Page 17 of Fallen Empire (The Fallen Trilogy #2)

Savannah

The thing about fear is that it isn’t just a caution light flashing in your head.

True fear is full-bodied. It lives in your bones, nestled beneath your skin, and forces every nerve ending to stand at attention.

It’s the sound of a voice that’s trained you to flinch.

“Savannah, Savannah, Savannah… what am I going to do with you now?”

It’s the bile crawling up your throat, begging for release as his steps draw near, the scent of his cologne turning your stomach into a warzone.

“You just don’t know how to die, do you?”

It’s the sting that blooms where his hand made contact—numbing, not just from pain but from shame.

“Since you’re already on your deathbed… I’ll take the next best thing.”

And lastly, It’s the air escaping your mouth as your lungs remember to function when he turns to walk away—

Without taking a piece of your soul with him.

“If you crawl your way back to life… maybe you can save her before I bury her at Park Place. Don’t pass Go. Don’t collect two hundred dollars.”

My body jolted before my eyes even opened.

Sweat clung to my skin, soaking into the hospital sheets. My chest rose and fell in quick, uneven bursts, like I’d been running—sprinting—through hell just to wake up again.

I knew it wasn’t real. It was just a nightmare.

But it didn’t matter.

Because my body didn’t. The panic was still real. The bile still burned in my throat. And the last words he spoke—

They echoed like a curse. Not just words. A warning.

My eyes flew open, and for a moment, I didn’t feel the pain—only the fear. I turned my head slowly. Only it was Jaxson.

He was sitting beside me, elbow resting on the edge of my bed, fingers gently tangled with mine. His head lifted the second I moved, his eyes snapping to mine like he’d been holding his breath this whole time. The relief in his expression nearly broke me.

“You’re okay,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”

My throat was raw, my heart still racing. His fingers gripped mine just tight enough to ground me, but not enough to hurt.

He studied me closely, concern lacing every word. “Nightmare?”

I hesitated.

Everything inside me screamed to nod. To say yes and brush it off. But I didn’t move. Because it hadn’t felt like just a dream.

Something about it clung too tightly. The scent, the cadence of his voice, the way his words seemed to bleed into reality even now.

If I told Jaxson, he’d chalk it up to trauma. Hallucinations. PTSD.

But what if it wasn’t?

I swallowed and forced a quiet breath through my nose. “Yeah… maybe.”

That was all I gave him. All I could.

He didn’t push. Just sat there, thumb gently moving against my hand like he was willing to ride out the storm until I could breathe again.

After a long moment, I finally whispered, “Good… morning?” The question sat on the air between us, weak but honest. I wasn’t sure what day it was, or how long I’d been out.

Jaxson let out the softest breath of a laugh, more air than sound.

“Morning,” he said, his voice low and gravelly, like he hadn’t used it in hours. “You’ve been out for a while. Nearly gave us all a damn heart attack.”

His thumb moved lightly across the side of my hand, and I hated how much I needed that touch. How it tethered me to this world instead of the one I’d just escaped in my head.

I swallowed hard. “How long?”

“Four days. Today will be day five.”

Five days.

It hit me like a weight pressing into my chest. I blinked up at the ceiling, trying to process what that even meant—what I’d missed, what had changed.

All I could feel was unbearable pain radiating from every part of my body. Fire. A million needles in my leg. And my chest, God, it felt like someone had just pulled a knife out of it.

“Where am I?” Despite wanting to speak normally, my words were barely audible, so quiet that Jaxson had to lean in just to decipher them.

“NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.”

My brows furrowed, trying to recall why that didn’t feel right.

Bruce had kidnapped me.

I closed my eyes.

A van. Bruce. And the disgusting stench that had filled the air, so strong it seemed to follow me even here.

And then… nothing.

“Do you remember what happened?” Jaxson asked, his voice laced with unease. Like he wasn’t sure he wanted me to.

“Bits and pieces,” I admitted, because it was the truth.

The reality of what happened existed in jumbled chaos, like a cloud I couldn’t quite clear. I could see it, but only in flashes. Small, broken clips of me standing in front of a gun. Not once, but twice. I remembered being hit by—what was it? A car? And crawling out. Bruce falling to his death.

But the rest… it was like my mind had erased the trauma I’d endured. Or maybe buried it somewhere too deep to reach—at least not yet.

Dissociative amnesia is the medical term.

And that’s the thing about trauma.

Sometimes the brain suppresses it to protect us—shoving it into the darkest corners so we don’t have to feel it. So we can survive.

But is that better?

Is it better to keep it locked away in some rusted box, untouched…

Or to open it?

To relive it. Remember it. Try to heal from it?

Because as much as I wished I didn’t recall every time Bruce ripped open a piece of my flesh, I could still feel it.

As if it were happening all over again.

And maybe that’s why the mind blocks it out.

Not to forget.

But to keep victims alive.

“How did I get here?”

“Ben,” Jaxson said with a quiet huff. “I guess he wasn’t letting his sister go that easily.”

He was trying to make light of it. I just wasn’t sure if it was for my benefit or his.

