Page 147 of Fallen Empire

I was done fighting. I was done pretending I cared about what happened to me.

I didn’t want to feel the loss of my best friend.

I just wanted it all to go numb, even if it meant meeting death too.

"Be a good girl when we take this little walk. I'd hate to have to end your life so soon," he said, shoving me forward until my legs stumbled into motion.

I thought about running. If I saw an exit, maybe I could take it. Maybe I could make it out. But the thought snapped back on me just as fast.

Savannah was still here. Somewhere in this hellhole. I wouldn’t leave her behind. Even if she was already—

I refused to finish that thought.

My feet kept moving, carrying me out of the room, down a narrow hallway where the walls seemed to lean in closer with every step.

We reached a stairwell, the metal steps cold and hollow under my shoes.

"It really is a shame you’ll never get to live to tell my story," he said, his tone almost casual.

I stayed silent. I wasn’t giving in to his games anymore.

"The one where I lured the single person who tried to shut me down years ago right into a trap… and took out his entire family."

He was talking about Jaxson. That much I knew now. And it wouldn’t matter if they lived or died. I wouldn’t be around to witness it.

At the bottom of the stairs, we stopped in front of a heavy metal door.

“Open it,” he said, his hand clamping harder on the top of my head. A few more strands of hair snapped under the pressure, the sting prickling my scalp.

I gripped the handle and shoved it open.

We stepped into a hallway that felt like stepping into a grave. The air was stale, thick with dust that clung to the back of my throat. The walls were old—cracked plaster and peeling paint, the kind of neglect that whispered no one came here unless they had to.

A sour, rotten stench rolled through the space, but it was masked under something sharp and chemical, like bleach trying, and failing, to scrub away the truth. It was the smell of murder, of bodies left too long, of decay that no amount of scrubbing could erase. A smell that had soaked into the walls, into the floor, into the bones of the building itself.

The hallway stretched out in front of me, long and narrow, the air thick enough to choke on. At the far end, a thin sliver of light bled in through an open doorway, cutting across the floor like a promise.

Freedom.

My heart slammed harder with each step, the sound pounding in my ears.

I could see the opening now. See the faint outline of doors beyond it. If I could make it there, just a few more steps, this nightmare could end.

Savannah was gone. I had to believe that. I had to get out before Aleksei decided he was done with me too. Every instinct screamed at me to run, to put every ounce of strength I had left into making it to that light.

My pace quickened. The air tasted different the closer I got—less stale, less heavy—and power started to surge through my veins again. I could make it. I could—

A sound broke through the silence.

A whimper. Soft, strained… alive.

I froze. Slowly, my head turned toward a half-open door to my left.

A woman slumped in a chair, her head tilted back against the wall like her neck couldn’t hold it up anymore. At first, she was just a shadow in the dim light, until I looked down.

A gold chain shimmered against her collarbone, barely catching the sickly yellow glow from the overhead bulb. The small pendant twisted just enough to show the curve of anS.

It was all I needed.