Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 151: Middlewoman

As Jamal and Abigail returned to the office after the meeting, they both had wide smiles on their faces.

”You really impressed them. They were a bit disappointed when you said you couldn’t join them for the team dinner,” Jamal said, and Abigail smiled as she signed.

[It’s Josh’s first day at school. I want to spend my evening with him. I want to know how school was.]

Jamal nodded. He heard the rest of the things she didn’t say. She probably wanted to ask Josh questions and find out more about what he knew.

”I understand. I’ll join them though. I can learn a thing or two them,” Jamal said, and then smiled when he remembered he was yet to tell he had read the letter she wrote.

”By the way I enjoyed reading your letter,” he said in a quieter voice meant for her ears alone, and Abigail smiled.

”Thanks for choosing to trust me. I’ll explain things better to you when we have the chance to talk more freely,” he promised, and she nodded.

Just as they were about to enter their office, a delivery person arrived, and Jamal smiled. ”I think your lunch has arrived.”

Jamal went to his desk as Abigail received the package from the delivery man, and just as she was about to go to her office, Genevieve who was leaving for lunch, saw her.

”You received a package?” Genevieve asked, looking at her hand and wondering who sent it.

Genevieve paused for a moment and looked from Abigail to Jamal, who was pretending to be engrossed in his phone, and then she looked back at Abigail again. ”I was about to leave for lunch and was going to ask you both to join me but I see your lunch has been taken care of. Let’s have a word in your office.”

Abigail nodded, wondering what Genevieve wanted to talk about.

As they stepped into the office and shut the door behind them, Abigail set the package on her desk and faced Genevieve.

Although Genevieve seemed to have changed a lot lately, but Abigail half expected Genevieve to take the package from her and throw it away as she would have done in the past. That was just how bitter Genevieve had been.

”Do you know who sent the package?” Genevieve asked as she moved closer to the desk and picked up the card.

She turned it over and saw it signed by secret Admirer.

Abigail frowned, wondering why she was asking and what she wanted to do with the information.

”I’m asking because...”

Abigail raised a hand to stop her before she could speak further.

Genevieve’s brow pulled together as she wondered why Abigail cut her off, and she watched as Abigail picked up a pen and scribbled on a stick it note on her desk.

”Why are you writing on a note instead of using your phone?”

Abigail handed the first note to Genevieve. [What if there’s a camera or a bug in here?]

While Genevieve read it, Abigail scribbled again on another note. [Dad changed my phone. He took the old one and got me a new one. He might be monitoring my phone.]

Genevieve shook her head after reading both notes. ”He wouldn’t do that. He prefers to use people as his eyes, not cameras or bugs. He wouldn’t waste his time sitting at a spot watching videos and listening to recordings.

When Abigail looked unconvinced, Genevieve sighed. ”Alright. Come with me.”

Together they walked out of the office, and Genevieve led her to the empty rest room, then unlocked her phone and handed it to Abigail to use it to type instead.

”We can talk here. I’m sure there are no cameras or bugs here. I was asking about the sender of the package because if the delivery man told the receptionist at the first floor who he was delivering the package to, it’s very possible they would report back to Dad, and then he’d want to look into it,” Genevieve explained.

Abigail clicked on the phone to type on it, and she was surprised to see that Genevieve had opened a text to speech app on her phone.

Genevieve had the text to speech app on her phone? When did she download it? Abigail wondered as she typed on the phone.

For a moment she contemplated lying to Genevieve, but she decided that if Jamal trusted Genevieve, then maybe she could trust Jamal’s trust in Genevieve and give her the benefit of the doubt.

[My boyfriend sent it to me.]

Abigail watched as Genevieve’s lips twitched slightly. ”I figured. Is it Josh’s father?”

Abigail hesitated for a moment. Jamal had said he had anonymously made the order so it wouldn’t be traced back to him. Knowing he was safe and Ryan would connect it to him, she reluctantly nodded.

