Ruthless Empire: A Dark Enemies to Lovers Romance (Royal Elite Book 6)

A perk of being observant is having the element of surprise.

If you can predict everyone’s moves before they make them, it gives you the chance to take them out at their own side of the battlefield.

The disadvantage is if someone knows you’re observant and hides from you.

Like what Silver has been doing the past couple of days.

She doesn’t avoid me, but she’s been cautious around me, immediately pulling away any chance she gets. She’s been spending nights at her mother’s so I don’t sneak into her room.

Then I heard her whispering to Frederic yesterday to ask if there’s a possibility someone outside her father’s team might have her phone number.

I knew she changed it because of the stalker. The fact she’s doing it now after years of receiving them means he’s upped his methods.

He couldn’t have possibly come into contact, right?

My theory is that her change has to do with him, and in order to get her back, I need to take care of it.

But first…

After everyone leaves the locker room, I thrust a hand against the wall, blocking Aiden’s exit.

He didn’t come to practice and only showed to make sure that we were going to visit Elsa in the Meet Up because she needs company after a health problem. Or, rather, that Xander, Ronan, and Kim are. He specifically told me not to go. I know why. He doesn’t trust me around Elsa anymore, not with the damage I can inflict on his relationship with her.

“Now what?” He raises a brow. “You want to start a polyamorous fling? I don’t think Queens could take it, though.”

I suck in a breath and smile as I grab him by the collar. “Speak of her that way again and I’ll rearrange your features.”

“Have you forgotten the part where she’s my fiancée?” He smooths something on my jacket. “You’re my brother-in-law. Isn’t that full of unicorns, or what?”

I maintain my smile, even though I want his head in the middle of the blood pool in my old house. “This is my final warning, King. End it with her. Officially.”

“Let me think about it…hmmm. I’m going to go with no.”

“It’s your choice. Don’t blame me later.” I leave him and stride outside.

Silver told Sebastian she’ll be staying at her mum’s for a few days. I only get to see her in school where she makes sure her friends are always with her.

After that night we spent in my car as I read to her, I thought she was coming around. That she was finally giving up her damn stubbornness and resistance, but Silver isn’t the type who gives in. Not even if you put a knife to her throat.

She’s the type you have to challenge, then make her lose.

Run while you can, Silver.

I head to my car and when I open the door, I notice someone standing near the entrance.

Adam Herran.

Captain of the rugby team and son of one of the Conservative Party members. Usually, I wouldn’t give two fucks about him, but the position he’s standing in is in direct view of where Silver usually parks her car.

She already left; I saw her not so long ago.

The fact that he’s standing so close to where she was could be a coincidence, but here’s the thing, I don’t believe in coincidences.

Everything happens for a reason. Coincidence is merely a term to interpret things that seem to not have an explanation.

They do. You just have to look deeper.

I tilt my head to the side as Adam brings out his phone and smirks while staring at it. There’s a slight twitch in his forefinger, which I assume is excitement, thrill…gratification.

I tuck all those reactions at the back of my mind. Adam Herran is under my radar right now and nothing — absolutely nothing — will save him from me if he indeed did what I think he did.

But first, I need to make true of my promise to Aiden and drive all the way to the Meet Up.

When I arrive, I ignore Ronan’s and Xander’s protests about how I shouldn’t be here. Elsa appears dishevelled, in a mess, almost as if she hasn’t been able to sleep. There’s something about her relationship with Aiden that isn’t what it seems. Everyone calls her Frozen, but I believe there’s always a reason behind the ice.

Aiden’s ice exists because of the kidnapping.

Silver’s ice exists because of her parents’ divorce that she still hasn’t gotten over, no matter how much she loves Mum.

Mine is because of that blood pool and the need for chaos.

And in order to get back at Aiden, I need to melt Elsa’s ice. The only way to do that is to tell her a truth Aiden would never reveal.

While Xander and Ronan bicker, and Kimberly watches them with dreamy eyes — or rather, she watches Xan — I take Elsa outside and tell her about the kidnapping.

I tell her everything that happened from my POV. Of course, I don’t tell her about meeting chaos or that I didn’t want to be found. That would make me seem like a psycho and I don’t need that baggage thrown onto Elsa.

