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Chapter 170
Last Updated:
2024-07-08 20:49:23
VictoryAnne ViceWhat do you think she's going to find inside?
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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
Last Updated : 2024-07-08Stealing 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.
Last Updated : 2024-07-08Stealing 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
Last Updated : 2024-07-09Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 174
[Cordelia] I pull my hand from my dad's as I feel my world take a new shape in my mind. All those times I felt out of place like I didn't fit. It's because my dad isn't my real dad. "Mom," I look at her and she finally meets her gaze. "Mom, did you have an affair?" "Was it with my dad?" Sydney jumps up and down? "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD! We're all half sisters!" She starts to hyperventilate. As her words become jumbled, her tongue tripping over the sounds as she talks too fast. "No," my mom shakes her head as she looks at me and Angelica. "I have never cheated on your father. Not once." "But my dad is hot!" Sydney argues. "With those green eyes, that auburn hair, and his dreamy smile. Of course, you'd want to sleep with him. Half of Canada wants to sleep with him. He's married, and he still gets voted Toronto's most eligible bachelor." "That's not something to brag about," Angelica frowns from her wheelchair. "Your father sounds like a whore." Blinking, I look over at
Last Updated : 2024-07-09Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 175
[Cordelia]"What does this have to do with you?" My father scrunches his face at her words, a bit disgusted with her sour tone. "Sydney, can't you see? This is all about you."The garden falls silent except for the sound of birdsong in the trees above us. None of us say anything, waiting as the words fall around us and settle in our minds. Three missing embryos. The incorrect one was implanted in my mother, leading to my birth.Three embryos. Technically conceived at the same time as Angelica, part of the same batch and frozen for the future.Sydney looks just like Angelica. Errily so, almost as if she were her twin. So many things begin to make sense as I consider the last few months. Especially the events on the island. Angelica had said something about "not caring about a stupid test," and that "I was her sister" when she was trying to save me from whatever Jude had planned. She knew. She's known this whole time that I couldn't be her blood relation. And yet she didn't say anythi
Last Updated : 2024-07-09Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 176
[Cordelia]When I returned to the studio, the cookies, and Tilly, were gone. A note was waiting for me on the refrigerator. "Gone to my mom's for the weekend. I'll be back for the photoshoot on Monday. I love you."I wonder if she left a similar note for Clark. I don't know what happened between them, but I know that he loves her. Their relationship is so new. I hope they can find a way to come back together."And what about you," I say to myself in the empty space. "Can you forgive Atlas?"The truth is, I need someone to hold me right now. I'm not sure I have the strength to see what is inside that envelope. My parents are not my parents. My sister is not my sister.Sydney is back, and she isn't satisfied with taking my husband anymore, she wants my entire life. She is trying to destroy my business and claims my ideas are hers. She even has the love of my parents who are convinced she is their long-lost daughter.I was just the substitute. Maybe I've always been the substitute. Subs
Last Updated : 2024-07-10Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 177
[Clark]I am glad that I have Clark here with me because once we are done eating, I realize I've had about four beers too many. I lost count somewhere between me discussing how I fell in love with my fiancee on accident, and how delicious her legs look in a thong. I probably shouldn't have told him that second part, but I couldn't help it. I was thinking about Malibu.Everything was fine before Malibu. I was in a delightful state of forgetful denial, where I could pretend that I didn't know the taste of her lips or the way her eyes flutter every time she finds her pleasure. Atlas didn't seem to mind, but that might have more to do with how he switched to scotch about three drinks in. We both know that we need to work hard to win our way back into Tilly and Cordy's hearts, but we have no clue where to start. "I know!" I suggest. "We can say the contest is now in Australia and ship Sydney off in a crate," I laugh. "Then, if anyone asks where Sydney has gone, we can say she's in Austra
Last Updated : 2024-07-11Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 178
[Cordelia]Atlas and Clark can barely remain standing as they lean on one another completely drunk in the middle of the day. They smell about as good as they look, which is not good at all considering that with their clothing rumpled and their faces red with drink, they look like two out-of-work businessmen who have just scrapped themselves out of a gutter."I see you two have been enjoying yourselves," I prickle, disgusted at their display. "Are you two insane? Are you trying to cause more problems with the press?"The brothers look at one another but are so drunk they have fallen into a silly mood. As their noses almost touch, they start snorting, falling over one another as they chuckle. "We only had a little bit to drink," Atlas lies as he folds over and belches. Based on the wet quality of the sounds coming from his mouth, I take a step back. These are new shoes, I'd hate for them to be covered in vomit. "That was a mistake," he grumbles, still bent over. "Why are you two here?
