Page 121 of Fallen Empire
I hesitated but didn’t move. There was no immediate alarm. No gut punch warning me to run. Just the soft hum of nerves and a stranger with kind eyes.
“Hey… it’s you,” he said after a beat, like we were old acquaintances running into each other by accident.
And for a second, my chest loosened.
Recognition eased the tension that had been squeezing my spine since I hung up the phone. It felt good to breathe again, even if just for a moment.
“Hey!” I said, smiling back because I meant it. “I thought about you the other day. I never saw you again at the hospital. How’s your wife?”
“She’s at home resting,” he replied easily, the corner of his mouth lifting like the news was good.
“That sounds promising.”
“It is. But now that she’s home…” He looked past me, scanning the sidewalk. “People get in the way. You know what I mean.”
It was a strange comment, sure. But I brushed it off. Maybe he was talking about family. Visitors. Overprotective in-laws. I didn’t have the emotional energy to dig deeper.
Then his eyes flicked back to mine. “You out here by yourself?”
I paused. Something in his tone was different now—too casual.
“I—no. My boyfriend’s expecting me back. Just grabbed us some breakfast.” I lifted the bag and coffees in my hands, forcing a light laugh. “Didn’t think I’d be gone long.”
“Sure,” he said, like he didn’t believe a word of it. And he shouldn’t. It was a lie.
I nodded, offering a polite smile. “Well, I hope you have a great day.” I turned to walk past him, already thinking of how fast I could get back to the Penthouse.
But then he spoke.
And everything in me went still.
“You didn’t tell me how Savannah was doing,Ms. Pierman.”
Time didn’t just slow—it fractured.
Right before my eyes, the edges of reality began to blur. Pieces of the moment slipped sideways, like they were being peeled away from the rest of the world.
I heard everything and nothing all at once.
Car horns blared. A dog barked. Sirens wailed somewhere far off—but none of it felt real. The air turned thick, like it couldn’t reach my lungs fast enough. The world kept moving.
But the axis?
It was shattered.
I wasn’t standing outside a café anymore. I was standing in a different dimension. One where the rules had changed, and nothing was safe.
Because I never told him my last name, but he knew.
He knewme.
People think keeping secrets is for someone else's protection. That withholding the truth somehow shields you from fear, from pain, from having to carry the weight of knowing.
But that’s a lie.
Secrets aren’t about protection.
They’re aboutcontrol.
