Ruthless Empire: Part 2 – Chapter 18

We spend the entire early evening with Sebastian and his campaign members.

We eat a meal fit for an army that Mum prepared. Sebastian considers his team a family, too. Since they’re working hard for his campaign, they get to eat as family members.

A part of Sebastian’s campaign focuses on bringing the classes together, even if there’s a clear separation. It’s a smart way to look at it. He recognises that there’s no way to eradicate classes — at least, not right away — so he thinks the first step should be bringing them together.

Once they think they have enough in common, maybe then, the classes can be abolished. Not that his party will ever agree on that front, but he’s only planting the seed for now.

He’s a smart politician, and I do believe he’ll go far. I have no doubt in my mind he’ll become the next prime minister.

That means I’ll be the prime minister’s son while Silver is the daughter. There’s no way in fuck we’ll ever be able to have a public relationship.

It’s part of the reason why I lost it and took her at the wedding. There was so much angry energy boiling inside me and I had to smile and take pictures and accept congratulations for something I never wanted to happen.

But like Silver, I care about Mum too much to kill her chance at happiness. She was brought up in a closed-off environment by her strict father before she was shipped off to an abusive husband that she spent years recovering from the remnants of his degradation.

Since Sebastian came into her life, she doesn’t need the pills to sleep or to eat. She doesn’t walk around the house like a ghost, or kiss me like a robot who feels nothing because of antidepressants.

Mum deserves this.

But that doesn’t mean I’ll do as Silver demands and walk away from her. It doesn’t mean I’ll let her slip away from between my fingers and go to some other fucker while I watch like a pussy.

She’s currently sitting across from me around the conference table in Sebastian’s office as the head of his PR, Frederic, goes through the family part of the campaign.

She chose the farthest seat from me, snuggling to her father’s side and glaring at me every chance she gets.

I smile back, riling her up even more. After the shower, she changed into denim shorts and a black tank top that moulds to her curves. Her hair is pulled into a tight ponytail, reminding me of how I grabbed her by it while I pounded into her over and over again.

I force myself to focus on Frederic, the leader of the campaign, to prevent getting fucking hard in front of Mum and Sebastian.

Frederic is a short man with a beer belly and piercing brown eyes. He has a look that sees through things and a quick wit that fits a politician’s right-hand.

When he asks for suggestions, Silver suggests posting pictures on social media, like the one she made us all take over dinner earlier.

The caption was: Family dinner #SebastianQueensForTheWin #GoTories

The selfie looks spontaneous. Frederic and his people are wearing their half-dishevelled clothes — mostly no jackets or ties. Mum, Silver, Sebastian, and I are in house clothes. The casual quality of it has gained a lot of attention on social media. Instantly, many online magazines picked it up with headlines like:

‘Sebastian Queens’ Daughter Calls Her Father’s Team a Family.’

Silver might seem spontaneous, but she’s taking a lot after her parents. Her upbringing has made her plot even the most casual moments.

That’s why she gets irritated when things don’t go as planned — such as Aiden’s recent obsession with Elsa.

Or me.

The fact she can’t plan me pisses her the fuck off. As it happens, I live to see that expression on her face.

“Posting too much on social media can be interpreted as attention-seeking,” I say.

The light blue of her eyes snaps my way. “People want to know about the lives of those they’re entrusting with their vote. If we show that Papa lives normally like them, it’ll give him a good push.”

“But he’s not like them.” I raise a brow. “He will rule over them, and if that’s not in their conscious mind, it’s buried in their subconscious.”

“So what do you suggest?” She fists her hand by her side. “That he stays away?”

“He should be close, but not close enough that they know about every detail of his life.”

“But…”

“Cole is right,” Frederic interrupts. “The sense of mystery is what keeps people coming back for more — even subconsciously. You can post as usual, Silver. Your Instagram statistics are doing very well.”

She purses her lips, cutting me a glare as Mum tells her she loves her Instagram account.

That may be the case, but the fact she didn’t win against me, even in opinions, is turning her cheeks a faint hue of red.

That’s exactly the reason why I keep doing it. I’m the only one who gets to wrench that reaction out of her.

