Ruthless Empire (Royal Elite #6)(83)

Unknown Number: Because I love you. Remember when that bitch Elsa was bothering you? I’m the one who pushed her into that pool. For you, my love. For your beautiful blue eyes.

Unknown Number: I know you broke it off with Aiden for me. Because you’ve always loved me too.

Oh. God.

He pushed Elsa for me. She could’ve drowned and died.

I have to see him and put an end to this.

Stumbling from the bed, I run out of my room, only to be halted by a broad frame.

Cole.

We’re standing in front of my door. He’s wearing a hoodie and cotton trousers. His chestnut hair falls all over his forehead.

“Where the fuck are you going dressed like that?”

I stare down at myself and realise I’m only in a see-through oversized T-shirt with nothing underneath because I wanted to seduce this bastard.

“N-nowhere.”

He narrows his eyes on my face, then on my hand, and I subconsciously hide the phone behind my back. He snatches it away and when I try to fight him, he uses my finger to unlock it.

I didn’t even exit the chat.

He keeps it out of reach and his eyes darken with every passing second.

Damn it.

“So it was Adam,” he says coolly, with almost no emotion at all. This side of Cole has always scared the shit out of me.

I can never tell what he’ll do next — whether he’ll rage or leave. Though I’ve never seen him rage, not really.

“That’s what you’ve been hiding from me, Silver?”

I hate when he calls me by my name.

“I have to meet him,” I murmur. “He’ll post a picture and there’ll be a scandal.”

“He won’t.”

“How would you know that?”

“If he had it, he would’ve attached it to the text and threatened you with it. He’s bluffing.”

“What if he isn’t?”

He grabs me by the arm and pushes me inside my room, then slams me against the door, keeping me pinned in place. “He won’t. Even if he does, you’ll only make it worse if you meet him.”

“But —”

“Shut up.”

“Cole…” I plead.

“Shut the fuck up, Silver. I told you I won’t be lenient if I find out on my own.” He retrieves his phone and puts it to his ear. “Frederic. How are you? I think there could be an intruder near the back garden. Can you have one of the security guys check?”

I fidget with my back glued to the door, my toes curling against the floor before I release them.

“Won’t he get mad if we provoke him?” I whisper.

Cole places a finger against my mouth, shushing me. My brain has other thoughts, though, like kissing that finger and telling him everything bottled inside me.

“I see,” he says to Fredric. “Thank you. Have a great night.”

“So?” I ask as soon as he hangs up.

“There was no one. He must’ve left.”

“What if he didn’t?”

“What are you going to do about it? Go out like that and meet him?”

“No. I was in a hurry. I didn’t think.”

“You don’t seem to be doing a lot of that lately.”

It’s more like I’m thinking too much.

“I’m confiscating your phone. Go to sleep.”

I peek at him through my lashes. “You won’t sleep with me?”

“I thought you hated me. Why would you want me to sleep with you?”

Ugh. The arsehole.

I huff as I climb under the covers, pulling them to my chin. He pulls out my chair and a book we’re reading for literature and sits opposite me.

“You can go. I don’t need a babysitter.” I try not to sound frustrated that he prefers the chair over me.

“Considering you were going out to meet your stalker in fuck-me clothes, you obviously do,” he says without lifting his head from the book. Wuthering Heights. Fitting.

“What do you care? I thought you weren’t going to talk to me.”

“I’m not.”

“Well, you clearly are right now.”

“Go to sleep. You’re confessing tomorrow.”

“Confessing? To whom?”

“To Elsa, who almost drowned because of you. Because you were self-centred and enjoyed having a stalker say you’re beautiful.”

Tears prickle my lids and I hide farther beneath the sheets. “You know that’s not the case.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You think I want to hurt other people? What is wrong with you? Are you crazy?”

“Watch that fucking attitude, Silver.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Go to sleep,” he repeats quietly.

I do, with tears in my eyes and emptiness in my chest.

For the first time since he moved here, Cole doesn’t hug me to sleep.

For the first time, he’s so disgusted with me, he doesn’t want to touch me.

I hate myself for hating this.

And I hate him.

I hate him so much, I dream of him hugging me.





In the morning, Cole takes me to the Meet Up.

More like, he drags me.