Page 46 of Fallen Empire (The Fallen Trilogy #2)

“Not if we don’t walk in blind,” I shot back. “Go in without knowing who’s inside, we hand him four more hostages.”

He gave me a look that was pure, dangerous agreement.

Reaper crossed his arms. “You’re thinking we cut him off before she steps inside?”

“I’m thinking we make damn sure Koslov never knows she made it this far,” I said, jaw locking.

“Got her,” Nic said suddenly.

Every head snapped toward the monitors.

And there she was. Savannah. Standing at the entrance of 45 Park Place, one hand on the door handle, her body angled just enough to glance over her shoulder like she was checking for a tail.

Time stopped. The noise in the room went quiet. My vision tunneled, every other sound bleeding away until it was just her and the echo of my own pulse in my ears.

She was about to do it again. Sacrifice herself for someone else.

First it was me. Now Millie. Didn’t she care about her own life?

Didn’t she care what living in a world without her would do to me now that I’ve had her in my arms, now that I’ve breathed her in and tasted what it’s like to finally feel alive again?

The fear in my gut burned into something sharper, hotter. Rage. Not at her, but at the world that had her believing she was disposable. At Koslov for making her somehow believe this was the only way.

She moved. Her fingers pressed against the door handle, then she pulled…

And my heart sank into my stomach. Fear wasn’t something I was used to, but it had become common with her in my life. The fear of someone hurting her. Me losing her. The kind of fear that crawled under your skin and stayed there, whispering you’d never get her back.

“Jax, if she goes in, we lose her completely.” I heard every word Nic said, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the monitor. Everything slowed as I watched the woman I love hesitate before stepping into her own execution.

My chest tightened with the same cold dread I’d felt hours ago, sitting in this very room, watching the replay of Layla. She’d walked into a building and never stepped back out. No sound. No movement. Just the door closing, sealing her fate. And now, I was watching Savannah make the same move.

“We have to fucking move. Now .” Ben’s voice sliced through me, each word dripping with venom.

Reaper’s eyes locked on mine. “Jax, we’re going to need more than just a few handguns.”

I didn’t argue. “Safe room. Everything we need is in there.”

That was all it took. Ben was already moving, tension rolling off him in waves, and Reaper was right behind him. No one had to say it. We didn’t know how many men Koslov had inside, but it wouldn’t matter if we hesitated.

Nic kept her eyes glued to the monitors. “I’ll watch for anything moving on the inside.”

“Keep trying for Koslov,” I told her, my voice low but sharp. “If he’s anywhere near her, I want to know before we’re breathing the same air.”

Ben paused at the doorway long enough to look back at me. “Then we’d better move fast, because she’s already in there with him.”

The words lodged under my skin like splinters. If she was already inside, every second we spent talking, moving, even breathing could be costing her a way out.

And Millie.

And Layla.

Their lives balanced on the edge of a blade held by a man who’d already proven blood meant nothing to him.

Not even his own brother’s. If Koslov had all of them, and deep down I knew he did, we weren’t just fighting the clock.

We were walking into a nightmare with no guarantee any of them would make it out alive.

I let that truth sit for half a heartbeat, burning, before I shoved it down where it couldn’t slow me. “Move,” I said, and the word came out rougher than I intended.

Ben didn’t waste another second. Neither did I.

The Safe room door was already hanging open from earlier when I’d torn through it looking for Savannah.

This time, it wasn’t panic pushing me inside.

It was the sharp clarity of knowing exactly what we were walking into.

The racks of rifles, shotguns, and pistols gleamed under the harsh lights.

Bulletproof vests, ammo, grenades, tactical gear… everything we’d need and more.

This wasn’t just gearing up. This was loading every last piece of insurance we had before walking into hell.

We moved fast. Ben yanked a vest over his head, the Velcro ripping loud in the enclosed space, then grabbed a rifle and slammed a mag into place.

Reaper went for heavier plates, strapping them tight before loading down a combat belt with spare mags and a sidearm.

I clipped a set of Thermal-vision glasses to my vest before taking my own rifle and sidearm, the solid weight grounding me in the chaos.

Reaper silently handed out small comm earpieces, the coiled cords dangling like snakes, the faint plastic smell mixing with gun oil in the air. He didn’t say a word— just gave each of us a look that said be ready —before disappearing through the doorway.

By the time we stepped back into the main room, Nic was still at the monitors, but her face had gone pale. Her eyes were wide, unfocused, like she’d just seen a ghost crawl out of the screen.

“What is it?” I asked, already bracing.

“There’s movement here.” She pointed to a dark, second-floor window on the feed. “Someone’s in there. Watching. Waiting.”

The words hit like a gut punch, cold and sharp.

“Then we’re getting them out,” Ben said, each word deliberate, a promise wrapped in threat.

“All of us,” I added.

“I’m coming,” Nic shot back, pushing away from her chair.

“No,” Reaper said immediately, stepping into her path. His tone was calm but absolute. “You’re staying here. Map the area, every entry and exit. Send it to our phones before we hit the street.”

Nic’s eyes narrowed, but something flickered there—hurt, maybe—before she smoothed it away. Nobody else in the room seemed to catch it. But I did.

“Jax… don’t be mad,” she said suddenly, her gaze darting back to the monitors.

My teeth ground together. “What the fuck is it, Nikki?” I never called her that, but my patience had burned away the second I saw Savannah open that fucking door.

Nic hesitated, and that hesitation was worse than anything she could have said. “I ran the feed to the Penthouse. Before she left… she took one of your guns.”

A gun in her hands inside Aleksei’s world was a coin toss. Heads for freedom. Tails for death.

The words lit something in my chest, hot and sharp. I didn’t wait for a reaction from Ben or Reaper. I turned and headed for the back exit, not caring who was behind me.

If Savannah was inside that building, I wasn’t leaving without her. Even if I had to burn the whole place to the ground. I’d go in guns blazing if I had to. Whatever it took to make sure I never had to see her lying in a pool of her own blood again.