Page 39 of Fallen Empire (The Fallen Trilogy #2)

“Sleep well, my sweet Millicent?”

It echoed across the walls, bouncing from corner to corner like he was everywhere at once.

I didn’t see anyone.

My neck throbbed, a deep, burning ache from where it had hung forward for too long.

I rolled it back slowly, pain blooming from the base of my skull down through my shoulders.

The flickering floor lamp in the corner gave off a weak, yellow glow.

Shadows stretched across concrete walls and clung to every corner of the room.

“Looking for someone?” the voice came again, closer this time, but still invisible.

Aleksei.

That’s when I saw it—the faint red glow blinking from the upper corner of the ceiling.

Small. Steady. Silent.

A camera.

He didn’t have to be in here with me. He was watching. Studying. Tracking every move I made. Every breath. Every flicker of panic that crossed my eyes.

I swallowed hard and forced myself not to flinch. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Not yet.

He thought he had control. Thought this place—the cameras, the shadows, the silence—meant he held the power.

And maybe he did. For now.

But the longer I sat in this concrete box, the more the fear gave way to something hotter.

Angrier.

Because once again, someone thought they could dictate what happened to me.

It started years ago with my parents, never giving me the chance to be a child. Forcing me to grow up too soon. Then fate took the only man I ever truly loved. Jaxson tried to leave me out of Savannah’s truth. Out of her past. Then Ben…

Ben wanted to shut me out completely. The day they saved her, and every moment after.

Now Aleksei thought he held the power over me. Like I was something to manage. Something to lock away when he couldn’t control the outcome.

But the truth was just that—he couldn’t control it.

I’d spent my entire life managing crises, putting out fires, thinking three steps ahead. I didn’t flinch in chaos. I calculated in it. I looked at every problem at face value and solved it.

Clean. Efficient.

Aleksei didn’t want me. He wanted Savannah. I was just the closest thing he could grab.

I was the bait. And I’d play that role if it meant they’d find him. Keep Savannah out of harms way and end this for good. Because while I may have looked like a pawn…

What he didn’t realize yet was that I was the queen.

And Aleksei?

He was already one move from checkmate.

I’d had a front row seat to what Jaxson’s people were capable of. I’d watched them dismantle an empire. I’d seen what they did to men who thought they were untouchable.

And while I might never speak to him again, I knew one thing with absolute certainty. Ben would come for me. And when he did?

Bodies would drop.

So I could play the part. I could pretend.

Swallowing back the heat burning through my chest, I forced my voice to shake. Let it crack just enough. Let the fear creep into the edges, even as my mind stayed sharp.

“I… I don’t understand. Who are you? What… what do you want with me?”

Let the bastard think he had me. Let him think he’d broken me.

Because while he watched me through that camera, I was just biding time until the cavalry arrived.

The sound of laughter erupted through the room—sharp, sudden, and far too loud. It echoed off the walls, intense for a moment before slowly dying down.

“They have no clue I’m even coming,” he said, amusement thick in his voice. “I’ve spent my life right under the nose of Jaxson Westbrook and his little friend. They never even knew I was here. Watching. Waiting.”

The confusion on my face wasn’t pretend anymore.

And for the first time since I woke up in this place…

I started to realize maybe I didn’t have any high ground to stand on.

“Poor, poor Millicent,” he crooned, almost gently. “They never even told you about me, did they?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t have to.

“Of course not,” he continued, answering for me instead. “If they had, I wouldn’t have been able to get so close. They have a tendency to underestimate people when they’re not in control. When they’re not stealing what belongs to others.”

The words landed like ice water.

Stealing what belongs to others.

I’d heard them talk about missions—when they were looking for Savannah. Quiet mentions of undercover work. Saving people. Rescues, they called them.

But that wasn’t how he saw it.

In Aleksei’s world, they weren’t rescuing victims. They were taking property. Humans that belonged to him .

And suddenly, everything I thought I knew about Jaxson, about Ben, about the lines they claimed they never crossed…

Felt thinner.

Darker.

So much more complicated than I ever wanted to believe.