She needs to trust me, not be wary of me.

I’m about to tell her about Aiden’s engagement with Silver when Xander cuts us off like a little bitch.

Fine. I might have lost my chance this time, but not next time.

Elsa will know about the engagement and Aiden will have no choice but to break it off with Silver.

And then she’ll be mine.

All fucking mine.

When I get home, the house is eerily quiet. Sebastian has some sort of a media debate going on, so his entire team is with him.

Mum has a deadline, so she must be writing. The mood has been calm and peaceful around here lately.

And empty.

Silver’s absence makes this place feel like a fucking cemetery.

What’s wrong with me? I’m supposed to see her as my chaos, but now she’s the reason behind the calm?

She’ll come back, though. I’ll get rid of Aiden and anything that keeps her away from me until she has no choice but to run back into my arms.

When I was reading on the history of Europe, I had a small fascination with Hispania — modern-day Spain and Portugal. One story has remained with me. During the Muslim caliphate conquest of Hispania during the eighth century, there was this Berber leader who sailed a small army from the North of Africa to Gibraltar, which is now named after him. His men were scared because they were greatly outnumbered.

What did he do?

He burnt all their ships and told them the famous line, ‘The enemy is in front of you. The sea is behind you.’

He gave them no choice but to fight. Not only did they fight, they also won and ruled Hispania for over seven centuries.

That’s what I’ll do to Silver. I’ll burn her ships so she has no choice but to fall back into me.

To be mine for seven fucking centuries — or whatever is close to that in human years.

I prepare Mum’s favourite jasmine tea and take it to her office that she had made up as soon as we moved in here. Mum has always needed her space to write. If anyone interrupts her, she loses her train of thoughts and might never go back to that ‘zone’.

Instead of knocking, I slowly open the door, planning to put the drink on the table and leave.

Mum stands in front of her board, scribbling what seems like ideas. They always look like another chaos to me. Words scattered all around with no apparent purpose or meaning. How she manages to put them into something coherent afterwards still escapes me.

However, Mum is an artist and no one is meant to understand them. She says even artists find trouble understanding themselves sometimes.

I place the cup on the table and plan to leave without disturbing her, but she turns around and smiles. “Darling, you’re home.”

“I brought you some tea.” I motion at the board. “When can I read it, Mum?”

“Not yet.”

“I thought I had the perks of being the son and getting to read early.” There’s a lot of buzz going on about Mum’s upcoming book, and like any of her other fans, I can’t wait to get my hands on the masterpiece. Mum has a way of titillating the human mind without romanticising it. I fell for her writing since the time I stole her first book and read it in Aiden’s house.

She laughs. “Fine. I’ll give you a copy the same time I send it to my agent. Happy?”

“Yes. Now, have you eaten?” Mum forgets her pills and her meals when she’s on a tight deadline, and I have to constantly remind her of them. Silver has been taking on that role, too.

Mum’s had insomnia lately, but that’s only because she’s been writing. She always seems to backpedal a little when she’s on a deadline. Her therapist told me it’s nothing to worry about, because she’s stressed and will eventually go back to normal once she makes sure she’s met her deadline.

“I have.” She comes close and pats my cheek. “Look at my little boy grown into a man. Have I told you I’m proud of you today?”

“You just did.”

“Where’s Silver?” She stares behind me. “I was planning to make some lasagne for dinner.”

“She told Sebastian she’s staying with her mum.” I grin. “Let’s make it a date for two?”

Her expression falls since she’s all about family gatherings, but then she smiles again. “Absolutely.”

I’m about to leave her be, but I stop at the door and turn around. “Mum?”

“Yeah?” She glances at me over her shoulder.

“Are you happy? With Sebastian, I mean.” I would say yes. He’s attentive and gives her the space she needs, but the devil in me wants her answer to be ‘no’ so bad, it’s disgusting.

“Why, of course.” Her face breaks into another warm, gutting smile. “I finally have the family I’ve dreamt of.”

“I’m happy for you, Mum.” I’m not.

Yes, I want Mum to smile more, and she has since we moved in here, but now I’m starting to have regrets.

