As they entered the building, she had no idea how far they’d get before Resistance security stopped them. But she was going to try.

For once though, there was no security on the door. How weird…

She didn’t stop until she reached the lifts. Then, to her complete shock, the control panel accepted her old access code and handprint.

This can’t be good…

Why wouldn’t they have changed it?

Nervous, she reached down to touch the new tricom Darling had given her to keep her safe while all hell broke loose around them.

His ultimate sign of trust, and one that had let her know he’d meant what he said about not holding the past against her anymore.

Ture leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “Should you be able to get in?”

“No,” she whispered back, trying not to be too rude. It was sad when a civ knew more about military protocol than the current Resistance leader. “Whoever Hector is, he’s an idiot.”

For one thing, especially if they really thought she was being held against her will and tortured, their offices should have been moved. That would have been her first action after they were attacked by the Sentella. Then all of her codes should have been blocked, not just her online access.

Who would have ever thought she’d be grateful for stupid?

The doors opened to a hallway that was even more familiar to her than the one in her apartment flat.

A weird feeling tickled her stomach as she stepped out and glanced around. This building… this light gray hall had once been her home. In fact, she’d spent most of the last eight years right here. Night and day. This had been her life.

She’d never thought to leave it.

And as she stood there, ghosts from her past haunted her. She heard the voices of her dead friends. Saw images of Darling dressed in the full black battle gear of Kere, walking by her side as they discussed how best to irritate his uncle.

It was just down the hall from here that he’d first made love to her…

Gods, how she missed him.

But the one memory that burned brightest and hardest was the one of Darling being dragged away from the hangar…

In that moment, she felt like a stranger here. Like she didn’t belong anymore.

She was no longer the woman who’d been so determined to bring down the Cruel family. Yes, she still wanted to save and protect her people. She still wanted them to be free of those who would exploit or harm them.

But now she knew that the best way to achieve that would be with Darling as their governor.

Ture placed his hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

Not really. But she didn’t want him to know that. “Yeah. I’m just a little concerned that we’ve made it this far and no one’s greeted us. We should have been swarmed the moment we came in.”