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Chapter 19
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2024-10-29 19:42:56
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[Cordelia] As I cry, I think about all of the terrible things Atlas will say about me when he finds out. It isn’t hard to imagine his voice belittling me, scolding me for being so irresponsible. I already know that someone like me shouldn’t be a mother. What do I have to offer this child other than my imperfect self? I have no job and no family I can depend on. He’ll assume I am trying to trap or use the baby as some kind of leverage to get him to do what I want him to do. I sit up a little straighter. I don’t have time for this. I need to finish this line and be the very best I can be because the only way I’ll be able to raise this little one on my own is to make myself into a success. We don’t need Atlas Steele. Just because this baby is a part of Atlas, doesn’t mean that Atlas needs to be a part of my life. I will give this small wonder all the love he or she needs. I spend the next several hours working non-stop on my prototypes. By the time Tilly comes home from work, I
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[Cordelia] “Cordy, what’s wrong?” I look up to see Tilly watching me. Seeing her look of concern I almost start to cry. “Nothing,” I lie. “I just… I just saw Atlas is here with…her.” I don’t need to tell Tilly who. She and I have had enough late-night cry sessions to know exactly why seeing them together might make me upset. “If you want, we can leave,” Tilly suggests, picking up her coat. “I don’t want you to suffer…” “No,” I insist, wiping my tears away. “See, I’m fine. In fact, I think I’m going to go over there and say hi.” I try to appear pleasant, but inside I am angry, sad, and frustrated. I am feeling it all at once. It's worse than going through puberty. I’d almost rather be a confused teenager again. Maybe if I go over there, be direct, and stop hiding in the corner, I can feel more like a grown-up in control of her life. “Atlas,” I smile as brightly as I can manage while on the verge of tears. “And Sydney! I just saw you two over here and wanted to say congratul
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 22
[Cordelia] I am reclining on a chaise lounge on our balcony. Nothing is broken or sprained, but every muscle on the right side of my body feels like it has been sent through a blender. The deep purple bruise tinged on the edges with green covers the entire right side of my body, the worst of which is my hip where the car hit me. “What are you up to…” Tilly leans over my shoulder. I put a finger to my lips begging her to keep quiet as I point down at the street. “Well hello there Dr. Smexy…” Jude slowly pulls off his wet t-shirt, the edges sticking to his shining bronze flesh, accentuating every curve of his spectacular pectorals. “Shhhh!!!” I hush her loudly. Jude hasn’t noticed me sitting up here watching yet and I don’t want her excited shrieks to catch his eye. I hadn’t intended to be a peeping tom, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away once he started scrubbing his car with soapy rags looking so…wow. I might be divorced, but I’m not dead. “Jesus Christ Almighty. Tell me agai
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[Cordelia] Tilly looks up and drops her keys, her mouth open slightly. Blinking she closes her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t realize that you were…” She looks at his hand on my thigh. “Having an examination…” “Oh, yeah, um…” I reach down to pull up my pants, wincing. “I think we are done.” Tilly shakes her head, amused by my embarrassment. “No need to rush, but if you could call the repairman that would be great.” She picks up her keys and heads out the door. As I wave goodbye, I grab my phone and dial the number. When I finally get through to make an appointment, the earliest the repair man can get here is next Thursday after 3 pm. “Agh, that’s not going to work,” I set my phone down after writing the appointment on the wall calendar. Jude looks concerned so I explain. “I need to get these clothes cleaned and pressed so that they’ll be ready for the show ” I point to the pile of clothing lying in a heap in a corner of the room. “I guess I’ll have to take it all to the lau
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[Atlas] Watching Cordelia fall into the street, knowing that I was the one who put her there, made my blood run cold. Regardless of how things may have turned out between us, I would never do anything to risk her safety. And yet, that is exactly what I did when I let my anger get the worst of me. I hope she can forgive me. I was going to send the rest of her things from our house to her new address, but it’s close enough to my office that I decided to hand deliver it. That way I can check in on her at the same time and make sure her injuries do not need greater care. She may not be my wife anymore, but I will always feel honor-bound to be responsible for her. It is what her sister would have wanted. But also, it is what I want. I want her to know that she can always depend on me and that she never needs to fear me again. The drive to her place from my office is short. Soon I am standing on the sidewalk underneath her balcony, looking up at the warm light coming from her
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[Cordelia] Jude pauses at the door, his face a bit uncertain as he touches his lips where I had just kissed him for the first time. “I know this is sudden but I was wondering if maybe you’d be open to going out later today?” he asks with a small smile. “Maybe we could head to the beach, get a bit more sunshine, and you could come to my lab after,” his eyes are bright with hope, “ What do you think?” I usually avoid the beach. I am terrified of the water. But he looks so earnest and hopeful that I agree. “Great!” he claps his hands. “That’s settled. We’ll do a little swimming and then…” “Swimming?” my nervous voice hitches, raising an octave. The problem is, I never learned how to swim. I’ve always been a bit afraid of the water. Silly, I know, living near the coast. But I rarely made it out to the beach. I tell Jude all of this and he laughs. “Oh don’t worry about that,” he brushes aside my fear. “I am an excellent swimmer. I used to spend my summers in the Catalina Islands.
