Steal My Heart, Mr Cole

Chapter 14

Laura Sterling

My heart was still hammering against my ribs even though Aaron had finally set me back down into the wheelchair.

My arms felt like jelly, trembling slightly as I gripped the armrests. Every breath I took came shallow and uneven, as if my lungs had forgotten how to work properly.

“I hated this body. I hated how weak it had become.“ I thought.

For many years of those little white pills Derick forced down my throat every single day.

They had stolen everything ... my strength, my balance, my fire. Now even the simplest movements left me exhausted. My legs lay useless beneath the thin blanket, heavy and numb, like they belonged to someone else. Sometimes I wondered if they would ever wake up again.

Aaron stood a few feet away, watching me with that unreadable expression of his.

I kept my eyes lowered to my lap, too tired to hold his gaze for long. My cheeks still burned from the way he had carried me.

From the way my body had reacted... that stupid flutter low in my belly, the way my hands had clutched his shirt without permission. I wanted to scrub the memory away.

“You’re shaking,” he said finally. His voice was low, almost gentle, but I didn’t trust gentle anymore. Gentle had been Derick’s favorite mask in the beginning.

“I’m fine,” I whispered. Even my voice sounded fragile. Thin. Nothing like the woman who used to command boardrooms.

Aaron took one slow step closer. Then another. I could feel the air shift around me as he crouched down in front of the wheelchair, bringing his face level with mine. Up close, his eyes were even more intense ...a deep, stormy gray that seemed to pull at secrets I didn’t want to give.

“You’re not fine, Laura.” He said my name like he had every right to it. “Your hands are trembling. Your breathing is too fast. And you’re pale.”

I swallowed hard. The truth was, my head was spinning. "It's not like you care... You are a Cole."

The brief burst of adrenaline from trying to leave him had drained whatever little energy I had left. Now the familiar fog was creeping back in ... that heavy, drug-induced exhaustion that made everything feel distant and heavy.

“I just… need to rest,” I murmured, my fingers tightening weakly on the wheels. “Please.”

He didn’t move away. Instead, he reached out and carefully tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

The touch was so light, so unexpectedly tender, that my breath hitched. My body betrayed me again .. a small shiver running down my spine that had nothing to do with fear.

“You tried to run from me,” he said softly, almost to himself. “Even though you can barely push this chair ten meters without tiring.”

Shame burned through me. I wanted to snap back, to tell him I wasn’t pathetic, that I used to be someone powerful. But the words wouldn’t come. My tongue felt thick and slow.

The pills had taken that too.

Aaron studied my face for a long moment. The silence grew heavier. I could hear the distant hum of the city outside, but in this room it felt like we were the only two people left in the world.

“I’m not letting you walk out of here alone,” he said at last. There was no anger in his tone, only quiet certainty. “Derick is still looking for you. And right now… you’re in no condition to survive him again.”

My eyes stung. I blinked rapidly, refusing to let the tears fall. I was so tired of crying. So tired of being this broken version of myself.

“Then what do you want?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. “You said I could go… and then you stopped me.”

Aaron’s jaw tightened slightly. He rose to his full height, towering over me once more. Even sitting, I felt small next to him.

"You know what to do...."

He paused, then added the part that made my stomach twist:

“And I want you to sign the marriage contract.”

My breath caught. The room seemed to tilt slightly. Marriage. To Aaron Cole. The older brother of the man who had destroyed me.

“I… I can’t,” I whispered. My hands were shaking harder now. “Not yet. I can’t think straight. Everything feels… heavy.”

Aaron didn’t push immediately. Instead, he moved behind the wheelchair and began pushing it slowly toward the large windows overlooking the city.

The movement was gentle, almost soothing, but I knew better than to relax.

“Rest tonight,” he said from behind me. His voice was close to my ear. “Tomorrow we’ll talk about the contract again. But understand this, Laura .... I’m not Derick. What I want is different.”

I closed my eyes, fighting the confusing warmth that spread through my chest at his words.

My body was too weak to fight him physically, and my mind was too foggy to fight him verbally right now.

As the wheelchair stopped near the window, I stared out at the glittering lights of the city, feeling more trapped than ever.

Because the scariest part wasn’t Aaron’s demand.

It was the tiny, treacherous voice inside my exhausted mind whispering that maybe… just maybe… being trapped by him wouldn’t feel as cold as the prison Derick had kept me in.

And that thought terrified me more than anything.

“You’re still shaking,” Aaron said softly, his deep voice cutting through the thick fog in my mind.

I blinked slowly, my eyelids feeling like they weighed a thousand pounds.

“I… I can’t stop,” I whispered, my voice coming out weak and slurred. My hands trembled violently on my lap as I clutched the edge of the blanket. “Everything is so… fuzzy.”

Aaron crouched in front of the wheelchair again, his stormy eyes searching my face with that intense look that made my chest tighten.

He reached out and gently took my cold hands in his warm ones. The contrast made me shiver even more.

“You’re safe here, Laura. I won’t hurt you like he did,” he murmured, his thumb stroking the back of my hand in slow circles.

Safe? The word felt like a lie I desperately wanted to believe.

“I used to be someone,” I said quietly, my words breaking. “I wore heels… commanded rooms. Now look at me. I can’t even… feel my legs properly. The pills… they stole everything.”

Aaron’s jaw tightened, but his touch remained gentle. He lifted one hand and brushed a strand of hair from my sweaty forehead. “You’re still that woman, Laura. Just buried under the pain right now. Let me help you heal.”

My heart fluttered traitorously at his words. Why did his voice sound so caring? Why did his closeness make butterflies dance in my stomach even when my head was spinning? I hated how my body reacted to him. This was wrong. He was a Cole. Derick’s brother.

“I don’t know if I can trust you,” I confessed, my voice barely above a whisper as another wave of dizziness hit me. “Everything feels like a dream… or a nightmare. One minute I want to run, the next I just want to sleep forever.”

He stood up slowly and slid his strong arms under me, lifting me effortlessly from the wheelchair into a bridal carry.

My head lolled against his broad chest, his steady heartbeat thumping under my ear. I was too weak to fight it. My fingers weakly clutched his shirt as the room tilted around us.

“You don’t have to run tonight,” Aaron said as he carried me toward the bedroom. “Just rest in my arms. I’ve got you.”

The bed felt like clouds when he laid me down. He pulled the soft blanket over my numb legs, tucking it around me with surprising tenderness. I stared up at him through heavy-lidded eyes, my mind drifting in and out of the haze.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, my voice small and broken. “Why do you want a weak, messed-up woman like me?”

Aaron sat on the edge of the bed, his large hand gently cupping my cheek. His eyes darkened with something possessive and deep.

“Because from the moment I saw you, I knew you were meant to be mine,” he replied, his voice low and intense. “One year, Laura. Sign the contract and let me protect you… let me steal your heart.”

A tear slipped down my cheek as the fog pulled me deeper. My body was shutting down, but my heart was racing with fear and something dangerously close to longing.

“I’m scared, Aaron,” I whispered finally, my eyes fluttering shut. “So scared I’ll lose what’s left of me.”