Ruthless Empire (Royal Elite Book 6)

by Rina Kent

  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 the book as Gav.

  Gav is my mother.

  Silver is her doll.

  43

  Doll Master

  “Moonlight Sonata” echoes from the phone and I hum along with it as I wipe my doll’s hands.

  It’s her favourite piano piece. It’s grown on me, and it makes me think of her.

  She’s still out. Maybe I put too much propofol in the syringe this time?

  Well, I missed.

  I was a bit angry all night.

  Everything that I’ve done to be close to my doll is slowly withering away. That bitch Cynthia has always been a sore thumb since high school. Her only saving grace is giving birth to my doll.

  Now, she and Sebastian think she can take her away from me?

  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.

  Even if they lock me out sometimes.

  Now, because of Cynthia, Sebastian says I can’t live with my doll anymore. I offered him everything William left me with the sole condition that I stay with him — with my doll.

  I was only going to keep watching from afar. I was going to brush her hair and kiss her goodnight and good morning and have her kiss me back.

  That’s all I asked for.

  I was even hurting other dolls to not lose my cool and touch her.

  None of those sacrifices worked. She was going to leave me anyway. No matter what I did, she’d choose the bitch Cynthia over me.

  I’ll kill Cynthia as soon as my doll wakes up and gives me a kiss. Then we can stay here.

  She used to always come and cook with me here. She’ll love it.

  Silver moans as she slowly opens her eyes. Those blue, blue eyes. Like my previous doll that I used to hide beneath my pillow as Dad loved me.

  She’s better than that doll, though. Silver is more sophisticated, and her smile is more real.

  “H-Helen?” She cradles her temple as she slowly sits up. “What happened?”

  “You’re okay, darling.” I caress her arm, her soft skin, her porcelain doll complexion.

  I’m the master of this doll.

  So much pride fills me at the thought.

  “I came here to meet Cole and…” she trails off, finally taking note of her surroundings.

  We’re sitting on the edge of the pool.

  Where it all started.

  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.

  I was William. I was Sebastian and Cynthia. And, last but not least, I’m me and with my doll.

  I always liked bringing my doll to the pool and bathing her in it.

  We swam in it before, but I couldn’t touch her like I wanted to, because she was smart and she would’ve freaked out.

  My son is smart, too, so I had to wear the mask I perfected so well from when I was in my father’s house.

  I had to play on his guilt and love for me so that he’d forget about his infatuation with my doll, and let me date Sebastian, and eventually marry him.

  Cole pitied me. He felt guilty because I got hit on his behalf.

  I didn’t. I simply didn’t want to miss any of William’s beatings. I wasn’t protecting Cole. I was pushing the brat out of the way so he didn’t take what was rightfully mine.

  My son is so intelligent; he takes after me, but he’s not at my level. Cole is a bit too blinded by my doll, so he misses the small things.

  Like the stalker messages. He came to me for help, saying some wannabe stalker at school wanted to hurt my doll. I took care of him, of course, and I stopped the texts so he and my doll believed it all ended with Adam.

  It never would.

  My doll smiled for me when I first sent her those texts and she’ll continue to.

  “Why are we here?” Silver appears more confused than suspicious.

  “We’re going for a swim.”

  “I…I’ve got to go.” She starts to stand but falls right back down again.

  “Easy.” I stroke her cheek. “You’re still under the influence of drugs. I don’t want you drowning.”

  Tears shine in her mesmerising eyes as the realisation starts to trickle in. “Helen?”

  “Yes, darling? Although I’d rather you call me Master.” I frown. “My other doll was never really able to do that, but you’re better than her, aren’t you?”

  Her lips part — those beautiful lips like a rosebud — and her hand shakes in mine. “W-what are you doing?”

  “Your parents are trying to break us apart. Aren’t you sad? Because I am. No one can break us apart.”

  She tries to push back, her fear rising and suffocating the air like grey smoke. I grab her harshly, and when she falls again, her head bumps against the tiles with a thud.

  Silver shrieks as blood oozes bright red from the back of her head and on to the tiles. Just like William’s that day.

  Blood is beautiful. It’s the truest human form.

  “Silver,” I scold. “Look at what you’ve done.”

  “Helen, please.” Her voice is wobbly as she grabs my hands while tears stream down her cheeks. “D-don’t do this. Think of Cole.”

  “Why should I think of him? He should get his own doll and not share mine.”

  “P-please…stop…”

  I never thought I would love this expression — the way her lips tremble and how she’s pleading with me, how she’s calling me her master without saying the words — but I do.

