Page 34 of Fallen Empire

The door opened, cutting off the conversation far earlier than it needed to end.

Millie stepped through, Ben trailing closely behind.

“Where is she?” Millie asked, her voice too steady, her eyes already wide with panic.

I put one hand up, shaking my head gently. “They just took her back.”

Her shoulders slumped, but her face didn’t relax. I could see it all over her. Her mind racing through worst-case scenarios, conjuring every kind of hell.

“She’s okay,” I added quickly. “They’re extubating. It shouldn’t take long.”

Ben’s gaze flicked between Nic and me. Once. Twice. And there it was—his tell. The subtle twitch in his jaw. The sharp narrowing of his eyes.

He knew.

He didn’t know what, but he damn sure knew something.

I’d known him long enough to recognize when his instincts were firing. And right now, they were screaming. Setting off alarms inside his head.

But we couldn’t say a word. Not with Millie standing there like a thread away from breaking. Not with Savannah still in the back room fighting to breathe.

Because telling Ben would mean tellingher.

And Millicent on a warpath? That wasn’t something we could afford right now.

Ben stepped further inside, but his focus never left Nic.

Not Millie. Not me. Nic.

He studied her like he could read secrets off her skin. “Everything alright?” he asked, voice low, too calm.

Nic didn’t blink. Didn’t hesitate. She just crossed one leg over the other like she wasn’t sitting on top of a ticking bomb.

“Peachy,” she said.

Ben’s eyes shifted to mine. Waiting. Testing.

I didn’t flinch either.

Didn’t answer.

Because right now, silence was safer than the truth.

The silence stretched, thick and taut.

Then—

“I swear to God, if someone doesn’t hand me that garlic bread in the next five seconds, I’m going to lose it.”

Millie’s voice cut through the tension like a blade through silk. Sharp, honest, unfiltered.

Ben blinked, turning to her. She was already walking toward him, one hand outstretched like a woman possessed.

“I’ve been smelling that food the whole damn ride,” she muttered, grabbing the bag from his hands without waiting for permission. “Hand it over.”

He passed it to her wordlessly. She walked to where Nic sat and plopped down beside her on the sofa. Ben rolled the tray table over so she could set her food down.

Once it was out of the bag, she ripped into the container, shoving a piece of garlic bread into her mouth with a dramatic groan.