Page 6 of Fallen Empire
Chapter 2
Jaxson
The room was quiet.
Not the kind of quiet that brought peace—but the kind that followed catastrophe.
Thick. Stale. Still.
I hadn’t moved from the leather chair in hours. Maybe longer. Time didn’t hold shape anymore. Not since… not since she stopped breathing.
The fire crackled, untouched. A glass of whiskey sat sweating in my hand, forgotten. And spread across the coffee table in front of me—headlines.
“Hundreds of Sinclair-Owned Properties Hit Auction Block in Sudden Liquidation.”
“Corporate Powerhouse Sinclair Holdings Begins Silent Sell-Off.”
“Sinclair Real Estate Empire Begins Unraveling – No Comment from Leadership.”
“Private Bidders Swarm High-Profile Portfolio Dispersal.”
“Sinclair: A Silent Fall.”
All of it. Every word. Every photo. Every carefully placed headline meant to spin chaos from the truth—I had done that.
She’d lied when she said she gave away the money. I knew it was a lie the second the words left her mouth. I heard the bluff buried beneath the bravery, the shake she tried to hide behind conviction.
She wasn’t trying to sell him the truth.
She was trying to sell enough time.
And I played along.
But after her body fell and never rose again—I didn’t wait for signs or miracles.
I didn’t ask for confirmation from Ben or anyone else.
I didn’t need it. I cut it all off.
Every bank. Every asset. Every shell company Bruce had been a part of. I buried them with him. Froze the accounts. Pulled every fucking string I had. I ended it.
The silence that followed… it wasn’t peace.
It was a void.
The world didn’t make sense anymore. The sun rose, but there was no warmth in it. Days bled into nights with no distinction, just a slow unraveling of time where nothing held shape. I couldn’t remember the last time I slept more than an hour.
Couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten. Or cared.
Food tasted like dust. Voices were background noise.
The only thing I could feel was the weight of her absence.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her.
Not the way she smiled. Not the way she used to look at me like I was worth saving.
No—I saw her as she fell.