She retrieves her phone, seeming to check a message. Her lips part. The reaction is so small, it can be interpreted in different ways.

Silver’s lips part when she’s surprised, aroused, or scared. The first two are out of the way because her fist is still clenched.

Is she scared? Of what? Or whom?

I need to get my hands on her phone. I did once, but it’s fingerprint-protected and takes a photo, then sends it straight to her cloud when someone tries to unlock it. There’s no PIN option, so I couldn’t get around that.

I’ll check it when she’s asleep.

Frederic talks about fighting crime. There’s a lunatic who’s been attacking women as they jog in secluded park areas. He doesn’t kill them, but he usually molests them with pens or cuts their skin. None of the victims who filed a report saw him. They were drugged by a needle and the next thing they remembered was either waking up alone or someone else finding them.

It’s rare to have a serial attacker around here, so Frederic tells Sebastian about how he should offer his support to the women. Cynthia is already very active in the women associations committee, so he should make friends with her, something that Sebastian refuses and Silver’s face slightly falls at hearing it.

Then Frederic moves on to talk about using Mum and Sebastian’s marriage to promote to another faction of society. While everyone is busy focusing on him, I retrieve my phone and hide it low under the conference table so Derek, the driver who is currently sitting beside me, doesn’t see.

And yes, even the driver plays a part in the campaign. This is almost like a battlefield where even the horses need to be placed strategically. No mistakes are allowed.

Cole: Did you hear what Frederic said? I’m always right.

I observe her facial features as soon as I hit Send. They morph from concentrated to the fired-up expression where she’s ready to climb on the table and jump down my throat. Or punch it. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she did both.

She decides to ignore me, thinking of herself as the better person or whatever else might be going on in her righteous, prude brain.

Not under my watch.

I’m persistently out to destroy her innocence, and it’s for a reason.

Cole: That includes the fact that you fantasise about me. Admit it and I might not use it against you.

She purses her lips, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

Silver: I do not. Keep dreaming, wanker.

Cole: Do you mean to tell me you haven’t been rubbing your thighs together since we got here in remembrance of me?

Her cheeks tint in a rosy colour and she grips the phone tighter.

Silver: I have not.

Cole: I saw you, though. In fact, I bet you’re clenching your thighs right now. I bet you’re wet, Butterfly.

Her lips part, with arousal this time, but she focuses back on Frederic, refusing to reply.

It takes everything in me not to go there, grab her by the hand, and kidnap her the fuck out of here. Since that option is out of the question, I type.

Cole: Maybe I should check. I bet if I thrust my fingers in you right now, you’d soak me like you did my dick.

Her lips tremble as she reads the text.

Silver: Stop it.

Cole: Why? Are you scared they’ll find out you like being fucked by your stepbrother? That you were fucked against this same table when anyone could’ve walked in and witnessed you losing your virginity?

She swallows and squirms in her seat. If anyone were to pay her the slightest attention, and if she had on a light-coloured tank top, everyone would see her nipples, hard and turned on.

The fact that I can push her buttons makes me smile. Then I pretend I’m agreeing with Mum about some sort of a weekend meal.

That’s the difference between me and Silver. She can’t multi-task, especially when she’s aroused, but I never erase my surroundings, not even when she’s the only thing who matters in them.

Silver: Just shut up.

Cole: I will on one condition.

Silver: What?

Cole: End it with Aiden.

It’s her turn to smirk from across the table.

Silver: I won’t. What will you do about it? Fuck me? *yawn emoji*

I narrow my eyes the slightest bit, then decide to push the button she loathes the most.

Cole: Remember that pic you saw on my phone?

Her brow furrows as she reads the text, and when realisation sets in, her fist clenches harder and her manicured nails nearly crack from the way she holds her phone.

Cole: If you don’t do as you’re told, you’ll regret it.

Silver: Screw. You.

As soon as Frederic finishes the section, I stand up. “I’m going to meet the guys.”

Mum smiles. “Ronan’s again?”

“Yeah.”

“Have fun,” Sebastian tells me.

Silver’s eyes widen, but she quickly masks her reaction. She already knows that she messed up real bad.

On my way outside, I type her one last text.

Cole: I will be screwing someone. It just won’t be you.