

Jamal froze for a moment, then slowly turned to her.

“What are you talking about?”

Dawn shook her head. “Please don’t do that, Jamal. I know you’re upset. Let’s talk about it. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I know you spoke to the receptionist.”

Jamal shook his head but said nothing.

Instead, he looked away from her.

She was only apologising now because she had realised he knew she had spoken to the receptionist.

Dawn reached for his hand. “I’m sorry if I gave you reasons to doubt me…”

Jamal looked down at their joined hands before raising his eyes to hers.

“Let’s take a break.”

Dawn’s eyes widened.

For a moment, she simply stared at him as though she had misheard.

Then she slowly let go of his hand.

“What are you talking about?” she whispered.

Jamal sighed. “I’ve been thinking about it, Dawn. And I feel as though I forced my love on you. I didn’t even give you a chance to fall in love with me.”

“Jamal, what are you talking about?” Dawn cried, unable to understand where any of this was coming from.

“When we reconnected at Ryan’s and I found out that you—my childhood sweetheart—was the same person I had a one-night stand with, and we had a son together, I was over the moon. I thought fate had finally given me another chance.”

His voice cracked slightly. “I told you everything about how I had felt about you all those years. And I guess you naturally tried to love me back.”

Dawn shook her head violently, tears spilling down her cheeks. “That’s not true. You’re saying this because you’re mad.”

“I’m not mad at you, Dawn.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I’m hurt,” he admitted. “And yes, I don’t like any of this. But I’m not angry with you. I’m not saying this because I’m angry. I promise.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

“Because I finally realised that maybe I’ve been looking at everything from my own perspective.”

He swallowed.

“I knew exactly what I wanted from the moment I found out about you and Josh. I wanted you. I wanted our family. I wanted the life I had imagined with you for years. Maybe I held on to that too tightly. But did I ever stop to ask myself whether you wanted the same thing?”

Dawn stared at him through her tears. “Jamal…”

“I told you I loved you. I told you how long I’d waited for you. I told you everything I had been carrying inside me for years. But I didn’t give you room to figure out what you actually felt.”

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?”

“No!” Dawn cried. “I love you.”

“I don’t doubt that.”

She stared at him. “Then what is this?”

Jamal drew a shaky breath. “You may love me, Dawn. But it’s possible that you’re not in love with me. They’re both different things.”

Her face crumpled.

“We had a child without meaning to. We became a family. You knew how I felt about you. Maybe you convinced yourself that because I loved you so much, you were supposed to love me the same way.”

Dawn shook her head, crying harder. “That’s not what happened. I am in love with you. Jamal, please…”

“I love you with my life, Dawn. I’ve never looked twice at anyone else. Not once.” He wiped his eyes quickly. “But it was wrong of me to assume it would be the same for you.”

Dawn’s lips trembled. “You’re going to break up with me simply because I spent a few hours in the office of a random man chatting with him?”

“I was a random man when you approached me at the club too.” The words escaped before he could stop them.

Dawn flinched as though he had slapped her. “How can you even say that to me?”

“Because it’s the truth.”

“It’s not the same situation! What we had was different!”

“Maybe. But people in relationships don’t just spend hours with random men like that, Dawn.”

His voice broke.

“They don’t stand in front of a spa and let random men hold their hands and flirt with them while they laugh. They don’t give their numbers to random men. They don’t spend hours chatting with them and then lie to the person they claim to love about it.”

“I’m sorry—”

“So am I.” Jamal’s eyes filled with tears. “And I’m not saying that makes you a bad person. I’m saying maybe there was something there. Maybe you felt an attraction, even if it was only for a moment.”

Dawn shook her head desperately. “No.”

“And if you don’t feel that same attraction towards me anymore…”

He stopped. For a second, he couldn’t force the words out.

When he finally spoke, his voice was barely audible. “If you don’t feel the same spark or chemistry between us anymore, or if what we have is not enough for you, then it’s okay for you to move on if you feel it with someone else. I can’t hold your feelings against you. And I don’t expect you to be tied to me just because of whatever I feel for you. So, I think it’s best we take a break.”

Dawn’s tears flowed freely. “Jamal, I love you. I’m in love with you.”

He closed his eyes briefly. “But what if you aren’t?”

“I am!”

“Then choose me.”

Dawn stared at him.

Jamal’s voice softened. “I don’t want you to stay with me because of Josh. I don’t want you to stay because you feel grateful or guilty. I don’t want you to stay because you think I’m the only man who will love you this way.”

“I do.”

He shook his head. “Then why did you lie?”

Dawn opened her mouth. Nothing came out.

That silence hurt him more than any answer could have.

Jamal nodded slowly.

“That’s what I thought.”

“No.” Dawn grabbed his arm. “Please don’t do this. I made a mistake. I was stupid. I shouldn’t have lied to you. But I don’t want anyone else.”

“Then prove it to me. I want you to choose me because I’m the man you want. Choose me like I have chosen you.”

Dawn sobbed. “I choose you,” she said, taking out her phone and showing him Adam’s number as she blocked his number and then deleted it.

Jamal shook his head. “I’m sorry, that’s not enough for me, Dawn.”

Dawn’s expression crumpled. “What do you want me to do?”

“Unlike you, I had the liberty to date whoever I wanted to, but I didn’t because I didn’t want them. It wasn’t the same for you. So I want you to have that freedom to meet and date whoever you want…”

“How can you make such a decision by yourself? Don’t I mean anything to you anymore?”

“You mean everything to me.”

“Then don’t do this, Jamal. I don’t want to lose you.”

“You’re not losing me.”

“I am!”

“No.” He pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly as he fought his own tears. “I’m still here, Dawn. I’m not going anywhere. But I need to step back.”

“Then why does everything feel like it’s changing?”

Because it was.

Jamal kissed the top of her head.

She buried her face against his chest. “What about Josh?”

“Josh will be fine. I’m not walking away from you or from him. Nothing changes where Josh is concerned.”

Jamal tightened his arms around her before finally pulling away. “I have to.”

She stared at him through tear-filled eyes. “Jamal, please.”

Jamal reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek.

Dawn grabbed his hand and pressed it against her face. “Jamal, you’re all I have.”

He kissed her forehead. “I’m not. You have Josh, and you have the family and our friends. I won’t say anything to anyone else.”

Her heart sank.

“I’ll let you know before I come over to see Josh or when I want to take him over to our place.”

Our place.

The words cut deeper than everything else.

Their place.

The place where she had believed they were going to build their family together.

He stepped back. “I have to go to the office now. I have an important meeting.”

“Jamal… Please don’t go.”

He looked at her for one long moment.

“Let me know when Josh gets back from school.”

Then he turned away.

Dawn watched helplessly as he walked to his car. “Jamal!”

He didn’t turn around.

He got inside, started the engine, and drove away.

Only when he was out of the parking lot did Jamal finally allow himself to cry.

His vision blurred with tears as he drove, but he forced himself to keep his eyes on the road.

He glanced into the rearview mirror.

Dawn was still standing there.

He quickly looked away.

At least the parking lot was obscured from the school entrance. No one had seen them arguing.

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

He had no idea if he had just made the biggest mistake of his life.

But he couldn’t keep loving her for both of them. He wanted her to step up if she really loved him.