Page 108 of Fallen Empire

The smile plastered across my face said enough. It was like I’d been sent back to childhood, the one time my dad told me I could pick out a toy from the store.

I never got to have sleepovers when I was younger.

I had to protect secrets.

While other girls played with Barbie dolls, I playedguess the liquormy dad downed. It would let me know whether he’d wake up mad, crying, or pretending nothing ever happened.

Jax knew what this meant to me. He just shook his head with a smile, accepting defeat.

And Ben? I was sure he was uncomfortably staring at the back of my head. I hadn’t spoken to him since Jax dropped the bomb about Aleksei.

He’d tried to follow me out of the room yesterday, but with one glare, he knew it wasn’t the time or place to have the fallout that was bound to happen.

And despite how pissed off I was, a part of me still wanted him to take the pain away.

It was a feeling I’d never had before—that someone else might be capable of cleaning up a mess I was used to taking care of. A mess I hadn’t caused.

There was a light rap on the door before it opened. Nurse Ruth stood in the entrance with a wheelchair, wearing the biggest smile I’d ever seen from her. Something I wasn’t sure she was even capable of.

“Is my favorite patient ready to go home?”

“Yes ma’am” Savannah responded. And for once, I didn’t want to roll my eyes at how soft Ruth was being with her. She’d fought for it. And something told me Ruth was about to give us her final bow.

“Alright, sweetheart,” she continued, rolling the chair toward the bed. “One last walk before we send you on your way.”

“I think this will be a cakewalk compared to the laps you made me take around the floor yesterday.”

“But look at you, getting to leave early because of all your hard work.” She handed Jax some papers. “These are her discharge orders. But before you go, I need to make one thing clear to all of you.”

Her voice didn’t waver, not even once.

“She isnotto be left alone. She’s progressing fast, but I don’t want to see her back here. Take care of her. And don’t doanything to upset her. Be patient, but you still have to push her. Even when she looks like her body can’t take another step, make her keep going.”

I nodded. “We will,” was all I could say, my voice catching as emotion clawed its way up my throat.

Jaxson nodded as well. “Thank you, Ruth. It means a lot that you’ve loved her through this like we do.”

“Son, she’s a hard one not to love. She’s got a fight in her that most people write stories about.” She walked to Savannah’s side and gently patted her shoulder. “Let’s get you on your way.”

Savannah stood slowly, but without any sign of her body giving way.

Because it had already endured the impossible.

From here, it was simply about taking care of herself.

She moved to the chair and plopped down, adjusting her feet on the pedals as Jaxson reached out to flip them out for her.

He turned to start pushing, but Nurse Ruth waved her hand through the air with a firm ‘shoo’ motion. “Young man, just go get the car and meet us downstairs.”

He chuckled before leaning down to press a kiss against Savannah’s forehead.

“On it,” he said, before glancing back. “Let’s go, brother.”

Ben took one last glance in my direction, but I didn’t meet his eyes. Then he walked out the door.

The hallway was quiet as Ruth wheeled Savannah toward the elevator. I followed a few steps behind, feeling the weight of everything we’d just walked through pressing against my chest.

It wasn’t just about getting her out of the hospital.