Page 107 of Fallen Empire

“Sleep, baby. We’ll still be here when you wake up. And hopefully, by then, we’ll have some answers. I won’t let anything happen to you again.”

And while I believed those final words…

One last thought drifted through my mind before the dark took me:

He won’t have to protect me. When I get out of this bed, I’m ending this war myself.

Chapter 23

Millie

Savannah Sinclair was unlike any other.

It takes a special kind of human to fight the way she did. To claw her way back from death and still have enough stubborn fire left to keep pushing forward. I wasn’t sure if it was her will to live, her need to prove she could, or the looming shadow Alex—whatever his real name was—that kept her going.

Maybe it was all three.

All I knew was this—two days ago, she could barely sit up. And today? She was being discharged.

Her physical therapy had been brutal. I watched her tremble through every rep, fight through every step, her body trying to collapse while her spirit refused to. The doctors said it would take a week, maybe more, for someone with her injuries to walk out of here.

She did it in half that.

And somehow, she still smiled.

“When Jaxson takes you home, I’ll catch an Uber and go get some things from my place.” I said, asking her to stay wasn’t an option. I wasn’t giving her the opportunity to tell me no.

“You don’t have to do that.” Typical response from someone that was so independent and stubborn.

“I know I don’t, but I want to.”

“She’s staying with me.” Jaxson said.

“Perfect. I like your beds anyways.” There was no point in arguing. I saw the look of determination, and he meant what he said.

“Ummm,” Savannah mummered. “Don’t I get to decide where I stay?”

“No.” we both said in response. She’d been kidnapped from her own home, right in front of their eyes. Her safety wasn’t up for discussion, and for once, Jax and I didn’t disagree.

She just tilted her head back against the pillow and rolled her eyes.

“I can take you to get some things.” Ben said, but I didn’t look at him. I was still pissed at all the things he left out. The things he failed to tell me. Not because he was worried about what I’d do or how I’d respond, but because he thought he knew more about what was best for me that I did.

“No thanks.”

Savannah’s face softened. She was trying to play peacemaker—whatever makeshift sibling bond they’d formed shining through in the worst possible moment.

But guilt doesn’t earn trust back.

And I wasn’t in the mood to pretend otherwise.

I shook my head at her, saying everything I needed without words.

“Millie, you’re not staying.” Jax said.

“Then we’re staying at her place. Up to you.” I shrugged. “We can stay at your place, or we can stay at hers. I’ll let you decide. But me not staying with her? That’s not an option.”

“Fine. I’ll stop on the way and you can get some things from your place. You don’t need to be away from us right now.”