Wicked Rule (Heartless Kingdom Book 1)

by K. I. Lynn

  “I stayed away all night. I’m not staying away any longer,” he said when our lips parted.

  “Breaking all the rules,” I chided with a smile and a shake of my head.

  “You’re already my wife. Superstitions mean nothing at this point.”

  “Still, you’re going to see me in a few minutes anyway.”

  “But then I’ll have to share you with many other people.” He raised my hand to his lips and placed a kiss, then nipped at my knuckle. “I need a calm before the impending storm. And I have something for you.”

  “What’s that?”

  He pulled his arm from around my waist, presenting a box. My brow scrunched as I stared at it, reading the name. My eyes widened and snapped to his.

  “Oh, yes, I keep track of your cycle, my dear,” he said with a grin.

  I shook my head. “It’s just the stress from the wedding,” I argued. My period was three days late, but that sometimes happened. While I wasn’t ready to pull out the pregnancy test, it seemed my husband was. “Fine, for you on our wedding day.”

  He smirked at me and held the box out. I snatched it from him and headed to the attached bathroom.

  “Couldn’t you have done this before I was trussed up like a Christmas turkey?” I asked as I tried to figure out how I was going to pee on a stick and not all over some part of my very expensive dress.

  “Need a hand?” he asked from the doorway.

  “I don’t trust your hands.”

  “I think I’m insulted.”

  “You can be insulted. I just know what happens when you get your hands on me, and I swear to God if you mess up my hair, your mother will kill you.”

  He could only chuckle, but it was an honest threat. There would be hell to pay if we messed up Vera’s big day. She eventually let our early courthouse marriage slide, but only after claiming we’d ruined everything.

  Finally, I found a way to gather up my dress and hold it out of the way. With success, I managed to hit the target and finished, letting my dress fall back down without any issues except for the light sheen of sweat from wrestling with the twenty pounds of fabric.

  By the time I was straightened, Atticus blocked the doorway while I washed my hands and we waited.

  “You better act surprised when you see me,” I warned him as I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his waist.

  “Your beauty always surprises me, so that won’t be hard. Especially not on a day like today.” He glanced down to the sink, and I watched a smile spread on his lips. “Even more so when I know you’re carrying my child.”

  I snapped my eyes down, the word “pregnant” visible in capital letters.

  “Whoa.”

  His lips trailed up the column of my neck, the sensation spreading goose bumps across my body. “I’m still an overachiever.”

  “How so?”

  “I told Rhys I’d have you pinned to my bed in less than six months, and look at all I’ve accomplished in just over that.”

  We fell in love, we got married, and he knocked me up, all in the span of the last nine months.

  “I love you,” I said.

  His gaze met mine and the once dispassionate gaze was lit with fire and passion. “Not as much as I love you.” He cupped my face and pulled me toward him as his lips crashed down against mine.

  “Atticus William, don’t you dare mess up her hair!” Holly screeched from behind Atticus.

  He groaned against my lips before pulling away. “I’ll see you shortly, my love.”

  I bit down on my bottom lip, my heart skipping in my chest. Every time he called me that, I melted. I hated watching him walk away, but before he crossed through the door he turned back and gave me the most wistful smile I’d ever seen from him.

  “Really, what was he thinking,” Holly grumbled as she double checked my hair and makeup before attaching the veil to the crown atop my head. She smiled at me. “Can I blame him? I’m guessing it was positive, so I really can’t.”

  “What was positive?” I asked before it hit me. “You bought the pregnancy test.”

  She beamed at me. “Atticus de Loughrey buy a pregnancy test?”

  “Ludicrous, I know!”

  “I know, due to a misunderstanding on your part, that we had a rocky beginning, but I want you to know how happy I am that Atticus has you. In nearly twenty years I’d never seen him happy. Then he met you. Thank you for loving him.”

  My lips thinned out, and I was fanning my eyes again. “Damn it, Holly.”

  She took hold of my hands and laughed, then tugged. “Come. Let’s show the world who tamed the wicked king.”

  “I didn’t really tame him.”

  “Hmm, maybe not for everyone else, but he’s so cute when he’s talking about you or to you or is with you.”

  “Don’t let him hear you say he’s cute.”

  “I’m not afraid of him. I hog-tied that lion and beat my friendship into him long ago.”

  I threw my head back in laughter. Their friendship was so strange to me, but I knew my ability to touch Atticus’s heart was due to the groundwork she’d laid years before.

  When we reached the doors leading into the hall, my grandfather stood awaiting us, his warm brown eyes the same as mine filled with tears.

  “You look so beautiful, Ophelia,” he said as I approached.

  “Thank you.”

  Holly handed me my bouquet before excusing herself to join the procession as the first bridesmaid was already heading down the aisle.

