Page 2 of Fallen Empire
And as I stared down at mine—my best friend, my sister in every way but blood—the air became too heavy to breathe.
Chapter 1
Millie
I hated being told no.
Regardless of if it was for my own good, I hated it when someone else told me that I couldn’t do something.
I knew it wasn’t safe, and I sure as hell knew that there was nothing I could do if a war was waged. But Savannah needed me. I knew from the first time she stepped into my life that I needed to be in hers.
They’d kept me out long enough, and I wasn’t going to stand by while they continued to dance in circles around me.
Ben didn’t know what being left behind did to me. It made me feel suffocated. Helpless. Because sitting in silence is worse than facing a devil head-on in my mind.
So when Reaper slammed the car door to take me to a safe house, my mind was already made up. I’d get to her, one way or another, and I prayed it was with Reaper instead of without him.
I didn’t beg. I didn’t plead. I played the only card I had. Logic.
“What if they get there and they need you? I mean, what if something goes wrong? You think just the five of them can handle it on their own?” I threw doubt at Reaper so fast I gave myself whiplash.
He hesitated—just for a second. That second was all I needed.
I didn’t know Reaper, but he didn’t strike me as the type to back down from a good fight.
So I leaned in and pressed a little harder. “You know they’re going to need you. You’re not just a driver, Reaper. You’re backup. Protection. They trust you. And they brought you for a reason.”
I saw the moment it hit, like a stone dropping in his gut. He didn’t say a word. Just drove.
He’d tracked them, and it wasn’t long before we pulled up to the next location.
As the car rolled to a stop, the silence between us stretched, but the world outside wasn’t quiet. Not anymore.
Bodies hit the ground in the distance. Some dropping mid-run, others already still. I didn’t ask if Reaper saw them too. I knew he did. I knew it by the way his entire body shifted, and he started to grab for guns.
Gunshots echoed in the distance. I heard them clearly from inside the SUV. When I exited, the screams followed. They were sharp and panicked, like the sky itself was begging for mercy.
This wasn’t just a fight. This was a full-on war. A war I wasn’t sure we were winning. I looked around, trying to find a familiar face. Then I saw them.
Savannah was standing a little aways from Jaxson.
Her expression unreadable, her eyes locked on a man. A man who had a gun raised and pointed directly at Jaxson’s head.
In slow motion, I watched everything as if it were playing on a cinematic screen with the most haunting music. I watched the gun lift.
And everything blurred.
The shot rang out. Sharp, final.
I didn’t scream because I couldn’t. All I could do was watch as her body twisted from the impact.
Her eyes went wide. Her knees buckled.
And then—she fell. Lifeless.
The sea of red was instant. Spilling from her chest, soaking the ground beneath. Another shot cracked the air, but I couldn’t look away.
Reaper grabbed my arm, pulling me behind the car, but it barely registered.
