Page 16 of Fallen Empire

There’d been a shift between them over the past few days, something I didn’t fully understand, but couldn’t ignore. The kind of charged silence that lingered too long in a room. The way Ben’s eyes always found Millie first. The way she didn’t flinch when he barked orders, but still bristled like she was daring him to push her.

And she shouldn’t have been there.

Ben made that clear the night it happened. He’d told her no. Had ordered Reaper to take her to the safe house. But she showed up anyway. Because Millie never listened when someone told her to back down.

And now? Now I was pretty damn sure the bruised knuckles on Ben’s right hand didn’t come from the fight we’d been in.

They came from whatever went down between him and Reaper.

And while neither of them had said a word about it, I saw the story all over Ben’s silence—and Millie’s refusal to meet his eyes for more than a second.

There was something boiling between them. Something that hadn’t come to a head yet, but would.

Eventually.

But right now… all I could focus on was the quiet rise and fall of Savannah’s chest. And the fact that—for the first time in days—I wasn’t watching her die.

I brushed my thumb along her knuckles.

“I don’t know if you can hear me,” I murmured, voice rough. “But I need you to.”

My eyes stayed on her face. Every inch of it committed to memory. The curve of her cheekbone, the light freckles near her nose, the scar that traced just beneath her jawline. The one she never liked anyone to see.

“I’m so damn mad at you, Vannah.”

The words hit the air before I could swallow them. I exhaled through my nose, jaw tight.

“You were supposed to let me protect you. That was the deal, remember?” I gave a bitter little laugh. “But no. You had to go and throw yourself in front of a bullet like it was nothing.”

My grip tightened just slightly, not enough to hurt, just enough to feel her there.

I looked at her, really looked at her. Still. Silent. But something in me believed she could hear every damn word.

“You scared the hell out of me,” I whispered. “You hear me, baby? You scared the hell out of me.”

I shook my head and gave a strained breath, the kind that choked halfway up my throat.

“I know you thought you were doing the right thing. You always do. Just like your mother.”

I paused.

“Barbara,” I said, softer now. “Your mom…I tried to tell you. Right before everything fell apart. But maybe you couldn’t hear it through the hurt I’d caused. I thought by telling you I broke your trust. And honestly, I did. I should have told you sooner, I just didn’t know how. And I still wasn’t sure of your role in everything.”

I leaned in closer, the ache in my chest tightening like a fist. Coward shit, I know. But telling her face to face again—risking her throwing me out for good—wasn’t an option anymore.

I watched for any flicker of reaction, even if I knew it was probably too early.

“She knew I had a reputation. Not the one the tabloids talk about, but the real one. The one that’s buried under layers of redacted files and burned records. I didn’t know it then. The reasons. But she apparently saw what Bruce was becoming. What he was building.”

I smiled, just barely. “Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”

“I’d known about you for years. God, did she love talking about you. I think even then she wanted us to meet. Play matchmaker, or maybe just so you would know I was going to protect you one day.” I rubbed my thumb gently against her palm again, this time to help give me a little strength. I saw so much of Barbara Sinclair in the woman I currently had my eyes locked in on.

“When she wrote that letter. I’d dropped everything to go after you. I think a part of me fell in love with you before I ever knew who you really were. So telling you before it was time meant coming off as a complete stalker.” I laughed, shaking my head. Because the truth was—I’d stalk her to the ends of the earth if that’s what it took to protect her, even from a distance.

I looked down at her hand in mine, then lifted it gently to my lips.

“But she was right about one thing she told me. You’d risk your life if it meant saving someone else. Especially if you found out the type of man Bruce really was. She said you’d try to rescue every child you could.”