I’m starting to think, what if I hadn’t agreed when she first told me about Sebastian? What if I’d told her no instead of hoping they’d eventually get tired of each other and break up?

And the funny part is, I don’t do what-ifs. I’m the type who doesn’t look back on past events but chooses to face forward instead.

However, there has always been an exception to my rules.

Her.

My Butterfly.

My chaos.

I stand outside of her room for a second, but choose to go into mine.

While her Chanel scent helps me sleep at night, it’s also a form of torture to imagine her there when she’s not.

I change into a pair of home trousers and a T-shirt, then sit on my bed, lean on one hand, and open my book of choice again.

Nausea.

Could be because I’m feeling a sense of nausea myself, or that I’m about to go into a different type of nausea.

I should probably read history instead of focusing on someone else’s existential crisis. Just when I’m about to go with that idea, my door barges open. I expect it to be Mum, but she doesn’t barge doors open.

Slowly, I lift my head to find those blue eyes — furious, dark blue, like a storm.

Silver stands at the threshold of my room. Her denim dress’s straps are falling off her pale shoulders. Her golden hair is all over her back and in her face.

She slams the door shut and strides towards me as if hell is resting on her head.

She came back and she’s in my room. Silver never comes into my room unless Mum or Sebastian ask her to call for me. And she usually disappears all too soon.

“Miss me?” I smile, still gripping my book.

“Miss you?” Her voice raises. “More like, I’m here to choke the life out of you.”

“Huh. I thought I was the only one into choking.”

She thrusts her phone into my face. It’s a conversation between her and Aiden from not so long ago.

Aiden: Nash fucked Johansson from the track team.

Silver: What the fuck?

Aiden: I thought you should know.

That fucker.

He must know what I told Elsa, which I expected, considering Xander was there and Elsa looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown.

What I didn’t expect was his childish ways of retaliating.

The joke’s on him, though. His text brought Silver straight to my room.

I’m the one who burned the ships. The enemy is in front of her and the sea is behind her.

“When was this?” she blurts. “How dare you fuck her?”

“I don’t see why I shouldn’t.” I pretend to be bored. “You have a fiancé. Why can’t I have a fuck buddy?”

Her lips part. They tremble before she seals them into a line, and I know, I just know that I won’t like what she’ll say next.

“I’m going to get a fuck buddy, too.”

“Funny.” I force a smile. “We both know you’re too conservative for that.”

“Well, you made me less conservative on Papa’s fucking wedding day, so I guess I have no principles anymore.” She flips her hair. “I’ll send pictures.”

I jump forwards and drag her by the arm so hard, she squeals as she falls back on the bed.

I hover over her, pinning both her wrists to the mattress while my knees are on either side of her waist.

She stares up at me with wild, huge eyes that are puffy. She’s been crying, all alone, in dark corners, so no one — not even her mother — would see her pain.

Silver and her fucking phobia about image are starting to grate on my nerves.

“Let me go,” she speaks in a clear, firm tone. “I’m done playing your games, Cole.”

“Games.” I push into her, causing her lips to part as my hard dick digs into her stomach. I didn’t bother with underwear so she can feel every detail. “Does this look like a fucking game to you?”

“Well, apparently it is,” she says in the same tone, even though she clenches her thighs. “I won’t be your side dish or your toy.”

“Sounds like jealousy to me.”

“Fuck you, Cole. Okay? Let’s see who’s jealous when I go find myself another dick.”

“Another dick?” My jaw tightens. “You think that will ever happen in this life?”

“You can’t watch me twenty-four-seven.”

“No. But I can fuck you so hard, there’ll be nothing left for anyone else.” I grab both her hands with one of mine and yank her dress up. She tries to kick me in the crotch.

I slap her legs apart and she stops, a gasp falling from her lips. Taking advantage of her stunned reaction, I pull her underwear and my trousers down.

She shakes her head when I’m at her entrance.

“Stop resisting me when your cunt is dripping for me,” I speak against her neck before I latch onto the skin, leaving a hickey for the world to see. “Tell me to fuck you.”

“N-no.”

“If you don’t, we’ll be here all night.” I glide the crown of my dick over her folds, slow and unhurried until she moans, her eyes rolling back.

