Ruthless Empire (Royal Elite 6)

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.