  So very much.

  What can I do to deepen it?

  Oh, I know.

  I push her into the pool. She screams before her voice is swallowed by the water. The blood from her head engulfs the blue as she flails around.

  I crouch on the edge, waiting for her to surface. Like William.

  He begged me to save him. Then Cole came and I had to hide behind the tree.

  Now, my doll will come out and beg me.

  My doll will tell me please, Master.

  Love me, Master.

  Own me, Master.

  And then she’ll smile at me.

  44

  Cole

  By the time Sebastian and I arrive at my old house, my chest is so heavy I can barely breathe properly.

  A hand squeezes my shoulder. Sebastian. I told him the entire story on the way.

  After I pulled an all-nighter reading the book, I found the message Silver left me this morning.

  Okay! I’ll meet you there!

  Mum deleted the message she sent her from my phone, but I know where she’ll take her.

  To where it all started. The fucking pool.

  I 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 to be a part of every story she’s written.

  The Killer and the Father.

  Serial CEO.

  The Doll Maker. Cynthia. She wrote an entire book about her

and made her a serial killer.

  I should’ve seen the signs. I should’ve found the stash of unused pills she eventually flushed down the toilet. I should’ve stopped to question the manic way she wrote on her plotting board.

  I should’ve gone with her on those jogs instead of believing it was her ‘me’ time.

  I should’ve noticed more.

  But then again, I couldn’t have. Mum lived her double life so perfectly, it’s crazy.

  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 for the heaviness in my chest.

  It’s the fact that she lured Silver here. That she’s been watching her for years.

  She noticed her the first time I did in that fucking park. She followed me, to make sure I hadn’t seen her kill William, and then she found her doll.

  Her crying doll who’s even more beautiful than her previous plastic doll.

  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.

  “You have to be careful,” Sebastian says. His face is hard, but he keeps a cool head. “From what we’ve learnt thus far, she’s unpredictable.”

  I nod as we hurry to the pool area. He’s carrying his gun in case anything happens. He called Frederic during the drive, and his head of PR said he’ll meet us here.

  “Doll?” Mum calls in a serene voice. “Come out. Stop hiding.”

  I stop near the pool. A body floats in the water. Red water.

  Blood water.

  Her golden strands float around her while she remains unmoving.

  Like that day.

  Just like that day.

  Run, Cole.

  My father’s scratchy, drowning voice plays in my head like a distorted record.

  “Oh, Cole, darling.” Mum smiles, her eyes kind. She’s always looked so kind and approachable. She’s never had a malicious look or action. At least, not on the surface. “Silver is playing hide-and-seek.”

  “Silver!” Sebastian runs towards the pool, but I beat him to it and jump in.

  It takes everything in me to ignore the blood changing the colour of the water as I grab her by the arm and wrench her to the edge.

  Her face has paled. Her chest doesn’t move up and down.

  She’s not breathing. Fuck.

  “Silver!” My hand shakes as I pull my palm away and see the blood oozing from the back of her head, turning her blonde hair red.

  I lay her on the tiles and press down on her chest.

  Come on, Silver. Come on, you can’t leave me!

  Please don’t fucking leave me.

  “M-my doll?” Helen runs towards us. “Why isn’t she smiling?”

  Sebastian blocks her way, pointing his gun at her head. “Stay the hell away from my daughter.”

  “Sebastian, can’t you see? She needs me. My doll needs her master.”

  “Not a move, Helen,” he growls.

  “Or what?” She tilts her head to the side. “You’ll kill me? We both know you can’t do that. Let me see my doll.”

  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.

  A shriek comes from Mum, but I don’t look at her. I don’t pay her attention. Then I hear her wresting with Sebastian for the gun, but all I care about is Silver.

  Come on. Come on.

  “Leave her alone.” Mum stands above me, holding the gun. “Let her go. You’re killing her, Cole.”

  “You killed her! You did!”

  “No.” She shakes her head frantically, stepping back. “I didn’t. It’s not me. It’s not —”

  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.

  I’m still compressing Silver’s chest, my own chest feeling as if it’s clearing out of oxygen.

  She doesn’t open her eyes.

  She doesn’t respond.

  That day, the doll dies.

  45

  Silver

  It’s strange how fast things can end.

  One moment you’re there, in the middle of your happiest moments, and the next, everything ends.

  Not really, though.

  It’s been two weeks since everything went down. Since Helen turned out to be a psychopath who had an obsession with me.

