Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 517: I’m Tired

Dawn remained where he had left her until his car disappeared completely, then her knees nearly gave out.

She hurried into her own car and shut the door. The moment she was alone, she broke down.

She cried until her chest hurt.

She cried because Jamal thought she didn’t love him.

Because somehow, in trying to hide one stupid conversation, she had made him question everything between them.

Because he had looked at her with love in his eyes while telling her he was willing to let her go.

Eventually, she forced herself to wipe her face.

She couldn’t stay there forever.

She started the car and drove home.

When she arrived, she heard Lucy at the dining table having breakfast.

Normally, she would have stopped to greet her.

Today, she couldn’t.

She hurried upstairs, entered her bedroom, locked the door behind her, and collapsed onto the bed.

The sob that escaped her was loud and broken.

She buried her face in the pillow.

“Why did I lie?”

And for the first time, Dawn realised that one careless lie could cost her the man she loved most in the world.

She was still weeping when her phone rang. She quickly picked it up to see if it was Jamal calling to say he was sorry and he didn’t mean any of that.

But instead, it was Mari.

She ignored the call, unwilling to talk to anyone when she was feeling this way.

After the call ended, Mari called again twice, but Dawn didn’t take the call.

And then she received a message notification from Genevieve.

She looked at her screen but didn’t open it.

She didn’t feel like talking to anyone. She stayed in bed all day crying until it was time to go pick Josh from school.

She washed her face, put on mild makeup, and hid her sad eyes behind a pair of sunglasses before heading for the school.

She tried to be cheerful when she saw Josh. And she listened to his chatter as she drove home.

When they got to the house, she dialled Jamal’s line and handed Josh the phone, then walked away so she wouldn’t be forced to take the phone from Josh to beg Jamal to change his mind.

As she waited for Josh to bring back her phone, she wondered who she could talk to about the situation, and almost immediately Tom came to mind.

He was Jamal’s mentor and had agreed to be her relationship guide.

After Josh returned the phone, she made sure to take him in for his nap, and after he was sound asleep in his bed, she went to her bedroom and dialled Tom’s line.

It rang a couple of times before it connected.

“Hello, little Aunt,” Tom said in a teasing tone.

Dawn smiled hesitantly. “Are you busy? Or can you spare me some time?”

Hearing how serious she sounded, Tom, who had been having dinner with Harry, set down his cutlery.

“Sure. You can talk to me.”

“Jamal broke up with me,” Dawn said in a shaky voice.

Tom frowned. “What? When did that happen?”

Although he had heard from Lucy about what Dawn did, he had chosen not to say anything to either Dawn or Jamal unless they wanted to talk to him.

He had not expected it to get to the extent that Jamal would end things with Dawn.

“This morning,” Dawn said, tears rolling down her face. “After we dropped Josh off at school.”

Tom sighed. “What happened? What led to it?”

Dawn didn’t hesitate. She told Tom all about the spa incident, leaving nothing out. She told him what Jamal had said about the reason for the break-up as well.

“I don’t know what to do,” Dawn cried. “I don’t want to lose him. I really do love Jamal, and it has nothing to do with Josh or how he helped me reconnect with the family.”

Tom sighed.

He understood Jamal’s reasoning, but he also knew that a break-up wasn’t the best solution to whatever it was that Jamal was afraid of.

“What should I do?” Dawn asked when Tom remained silent.

“Do you want me to talk to you as Jamal’s mentor or should I talk to you as my family?” Tom asked after a moment.

Dawn hesitated as she thought about it. “Whichever will help me fix things with Jamal is okay with me.”

“Before we fix things, you need to first understand what you did. Although I believe that by now you already know why spending time with the spa manager was wrong. I will start by telling you the truth about your actions. Cheating isn’t only when you get physically intimate with someone else. The moment you spend time doing anything with the opposite sex that you won’t want your partner to find out, you’ve disrespected your partner and your relationship.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Dawn cried. “If I had known it would get to this point, I wouldn’t have even talked to him or gone to fix the phone’s screen in the first place.”

“I will talk to Jamal, but in the meantime, stop crying,” Tom said, and after consoling her some more, he hung up the call.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked the moment Tom joined him again at the table.

