Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 340: Depressed

Stefan watched Genevieve in the soft dining light, the yellow glow from the hanging lamp falling gently over her face. She sat across from him at the dining table, shoulders slumped, fingers limp around her fork as she pushed cold pasta from one side of the plate to the other.

She hadn’t taken more than four bites. And every time he spoke, she offered only little hums, small distracted smiles that didn’t touch her eyes.

Stefan’s chest tightened with a worry he had been trying to ignore all evening.

He let out a long, quiet sigh and set his fork down carefully, as if the noise might startle her.

”Okay,” he said softly. ”I’m listening. Tell me.”

Genevieve blinked, slowly lifting her gaze to his. Her eyes looked far away, as though she had to travel through miles of thoughts to meet his.

”Listening to what?” she asked, in a flat voice.

”Tell me what’s sitting on your mind,” Stefan replied, leaning forward. ”Something is eating at you, Genevieve. Tell me what it is. You’ve barely heard a word I said all evening.”

Her throat bobbed. She dropped her gaze again, staring at the untouched food. For a moment she just drew in tiny, uneven breaths that made Stefan’s heart press painfully against his ribs.

Since she returned from seeing Dawn, she had spent all her time trying to decide how to tell him her plan or whether to simply slip away while he was at work. She didn’t want to hurt him. But she knew that disappearing would hurt him even more.

Or maybe it wasn’t about hurting him. It was because she feared that she might not be able to say goodbye to him.

”I want to leave,” she blurted out, choosing blunt honesty.

Stefan stilled. For three full seconds he just stared at her.

”Leave?” he finally said, his voice low and disbelieving. ”What do you mean? Leave where?”

Genevieve dropped her fork carefully. The sound of the metal hitting the plate suddenly felt too loud in the quiet room.

”You’ve been very good to me, Stefan,” she said softly, head bowed. ”Better than I deserve. I’m grateful. Truly. But there’s nothing here for me anymore—”

”I am here for you,” Stefan cut in, his voice rough with emotion he was trying to hide.

”That’s not what I mean...”

”Then what do you mean, Genevieve?” Stefan pressed, leaning forward. The frustration in his voice wasn’t anger—it was fear. Fear of losing her. Fear that she had already made a decision he wasn’t prepared for.

”We had a plan,” he reminded her, his tone cracking. ”You’d learn how to run a salon and spa. We’d open your own place. I thought... I thought we wanted the same thing. I thought we were building something to be together? Why are you suddenly talking about leaving? Where do you even want to go?”

Her lips trembled and tears swelled in her eyes. She blinked hard but they spilled anyway.

”I don’t know,” she cried softly, voice breaking. ”I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t know what I want. Everything feels wrong. I feel lost. I feel confused. I can’t breathe here.”

She pressed a hand to her chest, trying to stop the ache

”I feel like whenever I see Dawn I have to wear guilt on my face. Like I must prove I’m sorry every second. I don’t feel free. I don’t feel real. I don’t feel like myself.”

Stefan pushed back his chair and walked around the table. He crouched beside her, taking her cold hands into his warm ones.

”You managed well enough before you realized that Dawn knew the truth. You lived with her and carried on normally. Why is it different now? Why are you punishing yourself when no one is punishing you?”

She shook her head, tears sliding down her cheeks.

”That’s the point. I wish they would punish me or do something. It would’ve been easier if they were,” she whispered brokenly. ”If everyone was angry at me. Then at least their anger would match the anger I feel toward myself. But they’re all being so kind and understanding. And because they’re kind, I feel even worse than I felt before I knew she knew the truth.”

Stefan thumbed away her tears with a careful touch. ”Did you go to see Dawn today? Like you said you would?”

Genevieve nodded, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. ”I went to Jamal’s house.”

”Did you tell her you plan on leaving?”

”I did.”

”And?” Stefan asked, bracing himself. ”What did she say?”

”She... asked if I’d told you,” Genevieve replied weakly. ”And she asked about my dad’s funeral.”

Stefan exhaled a long, heavy sigh, rubbing her hand slowly.

He looked up at her, his dark eyes damp with worry. ”Is there anything I can say to change your mind?”

”I don’t want you to change my mind,” she whispered. ”I just... need time. I’ll come back. I promise. I just need to get away for a while so I can breathe without guilt. I feel like I’m suffocating. I’m depressed.”

”What if Dawn asks you not to leave?” he asked quietly, contemplating pleading with Dawn to discourage her from leaving.

Genevieve shrugged helplessly. ”She wants me to leave,” she murmured. ”She said seeing me makes her uncomfortable right now... and she thinks we need space to heal.”

Stefan’s eyes sharpened with suspicion. ”Is that why you decided to go?”

”No...”

”Genevieve.” His voice dropped to a low warning. ”Don’t lie to me.”

She broke, shoulders sagging. ”I had thought about leaving before. But when she said it... it just felt like confirmation.”

Stefan’s jaw tightened. A muscle in his cheek twitched. ”What about your mother?” he asked suddenly.

Genevieve’s brows knitted together. ”What about her?”

”You haven’t asked once,” Stefan said, searching her face. ”Don’t you plan to see her? She’s still at the hospital.”

Genevieve shook her head instantly. ”No. I don’t want to see her. I don’t want anything to do with her. She’s the reason all of this happened in the first place. I just want to...” Her voice cracked again. ”I just need to focus on me. On fixing myself.”

And Stefan, still crouched on the floor, still holding her hands, closed his eyes for a moment.

Because loving someone meant wanting them close, but caring for them sometimes meant letting them go.

”I’ll let you go only on one condition,” he said when he finally opened his eyes.

”What?”

”You have to keep in touch and always tell me where you are. You can’t go ghost on me.”

Her lips wobbled and she nodded. ”Okay.”

”Promise me.”

”I promise.”