Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

After the phone call with Jamal, Tom went to the kitchen to get himself a cup of coffee before calling Harry.

He knew that even though it was still quite early in the morning, Harry would most likely be awake, and even if he wasn't awake, he wouldn't hesitate to pick up the call if he saw it was from him.

Harry received the call on the third ring, his voice was clear. "Good morning, darling. Did you dream of me?"

Tom chuckled, wondering when Harry was ever going to stop saying stuff like that. "I take it you're not in bed beside Jade. We need to talk. Barry called."

The humor disappeared from Harry's voice when he heard Tom's voice and picked up the hint of worry in it. "Is there a problem?"

"I'll send you the recording. But the summary of it is that Ryan didn't just target Kimberly because of greed. He did it as some sort of revenge. His girlfriend died after a hit and run accident. Kimberly was the culprit but she didn't pay for the crime because of her parents' wealth and influence. Karen Combs happened to be the late girl's friend and she seems to have witnessed the accident but was paid to give the wrong testimony. The late girl was pregnant for Ryan at the time of the accident and had his child before she died, but Ryan didn't know about it because his parents caused some sort of misunderstanding between them that took years to be cleared. Long story short, Karen gave Ryan's baby away, and then claimed she was pregnant for him but gave him Genevieve. Ryan knew Genevieve wasn't his. And the child Karen gave away just happens to be Hunter's son, Callan. Jamal's best friend. Ryan is now trying to find Callan," Tom said, and Harry was silent for a long second, too stunned by the whole story to speak.

Harry rubbed his eyes. "You mean Callan Quinn, is Ryan's biological child? I think I'm going to have a headache."

"You think? I already have one. Also, Jamal just informed me that Callan is trying to find Karen and wants me to tell him where she is." Tom explained what Jamal had told him.

"Did you tell him where she is?" Harry asked, and Tom realized he had not told Harry the rest of it.

Tom picked up his cup of coffee. "Ryan shot her. She's in a critical state but receiving treatment. And no, I haven't told him."

Harry was silent for a moment. "I don't think finding Callan will be difficult for Ryan. Callan is quite popular. And there is a chance that if he finds his son, he might finally get rid of Abigail. We need to act fast."

"We can't wait for everyone else to get here for a family meeting. We have to make the decision. But considering the reason Ryan did all of this, do you think we should go ahead with our initial plan to abduct him?" Tom asked, since they had been thinking that the fastest and easiest way to clear it all up and make sure everyone was safe was to abduct Ryan, slowly torture him to confess to all his crimes and then make him take his own life.

"I don't think we can go ahead with that. In as much as I don't want to think about the reason he did all of that, Callan is not only Jamal's best friend, he's also a part of the gentlemen club, and Ryan is Callan's biological father. I think we should get Jamal, Abigail, and Josh out of there, and then we can meet Ryan when he meets with Callan and find a way to amicably end all of this. If he doesn't accept our offer of peace, then we can go ahead to crush him if we have to," Harry suggested.

"That was what I was thinking as well. We need to get Jamal and his unit out of there. But we'll also need to talk to Hunter and let him know about this…"

"Or we could allow Callan do that himself. Our business right now is with Callan and Ryan," Harry reminded him.

"Hunter will be pissed if he finds out we knew about this and didn't say anything to him considering the kind of person Ryan is," Tom said, and Harry sighed.

"You have a point. I'll arrange for us to meet with Hunter today. Is Lucy aware of this?"

"Not yet. She's still in bed. I didn't want to disturb her sleep. If we are going to be there when Ryan meets with Callan, then we have to fly to Husla. Ryan is in Havilah at the moment, but the moment he knows Callan is in Husla, I'm sure that Husla will be his next destination. Let's arrange to get Jamal, Abigail and the kid out of there while at it," Tom said, and Harry nodded.

"What about Genevieve? I don't think we have any need for her anymore now that we understand her role in all of this," Harry said, and Tom nodded.

"We may not have need for her, but Stefan does. And chances are, if we get Jamal and the others out, Ryan would know we know the truth and he wouldn't let her out."

"So, what do we do? Get her out as well? She doesn't even know that we know everything yet," Harry pointed out.

Before Tom could respond, the study door opened, and he froze when he saw his mother standing by the door with a cane in hand. "I got your message about Dawn."

"Harry, I'll call you back. My mother just walked in." Tom hung up the call and quickly went around the desk to meet his mother.

"When did you get here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Tom asked as he hugged her tight.

She was fragile in his arms, but her presence felt big and warm. He was so happy and relieved to see her under his roof again.

It had been years since she left her home in Heden to visit them. Although they visited her twice a year, he felt so relieved to see her in his house.

She sighed softly as she hugged him before pulling back to look into his face.

Tom smiled as he looked at her face closely. Her gray hair was tucked into a bun and her cane tapped gently against the wooden floor as looked at him.

There were soft lines near her eyes. She looked tired, but not weak. Her eyes, those same sharp, kind eyes he'd known since he was a boy, were watching him like she already knew something was wrong.

"Although you look a bit stressed I can tell Lucy has been taking good care of you." She observed.

"She has. I'm glad you are here," Tom said, his voice low. He placed a hand on her back and led her to the chair. "Did you just arrive?"

"Yeah. My flight was delayed else I'd have gotten here last night. I wanted to wait until morning to tell you I was here. But I heard you were in here and figured now was as good a time as any," she said, tapping her cane once before settling into the seat. "I guess that was Harry on the phone."

Tom called his housekeeper to bring his mother a glass of water, before sitting beside her. "Yeah," he replied. "A lot has happened."

She nodded. "I came because I didn't want to hear all about it at the family meeting. You know how much your father regretted sending her away. Tell me everything."

Tom nodded slowly. He didn't know where to begin. He rubbed the side of his face and sighed. Then he looked at her and began.

She was silent for a long time after he finished. Then she said, "The least he could have done was send the girl back to us after having his revenge. I don't care about what he did to Kimberly and her family. What I care about is what he did to Dawn. And what that in turn did to all of us." She sighed.

"However we can't always resort to violence. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. We have to end it now peacefully. I'm glad she's not mute and she didn't really have surgery. But we must tread carefully. Family ties are strong, even when they're twisted. Ryan may be a monster to the rest of us, but if his son hears his story, all he's going to see is a father that went through such lengths to get justice for his mother."

Tom nodded. "That's why we're changing plans. We'll meet Ryan and try to end things peacefully."

"Then we have to get moving. Time is of the essence. Meet Hunter and leave for Husla at once. Lucy and I will…"

The door opened and Lucy walked in before she could finish, "Evelyn? Oh, my God, Evelyn! When did you get here?!" She exclaimed as she rushed over to embrace her mother-in-law.

Evelyn smiled as she embraced Lucy, "I was just talking about you. I'm glad you're here. I wish we listened to you and took Dawn from Ryan forcefully. So, how about a trip to Westend? Let's go bring her home now."

"You want to go get her yourself? We were planning to abduct her…"

"Don't worry. We will figure it out. Handle Ryan and we will handle bringing Dawn, Jamal, and the little boy out of there."