“Cole, stop…”

“Tell me to fuck you, Silver. This time, you’re going to ask for it.”

“No!” She grits out even as her body shudders beneath me. “I’m not a side dish. You don’t get to fuck me after you’ve dipped your dick in someone else.”

“Dipped my dick in someone else, huh?” I bite the sensitive spot on her throat and she whimpers.

Her voice is shaky and tears barge into her eyes, but she keeps her ground. “I don’t care how much I want you, Cole. I can be a fool for you, I can let you crush my damn principles, but I won’t let you humiliate me. I’m Silver Queens. I don’t take other people’s sloppy seconds.”

“You never did.”

She blinks up at me through the frustrated tears forming in her eyes. “W-what?”

“That time at the wedding was my first, too.”

Her lips part and she remains silent for so long, I start to suspect she’s lost her voice. “But…but…but…that time when you were all discussing your virginities at the Meet Up, and Ronan said —”

“I lied so they’d leave me the fuck alone. So you got Miss Goldman fired for no reason. Though she did seduce me.”

She bites her lip, suppressing a smile. Silver might be harsh, but she’s the most real thing I’ve ever seen. “You knew about that?”

“I know everything about you.” I nuzzle my nose against her neck, inhaling her flowery Chanel scent. “After I thought you gave up your virginity to Aiden, I was going to try with others and then rub it in your face, but I stopped at the last minute. All I ended up doing was tie them up.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why couldn’t you do it with others?” Her voice is low, emotional.

“They weren’t you, Butterfly. No one is you.”

A full-body shudder takes hold of her and her legs willingly open. But before I can do anything, she lifts her head. “How about Johansson?”

“Aiden lies when it fits him. Besides –” I brush my lips over the hollow of the tender skin of her throat “– do you think I have the energy to focus on anyone but you? You drive me fucking crazy.”

“Not more than you do me.”

“Is that so?”

“You’re a bastard and I hate you most of the time.”

“Most of the time? Does that mean there are times you don’t hate me?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe is good enough.” I study her soft features, the faint freckles visible on her nose because she ran over here without putting on any makeup. She forgot her sacred makeup for me. “Do you have something to tell me, Silver?”

If she lets it out, if she talks about it, or at least trusts me enough with whatever is bothering her, I can deal with her rejections.

“Yes.” She gulps. “Fuck me, Cole.”

My whole body sharpens at her softly spoken words. It’s the first time she’s ever asked me to fuck her.

The first time she’s admitted she wants me without me having to extract it out of her body.

I claim her lips and place my fingers around her throat as I thrust inside her in one long go. My balls slap against her pale skin and I take a second to relish the feeling of her completely with me.

She whimpers into my mouth as I kiss her with a violence that matches the force of my thrusts.

“Wrap your legs around me,” I order, and she complies, caging me against her. I fuck her into the bed, her wrists pinned and her hair splayed out on the sheets her as her body slides back and forth on the mattress.

Silver’s not only chaos, she’s also a goddess. The type everyone can watch from afar, but I’m the only one who gets to worship at her altar.

The one who gets to own every inch of her.

“C-Cole,” she moans, nibbling on my bottom lip. “Go slower.”

“Since when do you like it slow?”

“J-just do it.”

When I don’t listen, narrowing my eyes on her, she places several kisses on my mouth, my chin, and even my nose. “Please.”

Fuck me.

I’ll do anything if she does that. If she moans my name and kisses me as if I’m the only one she’ll ever want.

Rotating my hips slowly, I take her unhurriedly for the first time. I don’t like slow fucks, it feels like a caress, and I don’t get the entire intense experience.

Silver’s back arches off the bed and she clamps all around me, strangling me inside her.

Something shifts in the air. It’s like that sense of excitement you get when turning a new page in a book.

Her moans mingle with my groans as they fill the room. I take my time pounding into her slick heat in slow, measured thrusts, moulding her entire body to mine.

“Oh, oh, Cole…I-I think…I’m…oh…” Her mouth remains open as she shatters all around me.

I spill inside her at the same time, and my release is the hardest I’ve ever experienced.

Silver Queens is officially fucked.

There’s no way she’ll ever escape me now.