For the first time in months, there was no emergency meeting. No intelligence briefing. No assassination threat. No election update. No crisis. The silence felt strange. Almost unfamiliar.
Campaign headquarters had finally emptied. The halls that had once echoed with hurried footsteps and tense conversations now sat quiet beneath the soft glow of security lights.
Most of the staff had gone home.
They deserved it.
No one more than them.
Outside, the celebrations continued across Valenridge. Fireworks occasionally painted the night sky. Distant cheers drifted through the city like waves.
The nation was celebrating.
But for the first time in a very long while, Sebastian wasn't thinking about the nation.
He was thinking about Vivian.
He found her standing alone on the rooftop terrace of the building.
She had wrapped a light coat around herself against the evening breeze.
The city stretched endlessly before her.
Beautiful.