  “I’m so happy I could be here to see you like this,” he said as we moved to get in line.

  “Me, too.”

  “Ready?” he asked, his eyes twinkling.

  I nodded and looped my arm into his. “Ready.”

  I blew out a breath as the music picked up and we began walking. The aisle was long, the space filled with over a thousand people, but there was only one that mattered to me.

  Standing at the end with a wide smile that was all for me was my husband—my love, and the father of my child. He was the ruler of our family and king of my heart.

  Five years with him? Five hundred wouldn’t be enough.

  We didn’t need any more contracts or false affections or Binders of Doom.

  I was his, and he was mine.

  Together. Forever.

  The End

  Up next in the Heartless Kingdom Series

  First to Ashley Jade and A. Zavarelli, who I bonded with at a convention in 2019. They were the first ones I shared my fledgling idea with and they gave me the courage to take on the Heartless Kingdom. Love you both! <3

  Always to my boo. You’re my person.

  Danielle for helping me shape this world.

  The Golden Ho’s for pinging me awake to get me moving every morning.

  To my readers—this is for you.

  This book has been a hard wrought labor of love. Through family tragedy and a multi-month battle with pneumonia, and the holidays thrown into the mix, I was faced with so many obstacles.

  The initial idea was spun from a stock photo I encountered while on a pic search. It ignited a billionaire family, set fire to eight different stories, and let rise the beginnings of my first intentional series. The Heartless Kingdom was born from that one flash. The titles gave birth to themselves. Soon I began to build their world, expand their empire, and find out just where each of them ruled.

  American royalty.

  American gods.

  Atticus and Ophelia’s story would be the hardest and longest. I knew from the beginning because they would be the foundation for the entire world. There are glimpses of all the other characters, tells about what their stories hold. Did you catch them?

  Keep reading to find out.

  Now…what is in store for Hamilton de Loughrey? Did you get a glimpse of the woman bound to make his cold heart beat? Maybe…. *wink*

  K.I. Lynn is the USA Today Bestselling Author from The Bend Anthology and the Amazon Bestsellers, Breach and Becoming
Mrs Lockwood. She spent her life in the arts, everything from music to painting and ceramics, then to writing. Characters have always run around in her head, acting out their stories, but it wasn’t until later in life she would put them to pen. It would turn out to be the one thing she was really passionate about.

  Since she began posting stories online, she’s garnered acclaim for her diverse stories and hard hitting writing style. Two stories and characters are never the same, her brain moving through different ideas faster than she can write them down as it also plots its quest for world domination…or cheese. Whichever is easier to obtain… Usually it’s cheese.

  Website—www.kilynnauthor.com

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  Wicked Rule

  I’m going to make her my queen.

  One wedding.

  One child.

  Five years.

  Ten million dollars.

  Those are the terms of our contract.

  My offer is sound, bold, and necessary. In order to gain my inheritance, I have to have a wife.

  She thinks her clause will keep me from having her skin on mine.

  She’s very wrong.

  The de Loughrey’s rule the world, and I am their king. I get what I want, and what I want is her.

  I’ll have her beneath me no matter what.

  Find out more here

  Ruthless Rule

  They call me the ruthless ruler…and they’re not wrong.

  In the boardroom and the bedroom I take no prisoners and when I’m done, it’s all stop.

  There’s something about my father’s new assistant and a chance encounter brings us closer than I ever expected. Once isn’t enough, but for the first time in my life, I’m shot down.

  Me.

  A de Loughrey.

  So I sweeten it with money. An indecent proposal that gives both of what we need.

  When I learn her secrets I find the impossible bloom inside me.

  I’m the ruthless ruler, but she has me by the heart.

  Business is business, and when it’s done, I don’t know what will happen to the heart she holds.

  I’ve met my ruthless match.

  Find out more here

  Off the Cuff

  I spilled a cup of coffee on the President of Acquisitions.

  He deserved it.

  Not the brightest idea, but I’d had a bad day, and now he’s getting back at me.

  For nine weeks I’m to be his assistant, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

  It’s punishment.

  Every moment we’re near each other it’s a constant battle of wills, but I refuse to go down.

  If only my fantasies didn’t invade our arguments.

  If only he wasn’t so good looking.

  Everything is off the cuff, including him pinning me to the wall.

  Now he wants something else from me.

  A date.

  There’s just one problem—he doesn’t know I have a child.

  Find out more here

  That Night

  I got pregnant on New Year’s Eve.

  That night was hands down the best night of my life. A magical night with the man of my dreams.

  The aftermath changed everything.

  After weeks of silence from him and a positive pregnancy test, it was safe to say I was in full out panic mode.

  Until I walked into a conference room only to find Mr. Man-of-my-dreams-father-of-my-unborn-child at the head of the table.