“Ben knows a guy or two,” he continued. “When everything broke out, he’d already called in an ops team for extraction.”

Ops team?

“How connected is he?”

Jaxson didn’t answer right away. “We all have our pasts,” he said finally. “You know that. And I told you about your mother.”

His voice dipped slightly.

The last time he’d brought that up, I’d kicked him out.

Right before Bruce took me. And I doubted he ever thought he’d get the chance to tell me more.

I tried to move my fingers—to squeeze his hand. A tiny gesture, but even that didn’t work. Still, he must’ve noticed, because he kept going.

“I run a team of specialized individuals,” he said softly.

“People trained to extract targets from bad situations. With one call or text, it doesn’t take long for someone to show up.

That day… I wasn’t thinking ahead. I was too focused on you.

And I’ll be in Ben’s debt forever for what he did. He saved you by doing what I couldn’t.”

“Well,” I rasped, my voice dry but teasing, “he is my brother.”

That earned a full-blown laugh from Jaxson, and God, did he look good when he laughed.

I tried to join him, but pain shot through my side so sharply it stole the breath from my lungs. Yeah… I didn’t have that same luxury.

“It took about six hours to get you here. After your surgery, you just wouldn’t wake up. You were in a coma for four days. Those were the longest days of my life.”

“I’m not sorry.” And I wasn’t. I’d choose my life over his a million times.

I was the reason everyone’s life was at risk that day.

I hadn’t asked them to come save me. I was grateful they did, but I’d accepted my fate.

If honoring my last name meant dying for the innocent children in that van. I’d do it all over again.

“Savannah, I—”

“Jaxson,” I said as I tried to sit up, but failed.

I took a deep breath, once again not letting him see the agony I was truly in.

“Bruce was my problem, not yours. My entire life has been built on lies.” The words became harder to say, my throat feeling like it was closing the more I talked.

“Nearly every dollar I have to my name was gained at the loss of an innocent life.”

“No, it wasn’t. Most of it was on drugs. Your father ran a clean operation. Well, as clean as a drug lord could run.”

“It’s still dirty.”

“It is. But only the past few years have been Bruce’s operation. You need to know that your father tried to stop him. Your mother had cost Bruce millions over the years, and he’s the reason they lost their lives.”

“I know.” I remembered every word Bruce had said while the cold barrel of a gun was digging into my temple.

“What do you mean, you know?”

But I didn’t have time to respond. Because the second the words left his mouth, the door cracked open—and Millicent walked in.

“Oh my God , she’s awake!”

She rushed in, nearly dropping the tray of drinks in her hand. Her shoes screeched across the tile in a frenzy as she made her way to my side. Ben followed close behind, not as loud, but just as focused.

“Don’t sit up!” Millie warned, placing the coffee down with one hand and grabbing mine with the other. “I will tie you down , Savannah.”

I smiled weakly. “Good morning to you too.”

Her eyes were already glassy. She looked at me like she hadn’t been sure I’d make it, like part of her still couldn’t believe I had.

“Five days, Vannah,” she whispered, brushing a loose hair from my face. “Five. You scared the hell out of me.”

“Are one of those for me?” I whispered back.

“Here.” Jaxson had a cup with a straw at my lip in a beat. I looked down at the contents and wrinkled my nose. “Drink some water and if you want coffee you can have some of mine.”

I didn’t want to deprive him of his caffeine, but damn the aroma smelled like heaven.

Ben stepped in quietly and set a bag on the side table. “We brought clothes from the Penthouse. Jaxson said you’d need them soon.”

“Thank you,” I whispered after allowing the cool liquid to soothe the pain in my throat.

There was a heaviness in Ben’s eyes. And a deep, quiet gratitude when he looked at me—like maybe he’d been carrying his own kind of guilt.

Millie glanced between the two men and let out a sigh. “Alright. That’s enough testosterone for now. Out.”

Jaxson arched a brow. “Excuse me?”

“Girl talk,” she said with a pointed look. “And I swear, if either of you lingers in this doorway like you don’t hear me, I will scream.”

Ben didn’t argue. He touched Millie’s arm lightly, a quick silent exchange between them, and then gave me a small nod before heading for the door.

Jaxson hesitated. He looked at me like leaving was the last thing he wanted to do. “Yeah, fuck that. Bond some other time. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Jax, we have some work to do anyways.” It was Ben that responded, clearly leaning towards being on Millie’s side of this argument.

“Work can wait.” I wasn’t sure what work meant anymore, but I couldn’t imagine he had been running his billionaire empire from this hospital room over the past few days.

“Wasn’t a question.” Ben stated. The tension that floated between them could be cut with scissors. I sensed it, Millie sensed it. But she just kept looking at me and smiling. Regardless of what was happening between them, Millicent Pierman always got her way. And I loved her for that.

“Jaxson, I’m not going anywhere,” I said softly, as his eyes drifted back to me. “Just… out of sight for a minute. Go grab some food. And some coffee. Since you’re letting me steal yours.”

His jaw flexed. Then he leaned in and pressed the lightest kiss to my temple, whispering just one word against my skin.

“Promise.”

Then they were gone.

And it was just Millie and me.