Tom shook his head. “Jamal broke up with Dawn.”

Harry looked at him like he had lost his mind. “Jamal broke up with Dawn? Is that even possible? I mean, I can understand Dawn breaking up with Jamal, but not the other way around.”

Tom sighed. “Well, he did.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

Tom explained the situation to him, and Harry shook his head.

“Well, I can’t blame him. I would likely feel the same way in his shoes. We know very well how Jamal stayed away from ladies all these years.”

Tom nodded. “True. But that doesn’t mean this is the right way to handle it. Especially when she’s insisting she doesn’t want a break-up. They can resolve it in a healthier way. This break doesn’t help either of them, and it definitely won’t help Josh.”

“You do know that Jamal would likely not listen to you, right? If he had any intention of listening to what anyone had to say, especially you, he would have told you about the situation and asked for your advice. He kept it from you because he doesn’t want you to know or be involved.”

Tom exhaled deeply. “He didn’t even say a word of it to Lucy despite the fact that she was at the spa.”

Harry’s brows drew together in concern. “He must be really upset if he’s keeping it to himself this way.”

“I’ll call him,” Tom said, picking up his phone.

He dialed Jamal’s line and the call connected just when he started thinking that Jamal wouldn’t accept the call.

“Hey! Is everything alright?” Jamal asked the moment the call connected.

“I should be asking you. I just got off the phone with Dawn. What’s going on?” Tom asked, going straight to the point.

Jamal was silent for a moment, then asked, “What did she say?”

“What she said is for me to know. I want to know what happened from you,” Tom said calmly.

“Nothing happened,” he murmured, not wanting to get into the details since he had no idea what Dawn had said and he didn’t want to embarrass her.

Tom raised a brow. “Nothing happened yet you broke up with her?”

Harry gave Tom and I-told-you-so look.

“We need a break. She needs to figure out what she wants, that’s all.”

“And what makes you think someone as brilliant as Dawn doesn’t know what she wants?”

Jamal walked over to his office window. “I have my reasons. If she believes she knows what she wants then she’d have to find a way to prove it to me. But until then, I think we should take some time apart. And please do not try to convince me otherwise, Tom. Both you and the gentlemen’s club have raised me to be a responsible man, so trust me when I say I know what I’m doing.”

Tom sighed. “Have you thought about what this would do to Josh? Do you have any idea how much he’s been looking forward to living with you and Dawn as a family?”

Jamal swallowed. “Hopefully the time will give her time to make up her mind to be with me and we can be happier together.”

Tom sighed. “What if in that time she decides she doesn’t want to be with you anymore?”

Jamal’s heart twisted. “Then it would prove I was right, and we can coparent. Hopefully, she will choose someone who would love and care for Josh too.”

“Jamal,” Tom called, feeling even more concerned.

Jamal sighed. “Would you have married Lucy if you had even an iota of doubt about how she felt about you?”

Tom hesitated. “Maybe. I love her enough for more than the both of us.”

“But you’re happier because you know she loves you as much as you love her,” Jamal pointed out.

“Who says she loves me as much as I love her? I love her more…” Tom trailed off when Harry shook his head with amusement.

“Focus,” Harry mouthed.

Tom cleared his throat. “Jamal, you shouldn’t measure love…”

“I’m not measuring love, Tom. I’m saying I want to be sure that Dawn is in love with me and wants me not just because she feels obligated to reciprocate my feelings or because we have Josh, or because of our family ties. So, please can we not treat this as family business as usual? This is about me wanting to be certain the woman I have loved all my life loves me back. What you think about her feelings for me or what she says isn’t enough for me…”

“What will be enough for you then?” Tom cut in.

Jamal thought about it for a moment, then sighed. “I don’t know. I have no idea. I’m exhausted, Tom. I feel so emotionally and mentally exhausted. I feel like I’ve given everyone all the love I can afford right now. I’m tired. I want to be left alone. I need a break from everything and everyone,” he confessed.

Tom sighed deeply. “Then take it.”

“Thank you,” Jamal said, then hung up.