All Chapters of Stealing the Heart of Mr. Steele: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

357 Chapters

Chapter 51

[Cordelia]“I can see you are still not convinced,” Angelica walks over to the dresser and pulls out a long sundress and undergarments. “Let’s go find Jude. He’ll help show you the truth.” She helps me get dressed, as my body is fairly unsteady. She tells me that this is normal for me after one of my “episodes.” There are times when my mind shuts down and I go in and out of consciousness for several days or even weeks. This time I had been asleep for a week and a half. “And every time I need to remind you of who you are and what has happened,” she sighs. “You seem to believe your dreams are real and this is a fantasy.” Guiding me gently by the arm, Angelica gives me a grand tour of the island. It is surprisingly close to home, just a short distance from Los Angeles. “Jude’s family has had property here in the Channel Islands for generations,” she explains as she continues to tell me more and more about a fiance I cannot remember going on and on about his merits. With the way her f
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Chapter 52

 [Cordelia]“Are you okay, Cordy,” his face and voice are warm and concerned, but his eyes are cold, and calculating, looking at every element of my face.Forcing my face into a smile I lie. “Everything is fine.” As happy as I am to see Angelica, I cannot trust her. She lied to me with too much ease and sincerity. She was convincing enough that I was starting to believe her, and if I hadn’t had a flash of memory, I may still be convinced. She didn’t betray a single mistake as she gaslit me and tried to convince me that my reality was not true. But maybe she doesn’t know everything she said is a lie. If I have been walking around for who knows how long with some type of amnesia, maybe the same is true for her. 
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Chapter 53

[Atlas]None of this feels real. We’ve been searching for Cordelia for over a month now and still haven’t found any solid leads. The police have started to hint that maybe she doesn’t want to be found, that she disappeared intentionally.Their other suggestion is one I don’t want to think about–that she was taken by whoever poisoned her and that she might already be dead. I refused to believe that. I need to believe that she is still out there, with our baby, somewhere safe but hidden, waiting for me to find her. I’ve placed a framed picture of her on our wedding day next to the bed. Every morning I look at it and wonder how things could have been if I had given that shy girl a chance to love me and be loved in return. She was too young to be getting married, only 19. As a bachelor in my 30s, I should have known better. But my grandfather had wanted the match and when Angelica disappeared, her younger sister seemed to be the best option at the time. I promised myself not to ever
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Chapter 54

[Atlas]I don’t know whether or not I want to hug my brother or punch him. Somehow he had found a pattern that the police had missed, even though they had been given a month so far to find her. “Why didn’t you offer any of this to the police?” I wonder aloud. “Maybe this could have helped crack the case.”“I tried, but they informed me that all of this surveillance was technically illegal and that none of it would hold up in a court of law.” He shrugged. “I tried there first before coming to discuss all of this with you. I had been…” he pauses before continuing “...hoping that I could help without getting directly involved. If they had just taken my footage I’d…”He doesn’t need to finish his sentence. He probably didn’t want to tell me about his surveillance of Cordelia and me. Considering how bad it makes him look, I can almost understand his motivation. “I also wanted to verify some of my suspicions first before I came to you. So I hired a private investigator.” He explains as he
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Chapter 55

[Cordelia]It is dark when I open my eyes. I am alone in a room that feels cold, even though I am covered in blankets. As my eyes adjust, I realize it is the same yellow room from before, only now everything is in various shades of gray as the pale moonlight changes everything into the many colors of shadows.  The last thing I remember, I was being forced onto a table to be “examined” by Jude. However, I can’t remember anything after that because whatever he did next made the world fade to nothing. I think he tried to hypnotize me.  Now that I think about it, maybe he succee
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Chapter 56

[Cordelia] “Angelica,” I gasp as I let my face go slack and my eyes grow wide. “Where am I? How did I get here?”Angelica slowly changes her own demeanor to match my own, her feline grin softening into something sweeter and less toxic. “Oh you poor sweet dear,” she coos as she takes my arm to gently guide me back towards my room. “Do you not remember where you are? You are home of course.”“Home,” I continue to pretend.  “Of course, this must be home because you are here.”“That’s right,” her smile grows larger. “I’m here to take care of you.”I let her tuck me into bed, pulling the covers up to my ch
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Chapter 57

[Atlas]The early morning air is cold and crisp as Clark and I wait for any sign of “The Angel.” It should have returned two days ago, but something must have delayed it. A feeling of fear and dismay has been gnawing at my nerves the longer this drags out. Something tells me Cordelia needs me, needs us. But we will be unable to do anything if we cannot find what island she is on. Our investigations have narrowed the location down to 6 potential locations either on or near Catalina Island. We tried to go to the police to help, but they couldn’t do anything until we confirmed where she was being held and that she was there under duress. Without those bits of evidence, for all they know she is just hanging around having a nice, sunny vacation. Clark taps my shoulder and points at the horizon. A smallish white boat is moving closer to the dock. As it approaches, the name Angel becomes visible on its bow. Thank God!Clark has readied a micro drone that will attach itself to the boat an
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Chapter 58

[Jude] Bright and sunny with a touch of wind, it is a perfect day to sail back to LA. Maybe if I have enough time, I can get in a nice surf before heading home. Cordelia has been a bigger challenge than I expected her to be. It seems that the only way I can keep her under control is by using a combination of drugs and hypnosis. It is a good thing we aren’t trying to save the health of her child because, with the number of narcotics we have been pumping into her system, there are likely to be some unfortunate side effects. We may even be doing her a favor by ending its life when we harvest her uterus. This last time Angelica had to tie her down to the bed. Only then were we able to administer the drug to put her in another medicinal coma until we were ready for the procedure. We aren’t trying to kill her–Angelica wants her alive to know the pain she caused us by experiencing it firsthand. “Death would be too good for her,” she told me the last time we spoke about it. I only care a
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Chapter 59

Chapter 59 [Cordelia] I wake up gasping for breath, my heart racing like someone had dunked me into a pool of ice water. I am wet from head to toe in sweat, my skin flushed and pink. I try to take a deep breath but find myself unable to stop hyperventilating. My eyes struggle to find their focus as my heart beats so rapidly and with such intensity, I can feel it pounding against my ribcage. “Try to breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth,” Angelica coaches me from beside my bed. “You aren’t dying, but you just woke up from a medically induced coma. It is normal to feel like someone hit you with a semi-truck.” “What did you do to me?” I try to say but it comes out in a garbled mess, my mouth betraying me as my tongue flops uselessly against my teeth. “Patience,” she holds out her hands in a calming manner, trying to soothe me as she goes about unbuckling my arms and legs. “It’s just the effects of the adrenaline. Give your body a few minutes to find its equilib
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Chapter 60

[Cordelia]Jude disappeared inside the building, holding my sister in his arms like a child in need of care. What is the real nature of their relationship? I she his willing accomplice, or has she been brainwashed and trapped here just as much as I have been?Is my sister still in there, waiting to be saved? And all that nonsense she was rambling about us not being real sisters, about how Jude must be wrong. It is all so confusing. I need to find help. I can't leave her here, but I also don't want to stay. Jude is a madman. Not only do his experiments sound like something out of a bad science fiction movie, but they also involve the death of me and my child. I will never forget the sight of body parts floating in jars. But I don't have time to think about any of this. I have to protect my child. And I cannot protect my child, or myself if Jude comes back out to collect me next. It takes me a moment to get to my feet, but I manage. I'm not wearing shoes or socks, so every rock of t
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