  Turns out the VP of finance isn’t an old boring guy with white hair.

  Two different cities.

  A baby on the way.

  An intense attraction.

  And he’s technically my boss.

  Life just got even more complicated.

  Find out more here

  Domenico

  The mafia never lets you go.

  I thought I was safe, free, but I never expected to find myself locked in a cage.

  I’m in his territory. His prison.

  The beast.

  A fate worse than death awaits me if I can’t get away, so when the opportunity of salvation presents itself I grab it, even if I’m unsure if I can trust the hand I’m holding.

  The only way out is through, exposing secrets and spilling blood.

  Things aren’t how they appear. Nobody is what they seem.

  Not even me.

  Find out more here

  Forever and All The Afters

  He promised me forever.

  Then he boarded a plane for a college a thousand miles away and never returned. A decade later there’s a ring on my finger with a new promise from a new love.

  Just as my life falls into place, pretty as the pages of a magazine, my world is knocked over. The moment he touches me everything around me begins to crack, exposing all the lies I’ve told myself.

  Every glance reminds me. Every touch ignites.

  Things aren’t how they used to be.

  Love isn’t easy.

  Find out more here

  Welcome to the Cameo Hotel

  I get what I want.

  When I walked through the door of the Cameo Hotel I didn’t expect such a beauty to be working the front desk.

  The effect she has on me is intense, and I make her life a living hell because of it.

  I love her spirit, her internal defiance when completing the most inane task I assign her. My two week stay has turned into unending, just to be near her.

  She’s under my every command if she wants to keep me happy.

  There’s one last thing I want.

  Her.

  Find out more here

  Becoming Mrs. Lockwood

  Every girl has dreams of meeting Prince Charming, or at least I know I did.

  A fairy tale-like meeting of love at first site.

  Real life and fairy tales are very different.

  I’m just a small town Indiana girl that had a chance encounter with one of Hollywood’s golden boys. You may think you know where this story goes—not even close.

  Life is different. Marriage is hard. It’s even worse when you’re strangers.

  Find out more here

  Six

  I had a one-night stand. It wasn’t my first, but it would be my last.

  A gun to the head.

  A trained killer.

  A deadly conspiracy.

  Kidnapped and on the run, my life and death is in the hands of a sadist captor who happens to be my one-night stand. Armed with countless weapons, money, and new identities, the man I call Six drags me around the world.

  The manhunt is on and Six is the next target. Can we find out who is killing off the Cleaners before they find us?

  Two down, seven to go.

  When it’s all over he’ll finish the job that dropped him into my life, and end it.

  Stockholm Syndrome meets bucket list, and the question of what would you do to live before you died. The questions aren’t always answered in black and white. Gray becomes the norm as my morals are tested.

  Death is a tragedy, and I’ll do anything to stay alive.

  Are you ready for the last ride of your life? Six has a gun to your head—what would you do?

  This isn’t a love story.

  It’s a death story.

  Find out more here

  Check out the Trailer

  Breach Book 1

  His body was sin, his cock was sin, and I was a sinner.

  To keep myself safe I hide in the world and let life move around me.

  My new partner, Nathan, isn’t safe. Far from it.

  The darkness coils around him, hidden by a shield created by a blinding smile. But those who live in shadows see past the façade we create.

  Even in darkness, there is light. A spark that ignites, then explodes.

  Every filthy word from his mouth, every possessive touch—I crave them, need them. Violent and passionate and everyth
ing I need to fill the void inside me, but one thing is missing.

  He can never love me.

  More than my heart is on the line, and I don’t know if I’ll survive our breach.

  Find out more here

  The Executive

  Business is king, and I have an empire to topple.

  Ivy is my new assistant and a threat to me. She’s my undoing. If ever I was to believe in a cosmic connection, it was the moment I met her.

  For years I’ve had one goal—revenge. As CEO, I have crafted a strategic plan for business, but never a life beyond.

  With one touch from her, the veil is lifted. Things are different, and every moment I’m near her, my world begins to change.

  A wall of propriety keeps me from her. I need her as my pawn in this war, beside me in battle. Sharing the secrets of my enemies, and her desires in my bed. Her body to claim as mine.

  Getting what I want has consequences.

  Collateral damage is real.

  In the game of crushing kings of men, I never planned on my heart being a sacrifice.

  Find out more here

  Cocksure

  Co-written with Olivia Kelley

  A life altering lie, ten years, and one wild night later, the game has changed.

  Niko

  My life is great. I love my job, have awesome friends, and a great family.

  Women love me, even if they know it’s just for a night.

  I always thought love at first sight was bullshit. Then she came storming into my life. She tore through my every rule, rocked my world, and knocked me on my ass.