From Best Friend To Fiancé (Savannah and Roman) novel Chapter 461

Chapter 260: I’ve Had Practice

Savannah

One thing I was grateful for–deeply, unexpectedly grateful for–was that I had learned my way around the most important parts of the manor.

Not the grand halls meant to impress guests.

Not the endless corridors filled with portraits of men who had been dead for decades.

But the places that mattered.

The dining room. The main living room. Reese’s bedroom. Alex’s bedroom.

And yes, I was painfully aware of how improper that sounded.

Still, familiarity was a kind of survival here. In a house this large, knowing where to run when something went wrong could mean the difference between help and helplessness.

Right now, everything in me was screaming that something had gone very, very wrong.

I stood frozen inside Roman’s room, my back pressed to the cool wall, my phone clutched so tightly in my hand that my fingers ached. The image burned behind my eyes no matter how hard I tried to blink it away.

One of the men who had been with him in New Hope. The man who had not gotten shot.

My heart hammered as I debated running straight to Reese’s bedroom and bursting in without knocking. The thought of explaining this face–to–face, of watching the shock register in his eyes in real time, made my stomach twist.

Besides, I didn’t want to leave Roman alone here. I don’t know if he’d come back again. Maybe to finish the job this time around..

So, I did the only thing my shaking hands would allow. I called him and he picked up on the second ring.

“Savannah-”

“You need to come to Roman’s room. Now,” I said, not bothering to keep my voice steady. “Please. It’s urgent.”

There was a pause. Just a fraction of a second.

“I’m on my way.”

Reese was already halfway down the hall in less than a minute. He stepped into the room, eyes immediately going to Roman’s still form.

“What happened?” he asked.

I didn’t ease him into it. I just told him everything about the scene I’d walked into. About the door being half–open. About the guard standing over Roman with a syringe in his hand. And about the moment our eyes had met.

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2:35 pm p

Chapter 461

When I finished, my throat burned.

Reese stared at me for a long second, as if trying to reconstruct the scene inside his own head.

“Hold on,” he said slowly. “You mean one of Roman’s guards was injecting something into him?*

“Yes.”

“Why would he-”

“I don’t know,” I whispered.

Then I remembered the pictures. With trembling fingers, I opened my camera roll and thrust the phone toward him look these.”

His brows drew together as he zoomed in on the image. The room fell silent except for the faint, steady beep of the heart monitor.

His jaw tightened. “Are you sure this isn’t poison?”

The word hit me like ice water. Poison. For a second, I couldn’t breathe. So I rushed to Roman’s side and bent, pressing my ear to his chest, listening desperately for the sound of his heart.

There. Strong and steady.

I exhaled a shaky breath. “He’s still breathing,” I said. “His heart is still beating.”

Reese nodded, but his face didn’t relax. “I’m calling my friend.”

“Is he perhaps a doctor?” I asked quickly.

“Yes.”

I wrapped my arms around myself as he dialed, suddenly cold from the inside out as questions spiraled in my head.

What was in that injection? How long had that guard been doing this? Had he been working for Reginald all along? Or had someone else sent him?

“Ben,” Reese said, and I snapped back to the present.

“Yes, it’s been a while. I need to ask you something.”

I watched his face carefully as he explained. “My brother is in a coma. Someone was seen injecting him with something when no one was around.”

A pause.

“No. I don’t have a name. But there’s a picture.”

Another pause.

“Switching to video now.”

He held out his hand to me. I placed my phone in it without a word. He held his phone over my screen, angling it so the doctor could see the image clearly.

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2.35 pm

Chapter 461

“Do you see it?” Reese asked. “Does it look familiar?”

The voice on the other end came through tinny but serious.

“I can think of several injections that look similar to this. Both harmless and dangerous. But I can’t tell you which one it is from a photo.”

“What do you need?” Reese asked.

“A blood sample. If it was injected into his bloodstream, I can run tests and identify it.”

Reese’s grip tightened on the phone. “I’ll get it to you today.”

There was a faint chuckle from the speaker. “Does anyone there even know how to draw blood without turning it into mess?”

Reese didn’t hesitate. “I know just the right person.”

I frowned. Who?

Less than five minutes later, the door opened again. Alex walked in.

He took in the scene in a single glance–Roman unconscious, Reese tense, me standing by the bed with my arms wrapped around myself.

“So,” he said calmly, pulling gloves from the box on the nightstand. “You saw someone injecting Roman with something strange?”

“Yes,” I said.

“You sure it wasn’t medication he needed?”

Before I could answer, Reese cut in. “He was wearing black gloves. Nurses don’t wear black gloves. And he was one of the two men who were with Roman in New Hope. One is dead. The other is the one Savannah saw.”

Alex’s expression hardened. “Then let’s not waste time.”

He moved to Roman’s arm with smooth, practiced efficiency. I watched, barely breathing, as he swabbed the skin and slid the needle in.

And it was over almost instantly.

“That was quick,” I blurted.

He smirked faintly. “I’ve had practice.” He sealed the vial and handed it to Reese. “Make sure this gets to Ben. Fast.”

Reese nodded.

And as he left the room with the blood sample, I stood by Roman’s bed, staring at his still face, knowing one thing with terrifying certainty.

Someone was trying to kill him.

And whoever it was… was already inside the manor.