Ruthless Empire: Epilogue 1

“What the hell are you doing here?” I whisper-yell as Cole leans against the bathroom’s door and clicks it closed behind him. “This is the ladies’ room.”

“I know.” He stalks towards me, and every step he takes is like he’s walking straight to my heart.

I was right. There’s no way my feelings for him would ever fizzle out.

With every passing day, I fall harder and faster into him.

With every day, he becomes my everything.

We moved to Oxford for university, and soon after, we told Mum and Papa about our relationship.

I can’t be with him officially. At least, not yet. Papa won the election and became the prime minister, then remarried Mum a year after Helen’s death.

That caused quite a ruckus in the media, despite their strategic approach. Frederic made it look like Mum consoled Papa and they rediscovered their initial attraction.

It’s true that Cole and I don’t live under the same roof anymore, and he eclipsed himself from the family circle to not be associated as my brother. But it’ll take years for the world to come to terms with us.

We’re bigger than the world, he and I. They’re not ready for us.

Papa and Mum are the Conservative Party — despite their non-conservative actions with that affair. I can’t exactly bring their votes down by announcing I’m in love with my ex-stepbrother.

I can only do that once Papa is out of 10 Downing Street.

Because of that, our relationship is just known on a familial and close friends level. As in only Aiden, Xander, and Ronan from our friends.

But even with that, Cole shouldn’t be here.

“Everyone else is outside,” I scold. “We’re supposed to be celebrating Xander and Kim’s engagement.”

“I know.” His eyes gleam as he cages me against the counter, his hands on either side of me.

I wrap both arms around his neck. “We can’t do this.”

“I know.”

And then his lips devour mine. I climb up his body as he fiddles with his belt, and soon enough he’s plunging inside me.

I kiss him like a madwoman as he fucks me hard, fast and dirty against the counter of the bathroom.

I’d be lying if I said this was our first time violating public indecency codes. Cole doesn’t show it, but he’s the adventurous type. He doesn’t stop when he wants something done — that something being me.

Nothing deters him, whether we’re at the university dorms or during a night out while everyone is getting drunk. And even during family dinners.

Mum calls him out on it every time, and he merely shrugs.

“C-Cole…” I grip his shoulders hard.

“Close, Butterfly?” he grunts against my mouth.

“Yes, oh, yes.”

“Who do you belong to?”

“You.”

“Say it.”

I bite my lower lip as I murmur the words that drive him crazy, “I’ve only loved you. Just you. You’re my first and last.”

He wraps his hand around my throat, squeezing as he pounds into me faster, making me fall.

Fall into him.

Fall into us.

He comes inside me at the same time as I shatter around him, biting his shoulder over his shirt to muffle my scream.

Once the wave subsides, I sigh, resting my head against the crook of his neck, breathing him in. “I love you.”

Instead of all the times I told him I hate him after sex, now I make it a habit to say my true feelings.

“And I love you.” He kisses my nose as I stand to my unsteady feet, stupid gravity pulling me down.

After I clean him and myself up, I face the sink to check my makeup. Cole remains at my back, wrapping both arms around my middle.

Not a day goes by where we don’t keep our hands off each other. We might not touch in public, but in private? We’re everything no one should know.

We’re kinky, we’re dorks, we’re nerds. Or, rather, Cole is. We’re in love. We’re happy.

As long as I have him, I know I won’t need anything else.

He rests his chin on the top of my head. “You’ll marry me, right?”

I freeze, the lipstick suspended in front of my parted mouth as I meet his gaze in the mirror. “W-What?”

“You’ll marry me?”

“Is this because everyone else is getting married?”

“Fuck everyone else. I’m asking you.” He kisses the top of my head. “I know it’ll be a long time until I actually marry you, but I want confirmation.”

“Oh, Cole.” I spin around and face him. “Of course, I’ll marry you. You’re the only one for me.”

“The only one, huh?”

“The only one.”

“And you’re the only one for me, Butterfly.” He kisses me so passionately on the lips, I nearly climb his body all over again.

“Repeat that in front of that fucker Aiden when we go outside.”

I laugh. Cole is still low-key mad at Aiden for the three years I was engaged to him, and he seizes every chance to take revenge.

Cole will always be Cole.

I’m just glad he finally put Helen behind him. We both did. Now, we only focus on us.

When he demanded my firsts, I saved them for him. In return, he saved me his. We’re each other’s everything.

Hugging him, I whisper, “One day, I’ll shout at the top of the world that you’re mine.”

“And you’re mine, Silver, always.”

“Always.”