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Chapter 87
Last Updated:
2024-05-31 14:18:02
VictoryAnne ViceI worked in the fashion industry for two years before becoming a mother. Some of the things I encountered were ruder and crueler than anything you'd expect. So...out of curiosity, how many of you want me to include a bit more of Tilly and Clark's story?
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[Cordelia]Tilly and Clark provided an excellent distraction as I got over the hard feelings of my first day at work Watching their sweet interactions at the ice cream parlor as I indulged in more frozen dessert than is probably healthy, their playful banter warmed my heart and eased my mind.After a restful evening, I arrived at work the next day feeling refreshed and optimistic.Today, I am determined to make a good impression on all of them. Kill them with kindness. I will make them like me, goddamn it, even if I have to force them to. Thinking about how it felt to get a nice treat from my friends, I thought it might be nice to show my staff similar consideration. Taking Tilly's advice and showing them all I can be a good friend. Maybe if they can see I'm a kind boss, and maybe learn a bit about why I'm there, they might warm their hearts to me a little bit. So as I drove into work this morning I stopped by a famous donut shop and grabbed two dozen donuts and a large carafe of p
Last Updated : 2024-05-31Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 89
[Atlas]Angelica arrived a the office shortly after 8. I was surprised to see her here. I thought I had made it clear to her that the office wasn't a place she should just casually visit based on whims. "This is a place of business," I reminded her. She had cried for an hour after I told her that, but in the end, I thought we had come to an understanding. What I didn't realize was how different her understanding was from mine.I thought I had made it very clear that the office was off-limits except for those on official business.She thought it was off-limits unless she wanted to come be a part of the business. "Angelica, what are you doing here?" I demand when she waltzes into my office, grinning largely like a satisfied cat. "I thought we had discussed this.""We did," she nods enthusiastically. "You said not to come here unless I have official business, and I do!" she claps her hands, her eyes bright with delight as she explains that she just personally delivered brand new espres
Last Updated : 2024-05-31Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 90
[Cordelia]I didn't go straight back to the office. I couldn't. I needed time to think. So I rode the elevator to the bottom, stepped off, and took a walk around town. It doesn't seem to matter what I do, Angelica wins. Maybe I should just stop fighting. I have more important things to worry about right now than a romance between myself and the man who was supposed to be my brother-in-law.It is time that I build a life separate from Atlas Steele. Maybe we will come together when it is all over. Or maybe we will both have moved on. Either way, I need to create some distance between us. Not just for Angelica's recovery but for my own sake as well. My heart cannot take all this back and forth of emotions. If I let myself feel too much, it will continue to break my heart. I think of calling Tilly, or even Clark, but I already know what they are going to say and I don't want their opinions to cloud my decision. I need to remain strong, and if I am always looking to Atlas for validatio
Last Updated : 2024-05-31Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 91
[Cordelia]The only thing harder than running the fashion department at Steele Industries is trying to be friends with Atlas Steele and watching him fall in love with my sister all over again. And I only have myself to blame. It was after all my idea. I’m the one who ended things before they even began. He wanted to date me in secret. I don’t want to be a secret, not if I am the type of secret that breaks my sister’s heart. So I told him that we could only be friends at the office and nothing more. The first few days I was fine with the new arrangement. If anything it was a relief. I finally have the space in my mind to dig deep into my work. Now that I’ve found a way to relate with everyone in the design and production departments, they are willing to listen to my ideas. The patterns from my collection are now scanned into the system and the cutting department and sewing department have been working hard to get everything made to my specifications. Tonight, we will be working on
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[Cordelia]Atlas calls Theo in the design department to manage things in my absence as Angelica and her bridesmaids gleefully drag me out of the office and into the elevator.I have never met a group of grown women who can giggle as much as those four do and as they drag me into the back of a waiting car, I begin to question my sanity for agreeing to come along with them.But soon the car was zooming along taking us to our first wedding shopping spot. I don't know where we are going and I really don't care. If I could have figured out a tasteful way to exit this situation without looking like a total monster, I would have. Someone had opened a bottle of wine and had begun handing out glasses. When one was handed to me and I refused, a look of indignation crossed my sister's face and I had no problem glaring back at her while pointing to my very noticeably round stomach. "Doctor's orders," I snap. "You wouldn't want to hurt my baby, would you?" The truth is, I don't trust a glass of w
Last Updated : 2024-06-01Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele Chapter 93
[Cordelia]When the car stopped in front of the most exclusive bridal salons in Los Angeles, my heart sank to the floor. I still remember the last day we were here. My mother brought me here without an explanation, letting it be a surprise that they had decided to marry me to Atlas in Angelica's place. I cannot remember the weather or the color of the shoes I was wearing when I entered the store, but I do remember the look of harsh judgment the owner made when she learned why I was there instead of my sister. The appointment had been made for Angelica, who had come the week before to have her measurements taken and her dress sized. Nobody would mistake me for her. "What kind of person takes her sister's fiance," she questioned me harshly as her rough hands cinched and pulled on a dress designed for a much curvier body. "Do you have no shame?""Perhaps," I remember answering, my body too stiff and stunned by the events of the week before, my face and arms still bruised from the acci
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[Cordelia]"Excuse me," I try to catch the owner's attention as she turns to leave. "I think there's been a mistake. I'm not the one getting married."The woman turns around not bothering to mask her disgust. "Are you sure? After last time how can you be so certain?"I am not going to justify myself to this woman. She doesn't need the intricate details of my relationship with the Steele Family. "Oh, Cordelia!" Angelica pops her head in. "Here you are!" She sees the way the woman is looking at me and twists her face in confusion. "Is there something wrong?"Pretending the woman's bad attitude doesn't piss me off, a skill I've mastered in recent days when dealing with Angelica, I smile brightly and sigh, "Of course not. I was just letting her know that I do not need the wedding dresses and I...""Oh! I should have told you," Angelica beams as if she had the best idea ever. "I thought it might be a fun idea for you to get to try on some wedding gowns as well since your wedding will be c
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[Cordelia]I have no interest in trying on wedding dresses, but Angelica doesn't care. She pushes me into the room with enough force that I am sure she would lock it behind me if she could. Even without the lock, I know I am trapped. If I do not leave this room donning an appropriate wedding gown, I will have to face the wrath of the bride.Hesitantly I look through the rack of dresses. I don't know why I even bothered since it is clear that the shop owner has her own opinion about what a pregnant bride should wear, and the opinion is not kind.Still, determined to make Angelica happy, I try on each dress. I'm sure they are out there wondering about me since I don't bother with stepping out of the room to show them off. Even the ones that look like promising options make me want to cry with how terrible I look once I put them on. The worst one was a dress made of stretch satin that had so much ruching around the midsection that the champagne-colored silk made it look like I was naked
Last Updated : 2024-06-02
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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
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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
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[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