”That’s wonderful and good to know. I didn’t know you were still in touch with him,” Genevieve said, sort of glad that Abigail was opening up to her.

[I reconnected with him recently.]

”I see. Well, if Dad asks me about the package you received, I’m going to say I sent it to you anonymously. That way he won’t bother to look into it too much,” Genevieve said, and Abigail looked at her, surprised by the kind gesture.

[Why would you do that for me? Earlier I asked you why you’re acting this way. I don’t understand why and it’s making me uncomfortable.] Abigail typed on the phone.

Genevieve hesitated slightly, ”We may not be related by blood, but we’ve lived together long enough to be sisters. I know I’ve not been a good sister to you. I’m not going to ask you to forgive me for all I did to you in the past, Abigail. I don’t expect you to forgive me. I don’t think I can forgive myself for being that cruel either. But I’d like to slowly correct my mistakes if you give me the chance. I can’t answer your questions. And there’s a lot I’ve done that I can’t undo. At least not right now. But I’ll try to do what I can for you and protect you how best I can if you let me. So, this is not me trying to apologize by being nice to you. It’s just me trying to be a better person and treat you with the respect you deserve. I’m trying to be a good sister to you twenty years too late.”

Abigail blinked as tears gathered in her eyes, and she turned away from Genevieve.

Abigail didn’t know how to feel about what Genevieve had said. Genevieve wasn’t apologizing because she didn’t think she deserved forgiveness, Well, at least they agreed on that. So, why did Genevieve’s response make her feel sad? Abigail wondered.

What happened to Genevieve to make her change so much? And what did she mean by slowly correcting her mistakes and not being able to undo all she had done yet?

Abigail had sensed the change in Genevieve from the moment she returned, but now that she thought about it, it occurred to her that even when she was in Westend, Genevieve had been less hostile towards her, but she attributed the changes to distance, thinking that Genevieve wasn’t being her mean self because they were not in the same space.

Now she knew it had nothing to do with distance. For some reason, Genevieve was no longer on her father’s side, and she wondered what could have happened.

As they both stood there in silence, Genevieve’s phone rang in Abigail’s hand, and they both looked down at it when they saw it was from Ryan.

”I’m sure he’s heard of your package,” Genevieve said as she took the phone from Abigail.

”I’m leaving for lunch. If you need my help in anyway, you can let me know. Even if you need me to help you secretly meet your boyfriend and you can have him send you stuff to my office instead of yours,” Genevieve offered before walking away.

She believed the least she could do after stealing Jamal, was make sure Abigail was happy with her boyfriend, whoever he was.

As she walked away, she received her father’s call. ”Abigail received a package a moment ago. Go to her office and find out...”

”It was from me. I sent it anonymously,” Genevieve said before he could finish.

Ryan narrowed his eyes. ”From you? Why would you send her a lunch package with snacks, flowers and gifts?” Ryan asked since he had asked the receptionist to check the package before letting the delivery man in, and he had been told what was in the package.

”If Jamal doesn’t marry me, and you hand over the company to her and her son, she will become my boss and I will have nothing left. I have to make up for all the mean things I did to her in the past,” Genevieve said easily.

”But you said you sent it anonymously. She doesn’t know it’s from you,” Ryan pointed out. He suspected she was trying to cover up for Abigail.

”Yet. She won’t know yet, but she will know eventually. Do you think she will accept anything from me so easily? I said it’s from a secret admirer. I’ll tell her the truth eventually,” Genevieve said, and Ryan sighed.

”Can I really trust your words? Are you sure you’re not covering up for her?”

”Did you really think your genius Abigail would be stupid enough to receive a package here at the office when she knows you’d find out about it?” Genevieve asked, amused.

”I’m not sure what you’re up to, but I hope you haven’t forgotten that it’s in your best interest to make sure she remains clueless about everything. You have everything to lose if Abigail finds out the truth. Stop taking her side and trust me. We are a team. Don’t forget that.”

Genevieve scoffed at that. Trust? She’d rather trust a rattle snake than trust a cunning man like him.