  Who hurt other women so she wouldn’t hurt me.

  Who wrote books so she wouldn’t kill the other women as much as she wanted to.

  A part of me died that day. The part that believed in Helen. The part who loved her and felt sorry for her.

  As that part died, Cole revived me back to life.

  I took my first breath of resurrection the moment after she died.

  A death for a life.

  We didn’t go to the hospital, though. Frederic brought the hospital to me — or rather, a team of doctors. He made them all sign NDAs that would cost them three generations of intensive labour if they were to disclose anything.

  I ended up with a few stitches and a sore, scratchy throat, but that’s not the pain that’s stayed with me.

  It’s everything else.

  It’s the fact that I didn’t see Cole after that day.

  The fact that he’s not answering my calls or talking to me.

  The fact that he told me through Papa that he’s moving out until he has to go to university.

  The fact that he didn’t let me console him or be there for him.

  Even during Helen’s funeral, he nodded at us, accepted my parents’ condolences, and spent the entire day with his arsehole friends. And while I was glad he had someone by his side, I wanted that someone to be me, not Aiden, Xander, and Ronan.

  Police procedures didn’t take long to be wrapped up. Frederic worked his magic on all the media play and it was labelled as an accident.

  Papa wanted Helen exposed, but Frederic and Mum talked him out of it. He’ll have no chance to stay in politics if he does that.

  If he’s known to have been married to a psycho, a serial attacker who threatened his daughter’s life under his own roof, he’ll be shunned forever and our lives will turn into hell.

  However, if he’s known to have lost his wife during his campaign due to an accident, he’ll gain sympathy.

  “And I’ll pretend to console you,” Mum said. “Then everyone will say I suit you better than that bitch who, by the way, I said was a psycho. I can’t believe she hurt my baby.”

  She hugged me to death then. Mum has been hugging me every night and has practically moved back in with us.

  Her and Papa’s affection and consolation help, but they don’t close the hole in my chest. They don’t heal the wound that’s been open since that day.

  A wound that burns and makes me cry every night.

  So today, I decide to close that wound myself.

  I go to him.

  To the house he moved back into.

  The house of ghosts and dolls and blood pools.

  Coming back here is the last thing I want to do, but I also didn’t sign up to be separated from Cole.

  After putting in the code, I walk in slowly, watching my surroundings as if someone will jump me and jam a needle into my neck.

  I stop when I make out his tense back. He appears melancholic, his shoulders drooping underneath his jacket. He’s standing in front of the pool, only, it’s empty now. No blood water or any water.

  Several boxes are stacked above each other outside.

  Is he moving out? Where to?

  I tried asking Aiden how Cole was doing, but that bastard wouldn’t give out any information and I’m too exhausted to plot anything to force him.

  “Are you going somewhere?” I stop beside him.

  Cole’s gaze snaps to me. His dark green irises appear bottomless, hollow, almost as if they’ve already moved someplace else. “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here.”

  “Then why are you standing here?”

  He stares back at the empty pool. “Go home, Silver.”

  I barge in front of him, wrap my arms around his waist, and rest my head against his chest, breathing in his scent.

  “What are you doing?” he asks without hugging me back.

  “You told me to go home. You’re my home, Cole.”

  He shoves me away, shaking my shoulders. “I’m not your home. I’m the son of the woman who almost fucking killed you.”

  “You’re not her.”

  “Maybe I am. I’ve lived my entire life thinking I inherited the fucked-up genes from my father, but it turns out, they were from her. Maybe I’ll grow up to be her.”

  “You won’t.”

  “How would you know that?”

  “Because you shared my loss. You called it our loss, Cole, remember? You told me my pain is yours. You’ll never be her, because you care. In your own way, you care.”

  He breathes harshly as if he’s still fighting that notion. That reality.

  The fact he’s not his parents. He never will be. I know that for a fact.

  “And I’m your chaos.” I smile through the tears pricking my eyes. “So you can’t leave me alone or I’ll haunt you.”

  “You’ll haunt me?” he asks with a little smile.

  “Yes, I will. You know why?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I love you, Cole. I’ve been in love with you since you found me in the park that day and pulled my hair and told me you wanted my firsts. I’ve loved you more through the years, and I hated every time I had to face the reality that I couldn’t be with you.”

  “I thought you hated me.”

  “That was my way of saying I love you.”

  He taps my nose. “You’re so weird.”

  “Not more than you. You’ve been a dick to me for a long time.”

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