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Chapter 338
Last Updated:
2024-10-10 00:25:55
VictoryAnne ViceMore chapters coming soon. Sorry for all the delays. The recovery from my operation has taken longer than I expected it to take. Don't worry, I'm still working on this story, I haven't abandoned you! If you are enjoying the story, let me know. I enjoy reading comments. :) Thank you all for your continued support.
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Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 339
[Atlas]Standing behind Cordelia, I watch the two of us in the mirror as she puts her traveling clothes on layer by layer. She'll be leaving the tropical heat of Hawaii and in a few hours find herself in the crisp cool air of Vancouver. As she stands, I kiss the back of her head and she smiles. "I love you too, Atlas," she responds to my touch, my words caught in my throat. I want to be strong for her and our son as I send them away to safety. "I know you'll join us soon and with the cure."She turns and I marvel at how her auburn curls, now longer than I've ever seen them, tumble across her shoulders. Her bright green eyes smile up at me and I am stunned at how beautiful she has grown up to be. She has always been lovely, even as the child of 19 that I married 7 years ago. But now that she's grown into a capable woman, she glows."Do you have any idea how incredible you are?" I ask her as I kiss the spot between her eyes on the bridge of her nose. She turns her head away, blushing a
Last Updated : 2024-10-10Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 340
[Cordelia]I could still feel the echo of his touch when I landed in Vancouver 6 hours later. "Maman!" I hugged my mother tightly as she helped me with Jasper as we made our way through the airport. It feels like it's been forever since I've seen her, even though the wedding was only 4 months ago. "He's grown so much," she coos over her grandson as she lifts him up to her hip. "And you're starting to talk I hear," she has forgotten all about me as she indulges in his sweetness. I cannot say I blame her. With his large red curls and big grey eyes, his cheeks now rosy and full of health, he's a little charmer. "Thank you for meeting us," I gratefully follow her out of the airport to a line of black cars blocking pick-up. "What's all this?" I raise an eyebrow. "A celebrity in town?"She snorts as she bounces my son a bit higher on her hip. "This is your escort.""Mine?" I raise both eyebrows in amazement. "Whatever for?""Ask your overprotective husband," she shakes her head as she he
Last Updated : 2024-10-12Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 341
[Cordelia]I love my husband, but sometimes he can be a bit of a bully. "Atlas, darling," I text. "Why do you have paramilitary officers guarding my townhouse?"It takes only a few seconds for a reply. "You know why. No details on the phone," short and to the point, yet cryptic and vague simultaneously. Damn it, Atlas!"Am I not allowed to go on a walk without one? Must one watch me at all times?" I demand, gritting aloud through clenched teeth as I type to the amusement of my security detail whose lips quirk just slightly."2," is all he says in return. Strike two? Then it hits me. He's listing the number of times I've been kidnapped in the last year.Grumbling I close my phone. "Shall we, " the security officer smiles, his hand held out to indicate I follow him out the open door."Just let me pretend to be alone," I instruct the young man who has introduced himself as Jake. He's only a little taller than me, but underneath his well-tailored jacket is a gun and enough powerful musc
Last Updated : 2024-10-12Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 342
[Cordelia]Pausing, I hold my breath and listen. Jake looks puzzled, as he does the same, mirroring my behavior. Nothing, the hall is silent. "Miss," the receptionist calls after me. "I didn't get your name?"Smiling brightly, I shook my head. "Never mind, I think I'm going to look elsewhere. Merci beaucoup!""Merci, Madam." She waved after me, her smile wide and frozen, pulling her face tight like a doll's. Once we're outside and a few blocks away, I take a deep breath, my hands shaking. That was bold. Stupid. If Atlas knew..."Please," I look over at my bodyguard. "Do not tell my husband."Raising an eyebrow in disbelief he shakes his head. "I have to report everything, Mrs. Steele." Sighing I realize he's right. Besides, I promised Atlas that we would have no more secrets between us. After Magnus forced me to lie for months about Jasper, I know that if I lie about this now, it could be very harmful to our marriage. And I don't want that. Not after regaining his trust. "Tell m
Last Updated : 2024-10-13Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 343
[Cordelia}"You!" I hiss glaring at the woman on the other side of the doorway. "Why on Earth are you here?""Good evening, Cordelia," Suzanna Steele grins pleasantly, not responding to my question. Her purposeful movements suggest that she is expected and welcome here, and as I move out of the way, the feeling of betrayal seeps into my heart. I will have more than a few questions for my mother later. She's been very mysterious lately.Standing behind her is a shy young man who looks down at his feet. He is tall, dark, and extremely handsome with his bright blue eyes and strong shoulders. I've never seen him before, but he seems to know both Suzanna and my mother. As soon as he reaches Christine Delaroux, she wraps him in her embrace, kissing him gently on the cheek. "Oh good, our guests are here," my traitorous mother holds open her arms in welcome to Suzanna and I cringe inwardly as they air-kiss each other's cheeks. "Sasha, Suzanna, thank you for making it here on such short noti
Last Updated : 2024-10-15Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 344
[Cordelia]"Before you ask again," she removes her scarf revealing her scarred face. "Yes, I am the real Suzanna Steele."She lets that statement stand-alone, giving me a chance to accept and process my words."But...""Oh, the comb," she grinned. "Yes, I recognized it but the thing is...I wasn't sure if I could trust you. Magnus has a way of digging his claws into people, loyal people, and forcing them to behave against their better judgment. I needed to make sure you weren't under his sway. To be honest, part of me was not convinced at the time you fell over the edge of the boat.""Fell," I snap. "You pushed."The corners of her eyes crinkled, as she closed her eyes remorsefully. "It wasn't my intention. I was trying to startle you, not kill you. I needed to test you, but I'd never take a mother from her children," she looks down at the table sadly, "Nor a wife from her husband."Her words sound sincere, but were her intentions that pure?"Maybe if I tell you a bit more about who I a
Last Updated : 2024-10-16Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 345
[Cordelia]"Prove it? How?" "How much did Jude tell you about the seven families?" Suzanna inquires as my mother reenters the room. She sits beside Suzanna and pats her arm encouragingly, "And Magnus." "He thinks he's some kind of immortal," I laugh waiting for them to join in.The room slowly falls silent as the two ladies wait."You can't mean to say you believe that," I look at my mother. "That's not real. That can't be real.""I don't know about immortal," Suzanna confirms, "but he is impossibly old. I remember him from when I was a little girl and he's always looked the same. I don't think anyone has ever seen him as a young man." She then goes on to describe how her own father researched Magnus and watched him over time. "The first time I saw him he looks exactly as he does now, and that was 45 years ago. If anything, he looks a little younger." "Good plastic surgery, therapy, and a personal trainer," I list off, shrugging. "I'm still waiting for you to show or say something t
Last Updated : 2024-10-18Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 346
[Cordelia]"You do understand that you are the only one of us who can do this," Suzanna's eyes sparkle with excitement as if this is all just a big caper for her and not the life and death of her entire family. "You are the right age, and as a Devaroux, they will want you even more. They say their school is open to anyone who applies as long as you add yourself to the list. They don't tell you they screen that list for certain families.""How would they know if I were a member of one of those families? People get last names for all sorts of reasons." I think of my own situation. I was once Cordelia Greyson, even though I don't have a drop of Greyson blood. "They also do a DNA test," Suzanna continues. She tells us about their lengthy admittance procedure and how once your name is approved from the list, they bring you in for their "prescreening process." "You carry more than one primary line in your DNA. They'll want to see what you can do.""Wouldn't enrolling me in the school set
Last Updated : 2024-10-19
Latest chapter
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