Last Updated : 2024-07-11
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[Cordelia] Today is our 20th second anniversary. We've lost count of the first one, forgetting it entirely as a moment of sadness. Instead, we honor the day when we took our vows and meant them, 7 years later in Napa. Usually, we leave Los Angeles and take the week for just the two of us. Even after two decades, we haven't lost our hunger for one another and I look forward to our time away where we can just be two people together and in love. But this year, my husband is feeling a bit nostalgic. This is why I'm in the lobby of the Steele Hotel and Resort, recreating a memory I wish I could forget. When he sent me the cryptic text this afternoon, I confess I was more than a little bit confused. Why, of all places, would he want me to meet him there? At least this time I'm not wearing a hoodie with a dress tucked into a pair of loose sweats. And while my face is covered with large sunglasses, it's more to protect my identity and not draw too much attention. I am far too recogniza
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[Clark] "Come on. Dad!" My daughters pull me along by my arms. I've never been able to deny them anything they wanted but tonight they are asking too much. "It's only a blind date!" "Girls," I admonish, "What have I said, I'm not ready to let someone new into my heart. Your mother was more than enough for me." Cassie stares up at me with her starlight eyes, as deep and black as her mother's, and doesn't relent. "You promised you'd let us have anything we want for our birthday. Grandma helped us pick her out. You have to try, Dad. For us!" "Grandma Suzanna or Grandma Jenny?" I grump, "Who do I need to send a thank you note." "Both!" the girls giggle. "You owe us, Dad," Cassie counters. Her red curls bounce as she stomps her foot. "Do you know how weird it is to look on a DATING AP for potential girlfriends for our father? It's so gross. You should be grateful" "Yeah," Maddie chimes in, swinging her hair over her shoulder as she twists her lips just like Tilly used to, her hand
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[Jude]If the universe were fair, I wouldn't have lived to see today. If karma took her toll, I wouldn't be friends with Clark and Atlas Steele, our children growing up side by side. Once the shadow of Magnus was lifted from our shoulders, and Angelica and I were finally able to go about our lives the way we always should have been able to do, It became easier to make good with my life. Angelica and I were married shortly after Mathilda's funeral. It was a small ceremony on the family medical boat, just before the two of us set sail with our daughters, Melanie and Veronica. When the DNA showed that they were indeed my children, and NOT Magnus', that his experiment had never stuck, it was easy to adopt them. In their mind, Angelica is their mother. When they are old enough, we'll tell them the truth about Aunt Sydney, but for now, we are sparing them the burden of her insanity.And we give them love, all the love of a couple who has always wanted children of their own.Angelica, it tu
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[Cordelia]15 hours later I place my feet back in LA for the first time in 6 months. We have been gone for so long that I had forgotten how loud it is, or how oppressively hot it can be in summer. Clark met us at the runway alone, the girls with their grandparents. "I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to drive you home. We could have sent a driver but," he explains, "I wanted to be the one to welcome you home." He does his best to smile, but as his melancholy grin drifts to how I hold on to my husband's hand, I can see how much this is costing him. "I'm glad it was you," I reach forward to give him a hug. "Thank you." Atlas, who has been receiving a slew of messages from Theo as soon as we landed, asks to be dropped off at the new Steele Industries building. "Looks like they need me," he apologizes, kissing my hand. "I'll make it up to you tonight," he whispers in my ear and I shiver in anticipation. "I'm going to hold you to that," I whisper discretely in his ear, trying to be mi
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 403