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 26
[Cordelia]Just as I am about to give up, a strong set of arms wrap around my torso, pulling me up to the surface. “Hang in there, Cordy,” his words are like a prayer. It is strange, but my mystery rescuer sounds a lot like Atlas. No, it couldn’t be. He’d never call me “Cordy.” He hates that nickname.Someone is pressing down on my chest. Their lips press air into my lungs and I am turned to my side so that the seawater can cough it’s way out of my stomach and chest. The saltwater burns as it leaves my body, but I don’t care as I take a deep, grateful breath. I open my eyes. Kneeling next to me is Jude, who is covering me with a warm, thick towel, his eyes full of worry, and someone who looks a lot like Atlas.“Clark?” I realize as my eyes regain their focus. “How? I?”“I like to come to this beach and surf when I’m in town,” he points to his board, the one that carried me to shore. “It’s a lucky thing that I found you when I did. We almost lost you forever.”I take a few minutes to
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 27
[Atlas] When Sydney said “bonfire” with some “friends, " she didn’t tell me that it would be more of a nightclub on the beach. Future Hollywood starlets in bikinis mingle with shirtless college athletes with sculpted abs and perfect California beach tans. The closer we get to it, the more I am certain that coming out tonight was a bad idea. I am in no mood to socialize, especially with a bunch of overgrown children. Sydney leads me to a group of jocks wearing board shorts and tank tops. They are all giving Sydney appreciative glances as they see her approach in her bright bikini and cut-offs. “This is my boyfriend, Atlas,” she announces proudly. She tells me their names but I don’t bother with remembering them. I don’t plan on spending time with them in the future. “Hey Boyfriend Atlas,” one of the large college boys laughs as he punches me playfully in the arm and he hands me a beer. “You’re going to need this. We’re about to play “Two Truths and a Lie.” You drink every time you
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[Jude]Sydney. Now that she has me under her control, I'll never be free of her. When I came to save her, I was convinced she was pregnant with my child. She had sent a distress signal to me using our private channels letting me know of her pregnancy and it was enough to get me to betray the Steele family and derail their plans to find their cure. Using what I knew about Atlas' missing mother was just a distraction.My goal had always been to claim my son.But then I discovered that beyond all logic Angelica is still alive.I should have realized this was possible and known that Magnus wouldn't give up such a valuable tool so easily. Angelica had been Magnus' toy for years before she was sent into my world. I knew he had modified her, and turned her into the perfect weapon, but I had no idea how deep those modifications went until I saw her face staring at me on that magazine cover.She shouldn't have survived that explosion. And yet here she is, unscathed, awaiting a new uterus in
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[Atlas]I twist my arm away from the guard in black. His face is blank as he reaches forward again. "Don't." My voice carries forward, and although it isn't loud, it holds a note of command that makes the armed guard pause."Sir," he blinks retracting his hand. "You are trespassing. I was ordered to take you into holding." My face remains still as my voice rings out again, "You will not touch us. You have no right." The guard swallows, taking a step back, my words hitting him with the force of a slap. "We will leave," I inform him. "You will report our apologies to your boss." He nods, accepting my command. "Atlas," Clark calls my attention to our situation. Blinking I snap awake, and pull my gaze from the guard. As soon as I blink, the guard stumbles backward shaking his head in confusion, as if my words and stare alone were enough to entrap him in some kind of trance. Around the edges of my vision, I see more guards headed in our direction. If we are going to make it out of h
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[Atlas]Damn it, Cordelia!"Pick up, pick up, pick up," the phone rings but nobody replies. "This number is unavailable as dialed, please try again," the message on the other end informs me as my blood pressure rises and my hands shake.A moment ago I had been talking to my wife. And then the line was dead. I sent her to Canada to keep her and our children safe, and she chose to bring herself to Magnus' attention. Sending a quick message to the guards in charge of watching over my family, I stare at my screen waiting for word of their status. "Atlas, is there anything I can do to help?"Blinking away from the screen I look up at my brother as our rented van parks a few blocks away from the luau. Our driver informs us of our arrival and waits for further instructions."I'm sorry, Clark," I close my eyes, rubbing my temples. "You were saying something?""Is everything okay?" He tries again and I groan. "No." I groan honestly. "Or at least, I hope everything is fine. Lately, it seems
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[Clark]The message "Tilly SOS" flicked across the screen three times before winking out, leaving my screen blank. I open my email that I keep under an alias on a secure server. There is a single message alerting me to new information available on my server. I've used this system when working with people who needed to keep their identities safe and their messages secret. The last time I needed it was working with Jude while he was still under Magnus' watch.Even though it has been months since I used it, my fingers remember the passcodes. Soon, I'll be on the server. Two emails are waiting for me, both are from Tilly's parents. In the first message, they inform me that they have landed and are settling in their new place. It is a secure facility, surrounded by several acres of land, disconnected from the distant towns and cities. The Madisons, sparing no expense, went to extra lengths to include copious additional security.They are, after all, securing their legacy. Tilly is their o
