Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 516: Responsibility

As Callan drove back home after leaving Jamal’s place, he dialed Emily’s line.

It rang for a while before the call connected. “Hey,” she said, her voice thick with sleep.

“Did I wake you?” Callan asked apologetically.

“Yeah. But it’s fine. I can just go back to sleep after we are done. Did you get any sleep?” Emily asked with a yawn.

“Yeah. I was wondering… did you talk to Mari last night? About the issue with Jamal and Dawn?” Callan asked, hoping she was yet to say anything to Mari.

Emily stretched on the bed, “No. Not yet. She was busy with Jax, so we couldn’t talk much. Why?”

Callan let out a relieved sigh. “Please don’t say a word of it to her.”

“Why not?”

“Jamal doesn’t want everyone involved in their business. Although I told him I already told you about it. Let’s leave it between us.”

“Mari isn’t everyone,” Emily protested.

“We all are everyone. What is going on between them is private. He wants it to remain between them. And Jamal doesn’t want either of you to treat Dawn differently because of his personal business with her.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “I won’t be friends with Dawn if she treats what she has with Jamal so disrespectfully. If she can’t be loyal to Jamal, who has loved her for years, how can she be loyal to our friendship?”

Callan hesitated before responding. “Babe, I think you’re going too far. Jamal is your friend, and he has said he doesn’t want you to be cold to Dawn. Can’t you set aside your feelings and respect his wishes?”

“Whatever,” Emily muttered.

“Do not say anything to Mari about the spa incident. Promise me you won’t,” Callan urged her.

She sighed. “But I already told her I wanted to tell her about them. What am I supposed to tell her when she calls?”

Callan shrugged. “Come up with something else or tell her to forget about it.”

Emily scowled, not liking the idea. “Mari won’t fall for any that, but I’ll try not to tell her what’s going on. How is Jamal feeling today?”

Callan sighed. “Not too good. He said he will handle his business himself, and I should not worry about him. He’s left for the office.”

“Hm. So you’re going to let him be?”

“Yeah. Let’s let them handle it. After all, we are also handling ours ourselves. If they want us to get involved, we will. If not, let’s stay out of it,” Callan said, and Emily nodded.

“True. Alright.”

“So, are you up for our date today?” Callan asked, changing the subject.

“We should probably have a sleeping date. What do you think?”

Callan chuckled. “What’s that?”

“I’ll come over, and we can just cuddle up and sleep. I feel like I need to sleep for a hundred hours.”

Callan smiled. “We can have the sleeping date during our flight back to Husla. For now, let’s go on a physical date; else, we will never get to it.”

Emily smiled. “Yeah. True. You can come get me when you’re ready.”

“Alright,” Callan said, then hesitated, “You’ll be good to Dawn, right?”

Emily sighed. “Of course. Knowing those two, they are going to make up, and then I’ll be the bitch Dawn doesn’t want near her husband because I was mean to her during their fight. I don’t want that.”

Callan chuckled. “Good. They’re definitely going to resolve their mess, so let’s not get involved.”

“Shit! Mari is calling,” Emily groaned when she received an incoming call notification.

“Don’t forget you’re not to tell her about the spa incident,” Callan warned.

“Sure. I won’t,” Emily promised. “Love you. See you later,” she said before hanging up.

She received Mari’s call. “Hey! Done with your fiancé?”

Mari giggled. “Not nearly. He’s making an important call in the study, decided to call you quickly before he gets back. What’s the deal with Jamal’s text? I tried calling him but he didn’t respond.”

“What text?” Emily asked as she quickly pulled her phone back to look at the screen.

Mari raised a brow as she read from her screen, “All of this is between Dawn and me. Please do not get involved and do not say a word to Dawn about it. Am I the only one who received the text?”

Emily groaned inwardly when she saw the text as Mari read it.

She guessed he assumed already that she told Mari about it after hearing from Callan.

Before she could respond, Mari spoke again, “I’m guessing he sent it to you too. Is it about what you wanted to tell me last night? What’s up with them?”

Emily hesitated.

If Jamal thought Mari was aware already, what was the point of keeping it from Mari? Surely Callan would understand that.

“Em?” Mari called when Emily still didn’t say anything.

“I’m not supposed to tell you about this, so…”

Mari frowned. “Why are you not supposed to tell me about it?”

“Because Jamal doesn’t want us to get involved. I guess Callan told me before Jamal asked him not to tell either of us, and then when Callan told him he’d told me I guess he assumed I’d told you. So, still act like you don’t know about it, okay?”

“Hm. Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like whatever you’re about to say?” Mari asked with a frown.

“Because you won’t like it,” Emily said flatly.

“Hm. Go on.”

Emily went on to tell Mari all that she had heard from Callan about what happened at the spa.

When she finished, Mari remained surprisingly quiet.

“Mari? Are you there?”

“Yes,” Mari said with a sigh. “I’m just trying to understand the situation. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Yeah. I know, right? What was Dawn thinking?”

“She may have thought it was harmless,” Mari said quietly. “I mean, I’m the type that could do something like that. I’m just wondering why such a simple issue got so complicated? Why she had to lie? Why Jamal is also pretending not to know. I mean, shouldn’t it be something they talk about? They could argue and fight over it if need be. I don’t think Dawn really meant any harm. You saw the way she looked last night when Jamal was leaving. That’s not the look on the face of a person who was thinking of cheating. She loves Jamal. I know that for a fact. I’ve spent time with Dawn, Em. She totally adores Jamal.”

“Well, Jamal doesn’t feel that way right now. He is feeling very hurt and I totally understand him,” Emily murmured.

Mari sighed. “I understand him, too. But avoiding the issue is not the best. How about we talk to Dawn?”

“Mari, you saw Jamal’s text. He doesn’t want us to do that,” Emily reminded her.

“Then let’s talk some sense into Jamal and get him to talk to her. We can’t just stay still and allow their beautiful relationship to get messed up because they don’t want to communicate like adults.”

“Mari, I don’t know about that. Callan and I have agreed to let them handle their issues themselves. I think it’s best we stay out of it. We can keep being good friends to them and help if they need our help. But let’s let them fix it themselves. We weren’t there when they started after all.”

Mari didn’t agree with that idea.

They were all her friends and the last thing she wanted was to stand aside and watch anyone’s heart ache over an unnecessary misunderstanding.

Both Emily and Callan were returning to Husla tomorrow anyway, so there was nothing much they could do about the situation.

The responsibility was on her to make sure Jamal and Dawn fixed their mess, and she intended to take that responsibility seriously.