Ruthless Empire (Royal Elite, #6)

by Rina Kent

“You didn’t mind the language when you were fucking me earlier.” “Mum!” “Cynthia!” Papa says at the same time.

Mum’s curse. I see it now. The fact she couldn’t keep up with her career and her married life at the same time was her doom.

She never forgave herself for giving up on her marriage, and that’s why she developed depression after the divorce. But she had too much pride to ask Papa to try again. As did he. So they kept fighting every chance they got instead.

“But she’s not the woman who drives me crazy with every word out of her mouth. She’s not you, Cynthia.”

My heart nearly explodes as Mum’s expression becomes gentle, almost as if she’s ten years younger.

“I’ll end it properly with her tonight, and we can have a family ...

As much as I feel sorry for Helen, I believe in fairy tales. I believe in Mum ...

The only reason I gave up on them is due to thinking they were more at peace apart. Turns out...

He kisses me on the temple, then Mum on the lips. “I love you both.”

“And I love you, Bastian.” Mum closes her eyes, inhaling his scent. “I never stopped.”

No kidding. Cynthia Davis squeals and wraps her arms around me. Her happiness is infectious and I hug her back as she whirls me around in place.

“Okay, I lied. I didn’t know he’d eventually choose me. I thought I’d lost him to her for good.”

“I love you so much, Babydoll.” Mum hugs me again, and this time it feels warmer.

“I’m sorry we had to make you live through our fuck-up, but you know, sometimes it takes a loss to realise who you really want to be with.” “A loss?” “I lost your father, and that’s when I realised how much you both mean the world to me. Even more than my career, my principles. Everything.”

Mum hugs me to sleep that night — in my bed, not hers. I’ll never sleep in hers after the...

I might be his chaos, but he’s also mine.

My chaos and my safety.

“I’m borrowing your car, Mum!”

“Hey, where do you think you’re going, young lady?” She emerges from her room wearing a stunning red dress. “Your father will be here any second.” “I’ll let you guys catch up and join later.” I grin. “He’ll need to catch up when he sees you like that.” “You think?” “I’m sure. Bye!”

“Shh. Your master is here, Doll.”

It’s strange how you spend your entire life with someone and it turns out you don’t know them at all.

You don’t know yourself.

You wake up every day and take yourself for granted when that self has dissociated into something else. Something pot...

His wife killed his doll. Gav didn’t know how it happened. One second, his wife was laughing as she left. And the next, Gav ran behind her and pushed her.

Sebastian stares at me. “What are you doing here?”

“Do you have a gun?” I ask in a voice I don’t recognise.

I never recalled Dad’s last words, but now, I do. When I ran outside that day, I was scared because I’d heard Mum scream. I thought something had happened to her.

“Y-you’re a monster,” Dad gurgles on the water. “R-run, Cole.” Then he’s gone.

Run, Cole. Those were his last words to me. Not the ‘You’re a monster’ part. He wasn’t looking at me when he said those words. He was looking behind me.

At the shadow I couldn’t possibly sense because I was shaking, watching Dad drown and not being able to do anything about it.

He was looking at Gav. Or what’s written in t...

Gav is my ...

Silver is he...

He said we should divorce. I should move out. I can’t see her anymore. I can’t cook for her, wash her, brush her hair, kiss her, watch her fuck my son.

I’m not jealous of Cole. He’s always been an uninteresting doll, but he’s the only one who can make her eyes roll back and her lips part with so much pleasure. So I let them have it their way.

I’m the master of this doll.

William’s death freed me. It gave me so much I didn’t know I could have.

It made me a genius. The type of person who can toy with people’s emotions through writing. I disguised myself in every character I wrote. People hated me, were enraged about my actions, but most of all, they were intrigued by me.

was William. I was Sebastian and Cynthia. And, last but not least, I’...

My doll will tell me please, Master. Love me, Master. Own me, Master. And then she’ll smile at me.

To where it all started. The fucking pool.

told Sebastian how I stumbled upon Mum’s special edition version of her new book — the one she said she won’t release — and I had to read it because I’m a fan of her work.

I told him about the pictures and everything in between. I told him how she wrote her life into Gav’s personality, and how she’s used her alter ego t...

The Killer and the Father. Serial CEO. The Doll...

She wrote an entire book about her and made her ...

Yes, it is. Crazy. My mum is a criminally insane person, and the weight of that realisation hits me like a brick wall. But that’s not the reason

I led her to Silver. I’m the one who made her stop seeing Silver as Cynthia and Sebastian’s daughter, but her long-lost doll. It was me.

I continue pressing on Silver’s chest. Her lips are turning purple. With every second passing, she’s dying. Every single second, she’s slipping through my fingers.

Her words are cut off as she trips. Her head bumps against the railing of the pool with a sickening thud, and then she falls down… Down. Down. Her blood turns the water crimson. She doesn’t float. Neither Sebastian nor I move to help her.

That day, the doll dies.