Chapter 19. Aftershock (1)

The video reached her before breakfast.

She didn’t open it. The thumbnail was enough: the ring, Cassian kneeling beside her, his hand on her face. Someone had filmed from behind the weight racks, shaky phone footage, light flickering like bad memory.

Her stomach clenched. The title read WILDCARD DOWN.

She set the phone facedown on the counter and kept stirring the oatmeal that had already gone cold.

The spoon hit the bowl once, twice, metal against ceramic—a heartbeat she could control.

Across the room, the rain from last night had frozen against the window, leaving thin white fractures in the glass.

She told herself not to watch.

She watched anyway.

The clip lasted seventeen seconds. No sound except the crowd noise, tinny through cheap speakers. Her own body folding in half, Cassian sliding into frame, the tilt of his head as he said her name.

Someone had slowed it down. Added text.

Coach Vale rushing to aid h