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Chapter 165
VictoryAnne ViceDun dun daaaaaah! If you are out there reading this still and are enjoying the story, please consider leaving a gem or two so I know you are out there and want to read more. Thank you to all of you who have left comments. I do read them and take your feedback to heart. I appreciate each and every one of you :)
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[Cordelia]Nobody said anything in response. We all just watched the blonde nightmare waltz into the room expectantly, as if waiting for applause. "Sydney?" Atlas is confused, not quite seeing what is obvious to everyone else in the room. "Why are you here? This is a private family matter.""I was invited," her eyes go wide, innocent, a look that has always suited her in the past. "Unless you don't need me anymore, Doctor Jones?"We all look to the doctor, who looks at all of us. "Do you all know one another?"I can't help it, I start laughing. "Cordelia," My mother scolds me. "This is not at all humorous. Why are you laughing?""You're right, Mother." I continue to laugh, my chest heaving."This is the opposite of funny. This is a freaking nightmare. Don't you recognize her? That's Sydney Bryant!"My father goes very very still. "Bryant? As in the daughter of David and Chrissy Bryant."My mother goes very still next to him. "What are the odds," she says under her breath as she looks
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 167
[Cordelia]Atlas left me alone like I asked and I was grateful, for once, that he listened to my words. I am also sad. It feels like he gave up too quickly. I know I pushed him away, but why didn't he push back?I miss him. Especially now, waking up alone in my bed when I have grown used to the smell of his skin and the way his hair curls in his sleep. Why did I let myself fall in love with Atlas Steele? Will loving him ever feel easy?While I was resting, my mother left three messages on my phone, but none of them were about me or my well-being. It's almost as if she has forgotten I am her daughter too.All she talked about was Sydney. Phrases like "Aren't we lucky?" and "You should be nicer to her," were sprinkled here and there as she went on for several minutes about "Sydney this" and "Sydney that."It was bad enough when I had to hear all about "Angelica this" and "Angelica that", now I have to listen about her double as well. Offering her kidney has somehow granted her saintho
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 168
[Cordelia]Without saying anything to Tilly and Clark, I grabbed my coat and headed downstairs. I'll text them from the restaurant or wherever we end up going once we get there and I've had enough time to clear my thoughts. I feel a little guilty not saying anything, but they were so focused I didn't want to interrupt them.But I don't want to worry them unnecessarily, just needed some fresh air. Magnus is a friend. He'll keep me safe from the prying eyes of reporters. He protected me once before. When I make it out onto the street, waiting downstairs is a sleek black car with tinted windows. I wonder who ordered the Towncar?Sitting on the stoop, I wait for Magnus to arrive. He should be here soon. Looking down at my phone, I wonder if he's walking this time or if he brought some kind of vehicle. The electric sound of a window rolling down draws my attention. Looking up, Magnus' gentle smile greets me from the backseat of the Towncar. "Cordelia," he waves me over as his driver c
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 169
[Clark] "What do you mean you don't know where she went?" Atlas is distraught. He had expected to find Cordelia here only to discover that somehow, while we weren't paying attention, she left the studio without a note. "She's a grown adult, Atlas," Tilly says as she moves from the back of the studio to the front. She doesn't look well, and I wonder if she was sick again this morning. She won't let me tell anyone yet, but I want to so badly. I'm over the moon with excitement. "Tilly, he's just worried," I try to explain. "She's been very fragile lately." "No," Tilly shakes her head as she wraps up and puts away some extra pancakes. "She's just tired of being treated like your little doll. She's an adult. She has been for a while. You two are just too stubborn to see it." Something in her tone is making me bristle. She's usually a much more positive person. "She's fine," Tilly insists. "She'll call if anything comes up." I don't like the way she dismisses Atlas' concerns. Til
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 170
[Cordelia]Atlas looks like more of a mess than usual when he stumbles out of the studio. As I listen to the black car drive away, I look up at Atlas, more than a little bit worried. I have a very strong urge to wrap him in my arms and comfort him. But if I do that, it will feel like forgiveness and I am not ready to forgive. He needs to learn that I won't always bend to his will just because he tells me that I should. How dare he assume that I will. At the hospital, his words reminded me of who he was before, of how he treated me like a child who didn't know her own mind. Over Sydney--the same girl as before. What is it about these women that makes Atlas forget common sense? I take a step around him. He doesn't even see me at first. It's not until I say, "Excuse me, "that he responds, hearing the sound of my voice. "Cordelia!" he comes to life, his entire body changing as he moves from being hunched over to standing erect. "Oh good, you're okay." "Why wouldn't I be?" I don't und
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 171
[Cordelia]The phone in my pocket shakes. Setting the envelope down, I pull it out to see it is my mother. "What on earth does she want?" I scowl. Pressing a button, I send it to voicemail. She's just going to have to wait. I don't want to hear from her right now. The phone vibrates again. This time it is Angelica. She rarely calls me. Maybe I should see what they want.My thumb hovers above the answer button. I don't want to talk to her either. She has caused me enough pain with her fake amnesia. What the hell was that all about anyway? I mean, I guess I did the same thing to her on the island, but I was trying to survive while she and her psycho boyfriend tried to steal my uterus. Come to think about it, why did she pretend not to remember the last five years? It doesn't add up. I'm missing something important.There is an incessant knocking on the front door of the studio. Anyone who should be here has a key. Who would be pounding so forcibly? Placing the envelope back on my dre
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 172
[Atlas]Clark is an even bigger mess than I am at the moment, which feels impossible because I feel like my heart has been crumpled and tossed. Cordelia could barely look at me, and then she told me we should seek out therapy and that she needed some space.Space. She needs a lot of that lately. I am worried that she is drifting away from me.But I can't think about that right now. I need to focus on my baby brother. He needs my support.Something happened, something devastating. I haven't seen him cry this hard since I told him our parents were dead. And he was only three. Sure he's had his moments, but this is different.Clark is in a dark space. My perpetually happy-go-lucky in touch with his feeling brother is unable to get his feelings under control.Tilly seemed off as well. I left them alone to talk because I could tell they were building up to either a big argument or some amazing sex or possibly both. It reminded me so strongly of Cordelia and me that I needed to get some air.
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 173
[Cordelia]My family lives about 10 minutes away from the Steele family manor, not quite the same neighborhood, but nearby. If we had been ordinary children growing up in ordinary houses that weren't spaced as far apart, Atlas and I may have grown up together.Well, kinda. He was a teenager when I was in kindergarten.I haven't been back to my parent's house in a while. I moved out when I was 17 to go to design school, and then moved out again when I was 19 and I married Atlas. Whenever I met with my parents these last 6 years, it has usually been at public functions or our monthly family business brunch. So when I pulled up to the gate, I was not surprised that the security officer controlling it didn't have a clue who I was. I'm sure that the position has turned over a couple of times since I last lived here. When I told him who I was, he didn't believe me at first. Even though I laughed it off as I showed him my ID after he accused me of being a news reporter in disguise, it reall
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