Worst thing would be that Darling killed her. And then he’ll probably shoot me and add me to his monument in the yard.

But if he was right about Darling’s feelings…

Zarya could save him from his suicidal path. She alone might be able to get past his rage and touch the human part of him again and bring him back to all of them.

With no other recourse, he called Jayne to find out who’d bought Darling’s girlfriend.

As soon as he had that information, he headed for the dealer, praying he could bribe Zarya’s owner’s name from the man and then buy her back.

Please let this work.

Zarya held her spoon tight, trying to pry open the door of her cell so that she could escape. Yeah, okay, so she’d been trying to do this for weeks, but…

It was better than blithely accepting a fate she didn’t want. So long as there was breath inside her, she would fight.

C’mon, Z. You can do this…

In only a few hours, she was going to be stripped naked and then marched outside to be bid on like a piece of merchandise. Because she wasn’t a virgin, strange men and women would be able to grope and examine every private inch of her body at their leisure. She couldn’t imagine anything more humiliating.

C’mon, fate, work with me here. Don’t let me go to auction.

She’d rather die than be put through that.

As she ground her teeth and strained to get more torque without bending her spoon, she heard footsteps in the hallway.

They were headed toward her cell.

She jumped away from the door, and hid her spoon under her pallet. The last thing she needed was to have it confiscated. Not that it was all that much. Still, it was the only thing she had.

The door opened slowly to show her dealer. He stood there with a harsh glower on his face as if he wanted to hurt her.

What had she done now?

“Come here.”

Panic ripped through her. Had he moved up her auction time? The thought made her sick.

She shook her head no.

Cursing at her, he pressed a button on her controller and forced her to obey him.

Gah, how she hated that device. If she could have three seconds of freedom, she’d rip it off his arm and shove it somewhere really uncomfortable.

As soon as she reached him, he stepped aside for a man to examine her. A man whose face she remembered clearly from the worst day of her life.

He was the one who’d pulled his helmet off to help Darling…

Maris, that had been his name. And by his ornate orange and yellow robes, she could tell he was an aristo with a lot of money and power. One who was used to having people bow and scrape before him.

The kind of aristo she loathed with every molecule of her being.

Narrowing his eyes on her, Maris nodded. “She’s the one I’m looking for. I’ll have the funds transferred to you immediately.”