Page 119 of Fallen Empire
I pulled the blanket down, tight around my shoulders and stared at the bottle of water on the table.
Something was wrong.
It wasn’t just the missing agent. It wasn’t even the fact that Millie hadn’t walked back through that door yet.
It was the way Jaxson’s voice broke when he said her name.
I could feel it rising inside of me, like static in the air before a storm. My nerves were on edge, the wait nearly unbearable. It felt like he’d been gone for hours.
“Reaper… I’m not sure where my phone is. How long has it been?”
He glanced at his watch. “Twelve minutes.”
Twelve minutes. Millie should’ve been back by now. “Do you have Millie’s number?” I asked. I wasn’t even sure he knew who she was.
But he pulled out his phone, tapped a few buttons, and the ringing echoed through the silence. Once. Twice. Three. Four times—then voicemail.
Maybe her hands were full.It’s Millie though. She doesn’t miss phone calls.
I waited a beat. “Could you try calling again?”
He nodded and did just that. The ring cut through the quiet like a warning.
Two rings. Three. Four.
“You’ve reached Millicent—”
He hung up.
I stared at the phone in his hand, willing it to ring. Willing her voice to fill the air.
To say she just got delayed. That she was fine.
But I knew it.
Deep in my bones.
Dread sank into every cell of my body.
I looked up to Reaper.
“Call Ben.”
He didn’t hesitate. He dialed, holding the phone to his ear this time.
And before he could even speak, I heard Ben’s voice through the receiver—
“No sir, she—”
He didn’t get to finish.
The scream that followed was the sound of a man being brought to his knees.
A single tear slid down my cheek.
And just like that…
The wound in my chest that had only just been stitched up felt like it was being ripped wide open all over again.