“So they stole something from you?” I asked carefully, trying to stay on course. If Aleksei wanted to talk, maybe I could use it. Maybe I could get information they’d never give me themselves. “A business deal gone bad or something?”

The sound of air escaping his mouth filled the room—amusement with an edge.

“They took billions from me,” he said. “Years of work. Years of finding the right people in the right places. And I can tell you this, because you won’t live to tell anyone.”

Something scraped across the floor—slow, sharp. A chair being dragged.

He was getting comfortable.

“It started years ago,” he said. “When an elected official thought he could call the shots when it came to my family business. Thought he could press his finger on me—and only lift it when he was good and ready.”

“So I took his grandson.”

My stomach twisted.

“And your friend—Knox, was his name, by the way—he’s the one who swiped the boy. He cost me a lot of fucking money with that one.”

I stopped breathing.

“Of course, I didn’t know it was him then.

And he was too blind to see that I was in control…

at the time. It wasn’t until a few gossip columns started flashing his face around.

Jaxson Westbrook—Manhattan’s Billionaire Bachelor.

I’ve lived here for years, waiting for the right time.

Watching. But what I didn’t realize was that all the right pieces would fall into place without me even having to make a move. ”

My mind was reeling.

Jaxson went by Knox?

Was that for security, or something more? How deep did this go? The more Aleksei talked, the more questions I had. But something he said stood out more than anything.

At the time.

Two little words. But they hit harder than the rest.

Because Aleksei wanted to sound invincible. Unstoppable.

But even monsters answer to someone.

“So if that was years ago… why now?” I asked, trying to piece together where Savannah fit into all of this. Why it was her head they wanted instead of Jaxson’s.

“Because the pieces were dumped in my lap,” he said, like it was obvious. “The second I saw Savannah here, my empty soul smiled.”

There was no sarcasm in his tone. No smirk. Just chilling, honest admiration.

“Jaxson did me a favor when he put a bullet through his skull. I only wish he’d done it sooner.” A pause. A beat too long. Then came the real gut punch.

“You see, I was supposed to marry Savannah. And take over Sinclair Holdings. Not that waste of oxygen, Bruce.”

Being married to Bruce wasn’t a walk in the park for her—

But I couldn’t imagine the life she would’ve lived married to this man. Aleksei didn’t seem like the type to use a woman as a punching bag. He was too calm. Too collected. Too cold.

“So why didn’t you marry her?” I tilted my head just slightly, letting the sarcasm bleed through. “Not her type?”

Another laugh echoed through the space—barely there. Dark.

“Let’s just say her father didn’t take lightly to me torturing my own blood.”

A beat passed. Just long enough for the air to shift.

“Or maybe,” he added, voice dipped in venom, “it was the fact that I made my own father watch while I slowly killed his only other heir.”

If I could see him, I was pretty sure he just shrugged his shoulders. Cruel was too kind a word for him.

Malevolent. Sadistic. Even those didn’t fit. He was the devil reincarnated.

Everything about him offered you a sense of warmth from the outside. False hope that he could be a protector.

Until the door locked behind you. Until the mask slipped. And by the time you saw what hid beneath it…

It was already too late.

“Well, I don’t think I’d want you to marry my daughter after that, either.” It’s all I could say. Try not to let the bile rise in my throat while remaining unaffected by his words.

“Didn’t matter. Bruce was easier to control in the long run. He’d do anything for money.”

“Wouldn’t you do the same?”

His answer was quick. “No. Money can only control those that don’t have enough of it. I want the power. I want the control.”

“Want… as in you don’t already have it?” that was where I made the mistake. One tiny remark trying to get under his skin had reminded him of reality.

“That’s enough story time,” he said, the chair scraping across the floor again like a line drawn in concrete. “But I do plan to keep you alive for the upcoming show. I left your friend a little clue to find you. Let’s just hope she remembers.”

I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.

Because I knew exactly what he meant.

This wasn’t about ransom.

It wasn’t even about me.

It was about drawing her in. About forcing her hand. About turning Savannah into the final act of whatever twisted production he’d been scripting all along.

And he knew she’d come.

Because I would’ve done the same for her.

Which meant… this wasn’t a rescue mission.

It was a trap.