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Chapter 224
[Cordelia]
Watching the sun dip below the horizon, I let the warm energy fill me as I find bliss in just being here with my little one. While I won't regret the time I've gotten to spend with my mother, I made a mistake moving north. I was fleeing my memories of the love Atlas and I shared when I should have been embracing those memories.
Taking a seat in the glider, nurse Jasper and watch contentedly as he falls into a milk-induced slumber. Setting him in his crib, I go next door to my room to enjoy a few quiet moments alone before my little one eventually wakes and needs me again.
Overwhelmed by exhaustion and intense emotions, I pull off my clothing, throw on one of Atlas' old shirts, and let my body sink into the mattress. Listening to the quiet sounds of the waves as they crash on the beach in the distance, I let the pure darkness of this place bring me true peace as I drift into oblivion.
Disoriented, my body jolts awake with the sound o
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[Cordelia]Whatever it was that my mother gave me last night, it was strong enough that even after three cups of coffee I am still not fully awake. Moving through life as if dragging my body through a fog of molasses, my body fights me every step of the way as I struggle to get dressed.Opening my carry-on bag, I remember the emeralds I packed last minute. Pulling them out, I find something nice to wear that will look good with green.Maybe if I wear the emeralds, it will appease whoever it is who feels they need to interfere with my heart by reminding me of the one I still love. It is one thing to send me presents. It is quite another to go out of your way to make me think I am going insane.Because that is what is happening. Either I am being haunted and ghosts are real, or I am imagining things. I'm not sure which reality scares me more.Pulling the antique comb from its box for the first time in over 5 months, I arrange it prominent
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[Cordelia]"That's because he's going to have a special monument," she tosses those words over her shoulder casually as if stating something annoyingly obvious as she waves us through security.Recognizing me, the guard tips his hat as we pass. "Welcome home, Mrs. Steele.""Thank you, Stelly," I wave, grateful I remember his name. Looking over he notices Jasper in my mother's arms and his face softens. "Is that...?""Yes," I nod, my smile growing. "This is little Mr. Steele, Jasper."While the guard shakes the baby's little hand, Sydney stands waiting at the elevator, stomping her feet and looking at her watch as if each minute were costing her something valuable.But there isn't anything more important than Jasper learning his legacy. Atlas loved this company, as did his grandfather. It is a family business, even if it is a big one. As soon as we enter, the elevator Sydney presses the button for the executive floor. I press the button right below for the design department. "I want t
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{Cordelia]"Excuse me," Crissy stands and follows Sydney. I am hoping it is to have a heart-to-heart.My mother has been suffering since Sydney decided to cut off all ties with her. I am sure Sydney must be hurting too. Finding out your whole life has been a lie, and then seeing your mother embrace someone you were taught to hate--well I can relate to that feeling myself."How are you doing," Clark asks and I get him caught up in the ins and outs of daily life, keeping the stranger things to myself, or at least trying to. As I speak, he keeps looking down at my hand. "Another gift," he points at the emerald. "He seems to like giving you expensive trinkets lately." My fists clench. "Yes, he has." I glare up at him. "I have a feeling we both know who is doing this so I am going to say this once and hope it gets through his thick skull." Clark's face goes very still as he sits there, waiting. "Tell him he needs to stop. Either he is with me or he is not, but I am tired of being haunted
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[Cordelia]On the other side of the door is the type of joyful space you'd expect in any pediatrician's office. Warm sunlight streams through high windows illuminating a saltwater fish tank that takes up a corner of the room. There is a rack of magazines and a small bookcase with parenting books. A group of children with a very tired-looking mother with 3 kids under 5 years old watch the colorful fish swim. That could have been me, in a different life where Atlas had married me out of love and not necessity. I give her a sympathetic smile as we are escorted into Dr. Smithe's office. It is a very large and comfortable examination room, with soft cushioned couches for us to sit on and a more proper examination table in the distance. A few moments later, Dr. Smithe enters the room and her sunny disposition brightens the room as she approaches us."You must be Cordelia," she holds out her hand for me to shake. "And this must be little Jasper."I open the carrier so that she can get a be
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[Atlas]As soon as the girls left the office, I could hear the sound of Clark closing all the blinds and turning on the light."You might as well come out," he grumbles. "I know you heard everything."I press open the panel where my hidden office rests. From the outside, it just looks like an ordinary bookshelf, but if you know how to access it, the bookshelf slides out of the way opening into a small but well-stocked room, barely bigger than a desk, with a private bathroom and a minifridge. It's not so different from the type of panic rooms that many executives have built into their office spaces, and that is likely what this room will become once the charade is done.From this hidden office, I listen in on meetings and conversations, sending Clark text messages or emails to help him negotiate trickier situations. He is a good enough businessman to handle most of the day-to-day work on his own but I still feel responsible for the success of S
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[Cordelia]We followed Clark and the police officer to a private office away from the rest of the hospital. It didn't have the antiseptic feel of the emergency room, nor the unflattering overhead florescent lighting. Instead, it had soft chairs and sunshine. Just outside the window is a beautiful rose garden. It seems wrong that we are disturbing this space."This the hospice wing," Clark explains and it makes sense. This is the part of the hospital where the very old and the terminally ill come to spend their last days. They want those days to be peaceful and pleasant. "I recognize it from Grandpa Jasper," his voice is soft and sad. He looks at little Jasper bundled in my arms and his eyes fill with tears. "Why did they bring us here, Clark?" my voice is shaking and Tilly grabs my arm. A doctor walks through the door and takes a chair across from us. "I brought you here because I am hoping you'll allow me to be your specialist. After looking at your son's scans, I am certain I can h
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[Cordelia]"Doctor, are you saying my little boy is seriously ill? That it isn’t just a cold?"I can't remember what he says next because everything else is a blur. His words rush past me in a whirlwind of confusion. More scans, more tests, more treatments that may or may not work. Apparently this virus is so lethal that it kills most of the people who catch it. It’s also extremely rare. Steele Labs had been working on a cure for this virus and several others by making a miracle treatment that would work on everything from this illness to infant lung cancer.They died before they could ever share it with the world. And now my baby, my perfect baby boy, might be dying like so many other Steele babies before him. "He's a strong, healthy child," the doctor assures us, "And while there is no perfect cure for an illness like this, but with treatment he has a chance. We were able to save Atlas and Clark from this illness, maybe some of the same treatments will work for Jasper.""But it mi
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[Cordelia]"Magnus?" A cold chill runs down my spine. "Magnus Fisher.""If I had only known," Atlas runs his hands through his hair, "I could have alerted the police when he first appeared to you. I could have stopped this disaster from tumbling out of control."Something clicks, something Angelica said before she died. "Atlas, before Angelica died she mentioned something about there being someone out there who she was trying to protect me from, somebody more terrible than I could imagine. She said he was the reason she was doing all the terrible things that she was doing to drive us apart," I blink up at Atlas. "Could that person have been Magnus?"Atlas looks startled. "If that's true, how deep does this go?" Atlas wonders aloud. "If Magnus had a hand in Angelica's disappearance, or even in our relationship..."Atlas' eyes brighten with realization, but then his face falls as the meaning sinks in. "How many people has Magnus sen
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