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Chapter 324
Last Updated:
2024-09-27 09:47:24
VictoryAnne ViceWould you trust her?
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Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 325
[Cordelia] What is she talking about? What ability? "I'm sorry, but you're confusing me. I don't know..." "Your healing!" she shouts, her eyes bright with excitement as she jumps forward to seize my hands, which she traps with her iron grip. "I've spent time with Jasper, I know that his lung improvement has nothing to do with my treatment. And now with what happened to Tilly, I realized that it must have been you. You're the key. You're the catalyst." She can't be serious. This is absolute nonsense. This is no better than when Jude was trying to convince me that Magnus was some kind of a monster. "That sounds too much like magic," I laugh. "Magic isn't real." I think back to the moment that I almost believed in ghosts and shake my head. It was only my foolish husband pretending to be dead and stalking me. I thought I was being haunted until I realized it was all a trick. Nobody is going to trick me like that again. I refuse to be so foolish. Her eyes are wide as she scans my f
Last Updated : 2024-09-27Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 326
[Cordelia]I expected her hands to slip, or her grip to fail. She is, after all, a woman in her 60's, and although I am petite in stature, I am still a full-grown woman hanging by her ankle. Even a strong man would have a hard time keeping a hold of me.Somehow she not only manages to hold on, but she does so for long enough that a crew member could reach out from the deck below to grab my shoulders and ease me onto their deck. It was a careful operation requiring strong hands. Even so, they could have lost me if Susanna hadn't been able to hold on for as long as she did. In all the commotion someone contacts Atlas who rushes onto the lower deck just as they pull me to safety. "Cordelia, oh my God!" He shouts as he scoops me up into his lap. I sigh deeply, sinking into his warmth. I missed him so much. I can't stand when we're arguing. "What happened?""I fell," I nuzzle him closely. "I thought I was going to die."The door flies open behind us. "Cordelia, are you okay?"Atlas swive
Last Updated : 2024-09-27Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 327
[Atlas]Cordelia has been acting strangely. The change is stark. And when I ask her to explain, she won't, she freezes up and gives me this wide-eyed stare. When my mother enters the room, it's even worse. She starts to shake. My mother doesn't even need to say anything and Cordelia starts looking for ways to leave. My mother says Cordelia was trying to leave forever the night she rescued Cordelia from falling off the boat. I couldn't believe it at first when she told me about my wife getting up onto the railing and trying to jump, but the crewman confirmed her story and I have no reason to believe my mother would lie.Which means that Cordelia did try to jump. Cordelia has never been suicidal, even at her darkest, but now that I see the way she is around my mother, I wonder if maybe there is something that I missed. Is Cordelia as mentally unstable as my mother suggests? Could it be some unresolved postpartum depression like the doctor saysWhat is going on with you, Cordelia? Why
Last Updated : 2024-09-27Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 328
[Atlas]Clark's face is drawn and tired, his body hunched. He looks like he's been stuck in this chair for days, and perhaps he has."How's she doing today," I ask as I take a step deeper into the room. His daughters are asleep in a double stroller next to him as the nurses prepare to transport their mother. They make little bubbles in their sleep as they lay in their separate seats, their little fingers touching."As well as can be expected," he sighs like a man who feels the weight of everything on his shoulders. In one quick, tragic moment, he went from a man desperately in love planning his wedding to an almost widower and single father. "They still can't figure out what caused her cardiac arrest. Has Cordy said anything more about what happened before her episode?""No," I shake my head, my disappointment coloring my voice, "She hasn't been willing to talk about what happened." My anger rises as I tell him all about how our relationship has been disintegrating, how we are sleepin
Last Updated : 2024-09-27Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 329
[Clark]My brother is such a fool. He often is when it comes to Cordelia. I trust in his ability to make this right, but I also worry about the two of them. They've both been through so much pain."We're ready, Mr. Steele." the nurses inform me as they detach her IVs but keep her ventilator in place. She has a few other vital machines keeping her alive, but that is the only one she cannot do without until her lungs remember how to breathe on their own. My poor lost Tilly. When she "woke" yesterday, it did so much damage to her lungs they say she'll have permenant scarring. Even if she does recover, she'll have a hard time breathing for the rest of her life.Cassie and Maddie droop sleepily in their stroller as I say goodbye to their mother. They had been sleeping just a moment before, but my argument with their uncle snapped them awake. But they are such good girls, that they hardly ever cry. As their little eyes look around and take in everything they see, I can't help but marvel at
Last Updated : 2024-09-27Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 330
[Clark]Cordelia is seething mad. Whatever happened between her and Atlas has created a rift between them and Atlas is going to need to work hard if he wants to win back her trust. Whatever he said or did this time has her behaving much like she did when she divorced him the first time, and if he isn't careful, he'll be speaking with her lawyers a second time. She has the same resolute look on her face, the same determination of a woman with nothing to lose. "Please let me know when you have updates on Tilly," she requests as I help her with Jasper's stroller.Her usually sweet smile has a sour downturn on the edges as I pull her into my arms for a final hug. "I'll let you know as soon as her condition changes," I promise, letting her go. As I watch her wheel my nephew into the lobby of the finest luxury hotel in Honolulu, I find myself jealous of my brother. Yes, his wife isn't speaking to him at the moment, but at least she is strong enough to leave him. I'd rather have Tilly slap
Last Updated : 2024-09-27Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 331
[Clark]"Jenny," Matthew Madison scowls, his brow pinching as he looks between his wife and me. "Give the boy a break. He loves her too." Tilly's mother cracks her knuckles and I'm reminded so strongly of my fiance that I almost start crying. I won't crack in front of them. I need to stay strong for all of my girls. But it is hard facing off with her parents. I wish we were here on a happier occasion and on better terms. I think I'd have grown to like Jennifer Madison. My Tilly is very much like her mother. So much so that I'm certain that no amount of kindness will break through to her now. Her face is hard, unrelenting, as she condemns me with her eyes. I try to remind myself that she's hurting too but giving her that much grace is growing difficult as she spews hate and vengeance with her eyes. I understand that seeing her only child weak and unresponsive must be breaking her inside, but that doesn't mean I'll relent to give her what she wants. I won't let her cross my boundaries
Last Updated : 2024-09-29Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 332
[Cordelia]The helicopter's blades blasted wind into our faces, stealing our words, but the message was clear, even if Atlas couldn't exactly hear what I was trying to say. "Atlas, I'm leaving you."The way his face instantly fell, I could tell the message hit home. I am done competing with his "mother" for attention. I'm tired of having my words disregarded. As the helicopter lifted off, my best friend inside, I couldn't help but think about all the moments we have survived as a family. And now Tilly, who has held me together so many times, is falling apart and might need me more than ever. If only psychic abilities were real, as suggested by that woman pretending to be Susanna. I would place my hands on her and wish her well. I would wish so hard that she'd be holding her children right now. I can feel Atlas' eyes on me as I leave. He doesn't chase me, he knows that won't help. He is giving me space to think.Clark is a kind friend. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been
Last Updated : 2024-09-29
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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
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
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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
