Page 25 of Fallen Empire

Of course she was.

Not much time had passed before the heavy door slung open like it weighed nothing.

Nic stepped inside, her energy sharp and loud, despite her silence. There was a look on her face I hadn’t seen in years.

Accusation.

Fear, maybe. But mostly rage.

“What the fuck did you do?” she snapped, not waiting for the door to close behind her.

Her tone cracked through the quiet like a whip.

“Shhh. What’s wrong with you? Savannah is—”

“She’s in a fucking coma, Jax.”

She cut me off like I wasn’t even speaking.

“She can’t hear me. So I’ll ask you again. What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Do?”

I looked past her to the nurse lingering just outside the door, hesitant, clearly waiting for a break in the tension.

“Ma’am,” I called, my voice steel. “You can come in. My friend here was just leaving.”

That should’ve been Nic’s warning. She didn’t budge.

She might’ve been more than just a tech specialist or whatever title she liked to toss around—hell, she’d built half my surveillance network from scratch. But that didn’t give her a free pass to come into this room like a damn wrecking ball.

Not today.

Not while Savannah was still fighting for her life.

And not while I was barely holding my own together.

The nurse stepped in with a radiology tech trailing behind her, clipboard in hand, quiet and practiced.

“We’re here to take Miss Sinclair for a CT scan, Mr. Westbrook,” the nurse said gently.

She moved to Savannah’s side, adjusting the monitors and checking the lines as the tech began unlocking the wheels on the bed. Nic didn’t say a word. She just stood at the end of the bed, arms crossed, staring at Savannah like she wanted to scream.

I hovered near the wall as they prepped her. Watched the nurse smooth out the sheets, verify her wristband, and nod to the tech.

Then, slowly, they began to roll her out of the room.

I followed a few steps, stopping just shy of the threshold. My hand twitched at my side.

I hated letting her out of my sight.

The nurse paused, glancing back.

“You can’t come, Mr. Westbrook. She’ll be back in twenty minutes.”

I nodded once, jaw tight.

As the door shut behind them, the silence crashed back in.

It was just me and Nic now.