Page 47 of Honor Bound

“Dr. Marksdale, greetings. There is no easy way to explain the information I am about to share. It is out of respect for you and the promise that I made that I do. It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that your father’s accident was not an accident, but deliberate sabotage….”

Julia’s stomach twisted violently as the words on the screen blurred.

Sabotage.

Not an accident. Not bad luck. Murder.

She should have died with him. If she hadn’t stayed behind for that meeting, she would have been in that helicopter.

The realization crawled through her veins like ice.

Someone had planned this.Someone had taken her father’s life and the rest of the original Gliese 581g crew. And they had let her live.Why?

The bile rose in her throat. She clenched her fists, her nails biting into her palms, forcing herself to breathe.

And then—her attention landed on the name.

Her breath hitched.

No. No, no, no.

But it was there. Clear as day.

The person who had betrayed her father was someone she had trusted.

Julia numbly continued to listen as General Greenburg’s explained the findings of the internal investigation into the crash of the helicopters carrying her father and the chosen crew for the Gliese.

Pain radiated through Julia as her fears were confirmed. The report included findings that had not been included in the initial reports that she had been given. This report included information that could have compromised the General’s own position.

She lifted her fist to her mouth and bit down on her knuckle to keep her sob from escape. Her eyes locking on one name that appeared over and over again in the report. Intense grief and the sickening nausea of betrayal cut through her. Even with proof, General Greenburg wasn’t able to keep the investigation open. The stakes were too high, the mission too sensitive. The government had buried it all… and looked the other way at those responsible.

Julia realized by the end of the report that her survival had been a miscalculation, an inconvenient flaw in the conspirators’ plan to control the Gliese project. If she hadn’t stayed in D.C. for that meeting, she would have been on that helicopter. She reached out and closed the file, saving it offline to the thumb drive before deleting the message.

Her hand shook as she stared blankly at the screen. There was nothing she could do to extract justice for her father and the others. She was here… on the Gliese millions of miles away from Earth, instead of her father.

All because of the one person I should have been able to trust the most.

* * *

Julia blinked, the memory receding, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. A tear had fallen unnoticed onto the back of her hand. She wiped it away quickly, blaming her exhaustion.

Trusting Roan was probably a gamble she shouldn’t have made. Men like him—men like his father and uncle—played the long game.They didn’t show their hand until all the pieces were in place.

But Roan wasn’t his father—or like— Her mind shied away from the vision of the handsome face that rose in her mind before she angrily pushed it back into the box she kept it in. She had always trusted her judgement, depending on facts and logic to guide her. The few times in her life that she hadn’t usually did not end well.

I want to trust him.The thought rose unbidden, unfiltered.

Julia tightened her grip around her tea, forcing her breath to steady.But couldshe?

Roan Landais was a soldier. A leader. ALegion general. He had been trained to manipulate, to infiltrate, to conquer.

But he was also the man who made her feel safe.

That realization hit harder than anything else. Because she didn’tdosafe. She didn’ttrustsafe.

Safe was a lie. Look where it had taken her the last time.

You never felt safe,her inner voice whispered.You settled for the expected.

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