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[Cordelia]There is a loud explosion just to the right of the airplane. "What was that," I lower the phone, turning it off as I gaze out the window to see what had caused the noise. "Nothing, Ma'am," the co-pilot says over his shoulder, "Just a little turbulence.""Turbulence?" I shout back as another boom resounds just outside the passenger's cabin as a curtain goes up between the pilots and the rest of the plane, blocking our view. "But we aren't even in the air yet!""Calm yourself, Mrs. Steele," Jake, the security guard, takes his phone from my numb hand. "Sit next to your children and trust your staff to get you out of here safely. We've got this, Mrs. Steele."He almost seemed offended in my lack of faith as he types into his phone what I'm guessing is a message to Atlas to calm his nerves and let him know we are alive. "But nobody is telling me what's happening," I grumble as I buckle in next to Jasper and the little girl I've decided to call Saphira until I learn her real na
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[Atlas]"What do you mean gone," I barked into the phone, my hand clenching it tight enough to hear it crunch. These new smartphones seem to get flimsier with each model. I've broken 3 in the last 6 months from anger or nerves. I love my wife, but I'm pretty sure she's going to stress me into an early grave. "Your mother created a distraction, Sir," my lead guard, Jake, apologizes over the phone, not making excuses as much as stating facts. "Mrs. Suzanna Steele arrived late last night along with a young man she called Sasha. The next morning, while your mother and Ms. Devaroux kept me distracted searching for a false threat, your wife and this young man escaped."Cordelia has always been sneaky when she needs to be, and until this point, he had been very good at keeping her from falling into mischief. I wasn't expecting my mother to be part of the problem. At least now I know where she ran off to. Her room had been empty when I returned to the boat yesterday. "Are you sure it is m
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 362
[Clark]There are things that I need to keep secret from my brother, not because I do not trust him with my secrets, but because I do not want to burden him with them.Which is why I needed to get away. Without Tilly, there is no reason for me to stay on the boat."I'll meet you later, when it's time to go to the luau," I promise Atlas as I give him a hug and take my leave. I know that I could just stay at our family hotel, but I need to be somewhere else, somewhere that nobody recognizes me. And also, I want to ensure that what I am about to do is as untraceable as possible. "Mr. Janus," the man at the front desk smiles when I hand him a wad of cash in exchange for a key card. "Enjoy you stay. Please call down if you need anything."Adjusting my sunglasses, lower the bill of my baseball cap, grab my small bag, and make my way through the other guests milling around in the hotel lobby. Located along the beach it has a spectacular view of the the ocean.And the location of tonight's
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[Jude]Opening the door, I push back the clinician waiting for Angelica to rise. The poor man looks lost, most likely expecting Angel to greet him and not a gruff guard in black."Excuse me," he calls out as I walk down the hall. I don't owe him any excuses or explanations. I'm her bodyguard. I can be seen coming and going from her room. Besides, I don't have time for niceties. I'm already late reporting to work. The guards all bunk together in a large room on the basement level. There are beds and a shared shower as well as a kitchen so that we don't disturb the rest of the house as we take care of our daily necessities. There weren't any free bunks when I arrived, so I sleep on a camping bed on the floor. As I march down there, the leader of the group raises his eyebrow. He can tell by the unused state of my sleeping area that I haven't been back to rest."Late night?" he questions me as I walk down the stairs, "Whoever she was, she better be worth it." He smirks. "Mr. Fisher will
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 360
[Jude]She turns off the lights as soon as I cross the threshold. In a rush of hands, she pulls off my jacket as her lips seek my own.That's Angelica. Finally. "Angeli..."She silences me with a finger on my lips and a shake of her head and I understand without words that she wants me to be silent. Following her wishes, I use my hands for other things as we slip out of our clothing and into one another between the sheets of her bed.Oh God, how I've missed her touch, her smell, her taste--My beautiful angel, Angelica. I could get lost in her. And in this brief moment that's exactly what I do. It has been so long since I've held her in my arms. When I heard she had died, I thought it would never happen again. I know the only reason she is still here is because of Magnus. I don't know what he did to bring me this miracle, but I don't question it. I don't question anything. I just let myself love her. I shouldn't be here. Delilah will turn us into her father if she finds out. But I fo
