Ruthless Empire (Royal Elite #6) by Rina Kent

No one gets to toy with her under my watch.

That game is mine and Silver’s alone. No outsiders are allowed.

“Astor wants to be left out?” Aiden raises a brow. “Are we talking about the same person?”

“He puts on a façade.” I throw Aiden a condescending glance. “If you weren’t so self-centred, you would’ve noticed it.”

“Hashtag burn.” Xander grins. Aiden and I never go at each other’s throats — at least, not in front of the others. So whenever that happens, Xander and Ronan act like monkeys who’ve found a banana.

“I told you it’s over with Queens. I ended it officially in front of Jonathan.” Aiden levels me with his own condescension. “Stop being a petty little bitch.”

Before we met here, Aiden told me over the phone that it was all over.

He’s no longer engaged to Silver.

She’ll also speak to her father about it soon.

Despite the relief I feel, it’s not enough. It’s as if I can’t get the thought of her engaged to someone else out of my head. Despite knowing it was fake all along, she was still someone else’s fiancée.

Not mine. His.

The part I’m most pissed off about is the fact she’ll never be my fiancée. She’ll never be fully mine no matter how much I own her.

Then she had to be secretive about that fucker Adam. She’s slowly but surely pushing me out of her life, and soon enough, I’ll only be a fling in her past.

Silver will eventually choose her parents’ image and hers. I’ve never belonged in that picture-perfect frame.

Maybe that’s what makes me feel even more pissed off than I should be about this whole fucking mess.

“Whoa, Captain.” Xander clutches me by the shoulder. “Now you get Silver all to yourself, huh?”

“Which can’t be said about your case.” Aiden smirks at him.

Xander’s grin falls and he flips him off. They both think they can keep secrets from me, but I’ve already figured it out. I’m curious to see how Xander will handle it.

“Here he comes,” I whisper as Adam stumbles from the pub. It takes him a lot of swaying to reach his car.

He doesn’t see us since we’re hidden in the blind spot near the wall. Adam curses under his breath when he’s unable to find his keys.

Aiden’s shoulders tense and his expression blackens. Ever since he confirmed that Adam was the one who pushed Elsa in the pool, he’s been out for blood. Almost like me.

Xander just joined because he likes to punch things lately.

No one here wants to fuck up that arsehole more than me. He didn’t only terrorise Silver, but he also thought he could have her.

He thought he could own what’s fucking mine.

Aiden goes first, but he doesn’t bother with the ski mask. He punches Adam straight in the face.

Adam wails like a schoolgirl, clutching his nose.

“Payback time, fucker.” Aiden raises his fist again.

Adam’s eyes widen when Xander and I join in. The moment he realises the clusterfuck he’s got himself into, his face contorts like a whore faking an orgasm.

He has no idea what’s coming for him. I’ll have fun dissecting him to bloody pieces, but I won’t need violence like Xander and Aiden.

Mental pain is more destructive than the physical one.

After Aiden punches him for the second time, Adam shrieks, blubbering nonsense.

“Hey…hey…” He puts both hands up, his eyes red and bloodshot. “L-let’s talk it out. Our parents are friends. We can find a solution.”

“Yes, let’s talk.” I place a hand on Aiden’s arm, bringing it down. My voice is surprisingly composed, considering the chaos stabbing inside me. But I’ve always been the type who gets eerily quiet and calm in a time of crisis.

At first, I thought it was because of the calm night of the kidnapping, but maybe it’s more because of the blood pool William drowned in. It was so fucking calm after he floated.

So silent.

So dead.

Like this lowlife will be once I’m done with him.

“Right, Cole.” Adam smiles as he straightens. “I knew you’d be more reasonable.”

“I am. See, I don’t think violence fixes anything. You eventually heal from the cuts and bruises. They don’t live inside you and remind you of what you did every day, do they? Unless we can get you in a state of stage four cancer for at least ten years — without medication — I don’t see how we can make you pay physically.”

Aiden and Xander smirk as all hope vanishes from Adam’s eyes. It always feels euphoric when they realise I’m the worst choice they could’ve ever gotten. People are afraid of Aiden and think they can take refuge in my apparent kindness and welcoming smiles, but they don’t know me.

None of them do.

Except for my Butterfly.

And it’s for her that Adam will regret the day he got into her immediate vicinity. He’ll regret every time she read those texts with a frown or looked over her shoulder in fear.

“Here’s how it will go, Adam,” I continue. “We already know you use performance-enhancing drugs. But that won’t do you much damage, even with the school, so we planted a few stashes of cocaine in your locker this afternoon. The cleaning staff should have found them by now and reported back to the principal. He should be on a phone call with your father, but that’s not the only phone call he’ll receive, is it, Xan?”