Page 8 of Fallen Empire
This wasn’t a battle.
This was a graveyard.
And the woman I loved was about to have the first tombstone. And then there would be nothing left worth fighting for.
Whoever wrote this had no idea what Bruce stole from me.
In the blink of an eye—before I even understood what was happening, he took my entire world.
And she let him.
She never flinched as the bullet gravitated toward her. Like it was her choice to make. Like she’d already made peace with dying.
She chose my life over hers.
A choice that should’ve been mine.
I stared down at the paper, the words etched in red and tried not to imagine it being her blood they were written in.
You took something from me…
If Bruce was something worth saving to someone, I’d do it all over again.
My phone buzzed, but I ignored it.
It buzzed again.
I reached for it without thinking, answering the call. “What?” I barked into the phone, not caring who was on the other end.
There was a pause.
I looked at the screen of my phone before swiping to answer.
“What is it, Ben?” A little gentler this time. If gentle was what you could call a man that was dripping with anger and heartache.
“She moved,” he said.
My blood went cold. “She what?” I sat up a little straighter, sobering a little more.
“Savannah moved. Her fingers twitched and she tried to talk. Millie said she mouthed something.”
I stood. Fast.
The chair tipped backward and hit the floor with a crack.
“She spoke?”
“Not out loud,” Ben said quickly. “She’s still on the vent. But she tried. She opened her eyes. It wasn’t just a reflex. She was there.”
My vision blurred. I wiped my face, moisture coating my fingers. “Is she awake now?”
“No. Not fully. But it’s something. And the nurse is calling the doctor.”
I turned in a slow circle, my hand shaking. My gaze landed on the broken glass again—on the streaks down the wall. “I thought she was gone.”
Ben’s voice dropped. “So did I.”
I dragged a hand through my hair, staring at the mess around me. “Where are you?”
