Empire of Hate (Empire, #3)

by Rina Kent

I wish I could tell him, you’re a loser meant you’re the only person who rattles me. Piss off meant come closer.

“Tell me you’re mine, Nicole,” he groans against my lips. “I’m yours.” The words are the easiest I’ve ever said. “Only mine?” “Only yours.”

“She’s with me now and that’s that.” I can’t stop looking at him, at the seriousness in his features and his tone. At the way his jaw is set and his lips are in a line. I want to kiss those lips. To get on my tiptoes and let the world see that I’m with him. That I’m his. That he’s mine.

I love how she snuggles up to me as if I’m her favorite person. As if we’re the only people in the world.

Nicole is fucking glowing in a simple white dress and a light peach-colored sweater. Her hair kisses the wind and replaces the non-existent sun, flying all over her face like an angel’s halo. I can’t even look at her without being blinded, stabbed in the chest, and all these other chaotic emotions.

Nicole’s laughing now and I can’t get enough of the sound. Of the carefree nature of it. The fact that it shines through pain is what makes it even more special.

“It’s their loss. Besides, scars are beautiful.” “How so?” “We’re humans, we’re not supposed to be perfect.”

She leans back on both her palms and stares at the sky, as shitty and cloudy as it is, I wish I’m that sky right now.

“I bet you don’t even consider your penthouse a home.” “It’s just a house.” “Then where’s your home, Daniel?” Right in front of me.

I’m seriously considering seeing someone about my damn unhealthy tendencies when it comes to her. The blonde who made me hate all blondes. The woman who broke my heart and is slowly mending it back together again.

My heart does that strange flip that I only ever experienced when he’s in sight. When I first met him, when I gradually fell in love with him, when he touched me, when he hurt me afterward, and eventually when I thought I would never see him again. Until I did. Until he slowly became an undivided part of my world.

“I stepped on my pride to love you. I crushed my bleeding heart, then gave it to you. All I wanted was for you to see me, to not make me invisible. All I wished for was a tiny piece of your heart, a sliver of your attention, but you never gave me that. You never fought for me as I fought for you!”

My fixation with Nicole started the day she nearly died in my arms. She was the weirdest fucking little shit I’ve ever met, and that says something considering I used to think of her as an “I’m better than you and your grandma” kind of snob.

I stare at the contents of the box, at the memory of us that she preserved with a key around her neck.

“You’re either daft or too oblivious to notice. Daniel has been following you like a lost puppy ever since we were kids. He’d ask Mother to lie and say she got you the birthday gifts and he never asks Mother for anything. And he’s now leaving you a fortune that will make your grandchildren live like kings,

I might not be Daniel’s family, but he’s mine. He did so many things for me that my own family didn’t. He did something no one did. Like making me feel alive. Wanted. Protected.

During every disaster that befell me, it was Daniel or the thought of him that pushed me to stay afloat and do better.

“I became obsessed with you since you gave me that snow globe and laid your head on my thigh. That obsession turned to hatred and fascination over the years. I hated myself because I wanted you more than I wanted anything. I hated myself for never being able to move on from you, for avoiding all blondes because they reminded me of you. So the thing is, you never gave me a choice. The memory of you followed me everywhere like a ghost, or an angel, I’m not sure which. It’s hard to hate you and even harder to forget you, but loving you was the easiest thing that I’ve ever done. It was natural, inevitable, and fucking infinite.”

“Did you… Did you just say you love me?” “Always fucking have, Nicole. I only figured it out late, as in when you broke my heart, and I was stupid enough to let it rot inside me and not express it.”

You keep playing hide-and-seek with me, the moment I think you’re mine, you slip from between my fingers like sand. I’m tired of hoping, pining, and being so irrevocably in love with a man who never looked at me.” “I did,” he whispers. “When you thought I wasn’t looking. You were the only person I had trouble looking away from.”

“Tell me we’re together. Tell me I’m yours as much as you’re mine.” “Fuck right we’re together. And I don’t only belong to you, but you’re too deep into my soul, I’d have to die to remove you. And that’s just tragic, so you can’t leave me.”

“Remember when you asked me where my home is?” “You said it was nowhere.” “I lied.” He taps my chest. “My home is wherever you are. You’re my home, Nicole.”

“You proposed to me.” My cheeks turn hot. “I was…a kid.” “It still counts and it’s my turn to propose.” He struggles to his feet, then awkwardly gets on his knee. “You’re the only woman I can imagine spending the rest of my life with. The woman I want to wake up next to every single day. You don’t only make me a better man, but you also give me the urge to be more for you. Nicole Stephanie Adler, will you marry me?”

“I’m marrying you, Daniel. Like I dreamt twenty-one years ago. I loved you then, I’m in love with you now.” “I loved you then, too.” He grabs me by the nape, pulling me close to him. “I’m mad about you now, Peaches.”

I stumble out of bed, rubbing my eyes as I head to the nursery. My feet come to a halt when I find Daniel already holding his fussy son and rocking him back and forth. My heart leaps with a mixture of adoration and complete bliss.

I’m obsessed with this man as much as he’s obsessed with me. I’m his. He’s mine. Probably since we were kids.

When I think back on the years I lived without her, I can’t fathom how I survived. She’s always been the missing piece in my life, the calm to my storm, and the peace to my wars. I’ve always seen her as a queen, but it took me years to realize she’s the queen of my kingdom.

The only jewelry she has on is the wedding ring that I had made from the most expensive emerald available and the necklace I gave her when we were thirteen.

She’s so beautiful, it fucking hurts to look at her sometimes.

“Thank you for giving me a family, Dan.” “Thank you for being mine, Peaches.” Her lips meet mine and I kiss her at the sound of our son’s giggles.