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Chapter 249
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2024-08-07 09:04:23Related chapters
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 250
[Cordelia]I've been on the phone with Crissy Devaroux for the last hour and a half, telling her all about the argument I had with Atlas. I was hoping she'd give me some motherly advice to help me keep connected to him.Instead, she suggested I give my relationship some space."Come home," my mother begged as I held the receiver to my ear. "You have nothing left to keep you there, but you'll always have a place here with me." "I can't just leave Atlas alone to deal with this...mess," I explain. Atlas has been working so hard with Clark to try to track down our son and bring him home, even without my help. If anything, I'm more of a hindrance. He's so preoccupied with keeping me from falling apart that he can't focus on what is necessary.The sad thing is, I know who has our son and why. But I can't say anything because if I do, the two people I love most in the world will die. My best chance at finding out anything is to stay here and hunt for this family safe or vault or whatever th
Last Updated : 2024-08-07Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 251
[Cordelia]I look to the doorway and my heart stops, and my breathing stills."Atlas."He steps into the sunlight, closing the door behind him."I asked you, a question, Cordelia." His words are strained. "Where are you going?""Home.""You are home," he insists as he approaches, his eyes flashing with hurt and anger. He came back. As he walks towards me I realize my shock lies in the belief that I didn't expect him to return."I don't want you to leave," He reaches out to me and I let him take my hands in his. "I should have said that yesterday."His thumbs touch my fingertips tenderly, a gesture that is both loving and careful and I know he is afraid that I might break with what he needs to say. "Something is broken between us, Cordelia. Something that has been broken since the night he disappeared."I don't look up, I keep my eyes down, watching our hands. "Losing our son broke us," I say softly afraid to ruin the moment, but also needing to speak. "It is my fault again. My fault
Last Updated : 2024-08-08Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 252
[Atlas]We are stopped somewhere between Santa Barbara and Monterey in a little town with no discernable name buying junk food at a convenience store. This is so outside of our everyday life of expensive luncheons and designer suits. But as I watch Cordelia marvel at the fluorescent pink slurry she is pumping into an oversized plastic cup, I can't think of this choice as a mistake. We both needed to get far away from our normal lives and I can't imagine being any further away than we are right now.When I get home, I'm going to thank Clark. This was a good idea. No, it was the best idea ever. Cordelia and I never had a honeymoon. Our wedding was an arranged one, a deal between our two families, and she wasn't even the bride I had chosen. The day we got married was the most miserable day of both of our lives. But seeing Cordelia with her hair wiping in the breeze of a convertible, a smile stretched from ear to ear as we twist around the corners of the California coastline, I know th
Last Updated : 2024-08-08Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 253
[Cordelia]"But not here," I constantly look over my shoulder. Never knowing when Magnus might be watching puts me on edge. What if Magnus harms my baby because I dare to tell my husband the truth?""Where do you need to go?" He leans in. "Tell me, Cordelia, how can I make this right again between us.""Take me somewhere private, someplace no one else can see," I request. His eyes light up and he reaches for me, pulling me into our first kiss in weeks.His soft lips next to mine make my heart race and my eyes flutter shut. I had almost forgotten how good it feels to be loved by him. "I know a little place, not too far from here, that is closed to everyone" he whispers against my neck. "But I know how to get in, and nobody will bother us there.""Take me," I breathe, meaning both the words and the implication behind them. My body aches so much for his touch that just the promise of it makes things deep within me clench. "Please."
Last Updated : 2024-08-09Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 254
[Cordelia]His hands cup my face tenderly as he bends forward and we come together in a crash of lips. I open to him and he moans as we deepen our kiss. He has missed me as much as I have missed him it seems because it doesn't take long for us to begin peeling our outer layers."Swim with me," he smiles as we stand in our underwear, waiting to see what the other one does. "The ocean is gentle today and we won't go deeper than we can stand.""I don't know if that is a good idea," I look at the gentle waves rolling in. "I don't know how to swim, and the last time I entered the ocean I almost drowned."His face colors with memory, growing red and angry. He wasn't there, but he heard about it later. It doesn't matter if, in the end, I was safe, just the thought of Jude trying, and failing, to teach me sours his expression.I reach forward and kiss him. "You won't let me go, right."A smile relaxes his face as he hears me
Last Updated : 2024-08-09Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 255
[Atlas]As we lay nude next to one another, wrapped up together in a couple of oversized blankets, we hid ourselves from the world and Cordelia shared all of her secrets. The lies she had told, the words she was too afraid to say.And of course, the person behind it all. Magnus. "Every time I tried to say something, a new threat would come through my phone," she explained as she continued her confession. "I have been trying to tell you for weeks, but even notes could be seen somehow. I'm still not sure how he is monitoring me. Maybe my phone, my clothes...I just knew we needed to get away from everything if I would have a chance to tell you."Her heartbeat underneath my hands is faster than a hummingbird's wings and I worry it will stop if she doesn't calm down. She's so frightened, she's been so frightened for so long, that even now as she tells me everything, she is trapped in fear. "I'm afraid I just killed our baby," she cries into my chest and I hold her close. "But I can't do t
Last Updated : 2024-08-10Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 256
[Cordelia]Once the sun set, the beach became too cold, so we made our way back up to the car, doing our best to remove as much sand from our bodies and clothing as we could before getting back into the car. It was a losing battle. "I think there is sand stuck to my scalp," I observe."Which one," Atlas smirks. "I'm pretty sure I have sand in all sorts of unmentionable places.""It was your idea," I smirk back. "Besides, I can assure you I have sand in more hidden places than you do," I grimace hoping that whatever hotel we stay at has a clean tub and one of those detachable showerheads."How does Napa sound," Atlas changes the subject as we put the top up on the car and bundle up against the cold."For what?""Our wedding of course," He then reveals his whole vision of tomorrow--we stop in San Francisco to get a wedding license at City Hall right before heading to Napa. We'll check in and wake up to the beautiful rolling hills of the California wine country as we prepare for our intim
Last Updated : 2024-08-10Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 257
[Cordelia]An oversized spotlight flashes on the two of us and Atlas moves to block my body, shielding me from the glare."Get a room, you two!" The booming voice demands of us before driving away slowly. Atlas helps me up and laughing we get into the car. "Do you think he was going to arrest us?" I look over his shoulder in the direction of where they vanished."Nah," Atlas says with certainty as he gives them a little wave. "They just wanted to flex a bit." Feeling like a couple of teenagers, we head north toward Napa. Attached to the vineyard is an elegant resort with a full spa and spacious suites tailored towards refined elegance. Atlas booked the entire resort. We don't need that much space, but he wanted the privacy. "This moment should just be for us and the people who love us the most," Atlas explained as he brought me inside. The staff welcomed us at the front door and within moments we were swept into our rooms. Exhausted after our long day, we kick off our shoes and pl
Last Updated : 2024-08-11
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Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 407
[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
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 406
[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
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 405
[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
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 404
[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
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 402
[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
Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 400
[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