[Cordelia]The rest of that day went by in a blur. I insisted we rush back to the compound even though everyone had received the news that Tilly was gone. I couldn't believe it. My mind couldn't process the possibility of a world without Mathilda Madison. She wasn't just my best friend, she was my sister. So I couldn't let her go. Clark was distraught. He and Tilly took a while to find one another, and when they did finally make the right connection, they fell for one another hard. It was beautiful watching my two best friends fall in love--they were perfect for one another. But not all stories end with a happily ever after. That was a hard lesson for me to learn as well. I wanted nothing more than to watch Tilly raise her daughters. When we made it back an hour later, her body had already been collected. I had wanted to see her, to give it a chance to see if I could have brought her back: just one touch, one spark. I was convinced that I could have been the one to save her. The
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[Sydney]Why can't they just let me die? It would be so easy, I'm already cut and bleeding. Why bother with the IVs and the monitors? It doesn't matter anymore. Did it ever matter?My entire existence has been a fraud. If my hands were free I'd count the ways on my fingertips all the ways I've been lied to and used.A madman altered my DNA and injected me into the wrong mother. I was raised believing I was special only to discover I was the offspring of my enemy. The man of my dreams was married to the daughter my mother was supposed to have, and I was just a cheap copy of the woman he once loved, my genetic twin, Angelica. Was this life ever really mine to begin with? Even now they aren't honoring my desire to die. "She needs more blood," the doctor announces over my head, her clear voice cutting through the din of the operating room chatter. "Her blood pressure has dropped to dangerous levels. We can't use the anesthesia. She'll need to be awake for the procedure."Procedure?"I d
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 401
[Clark]The dissection of Magnus' brain was one of the most intensely fascinating and uniquely horrifying things I have ever experienced. Using my computer to guide the charge, we attached wires to his brain, fed through a divide that my mother had retrieved from her vault. "This will disrupt his signal. It will keep him from making a full memory transfer. Hopefully whomever he's jumped into will have a fighting chance." Everything my mother has said since I volunteered for this task has sounded like something from a science fiction movie. The duplicates we had seen in Delilah's footage of her father's secret lab were all designed to hold Magnus's memories in an artificial extension of his life. Not all of them looked like his current body, as often it was useful for him to become someone entirely different for spying purposes. "Is this how he always seemed to know everything?" I ask aloud. We had wondered how he managed to get around all of our codes, to find ways to learn about wh
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[Cordelia]"Wally?" Holding my hand above his head, I pause, hesitating. Just a moment before I was about to take this man's life without even the smallest shred of remorse. It was necessary to protect my family. My children and my husband. "Cordelia," He blinks, his eyes roving my face and the surroundings like a caged animal. Licking his dry, salty lips, his body is otherwise completely still. "I don't have much time. He's fighting me...I..."Wally's muscles spasm, shaking Atlas as well as he holds him in place. Closing his eyes, his body stills, as if the effort of keeping still is so great that he cannot do anything else at the same time. He whispers something that I can't quite make out, so I lean in, trying to capture his words.As my hair brushes his cheek, he repeats himself. "You need to end this, Cordelia. Don't let him escape to harm another. His other mind is gone, Suzanna saw to it, but he can still jump to someone else.""Wally, what are you saying," I shake my head. "No
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 399
[Cordelia]Atlas and I raced down the hall to the exit, soldiers moving out of our way as we passed, nobody bothering to stop us as my husband's icy glare and dominant aura kept them pinned in place. Magnus is dead and I have never been more terrified in my life. The door to the outside pushes open and we are instantly blinded by the overhead sunshine that covers the beach with an oddly bright gray that stings the eyes. It is warmer than it had been earlier, the wind having died down, trapping the moisture of impending rain, held in place by the gathering storm. "Jasper," I call out gently, scanning the beach. "Wally?""Atlas do you see Jasper?" I grab my husband's arm. His pulse is rapid beneath my fingertips as we move forward as one and find the abandoned picnic blanket and Jasper's little galoshes next to a much larger pair. "Wally!" I scream out towards the waves and find him standing in the water, at the far edge of the beach. There is no sign of my son. None. It's as if the
