—Natasha's POV—
The Monday morning after the race felt like stepping into an alternate universe that wore the skin of my old life. The sun was a blatant liar, casting a cheerful, golden glow over the manicured lawns of Ashbourne University. Students lounged on the grass as if the world hadn't tilted on its axis just two nights prior.
I moved through it all like a ghost, my backpack feeling heavier than lead, my every sense on high alert. I had made a vow during a sleepless night: today would be about normalcy. I would attend my lectures on post-colonial theory and macroeconomics. I would take notes in a steady hand.
I would bury the memory of screaming engines, the metallic taste of fear, and the searing intensity of two pairs of eyes—one silver, one black—that had haunted the edges o
