Her voice was raspy at first, but it didn’t break. She walked them through the archive, defended her complex methodology, and connected years of data with a precision she didn’t even know she possessed.

Each slide was a physical blow against everything they’d tried to reduce her to, and each answer she gave was another door slamming in Hunter’s smug face.

When the questions were finally over, the committee asked to deliberate in private, and Selena left the room with freezing hands.

Rebecca hugged her, a couple of students squeezed her fingers, and then her father approached until he was standing right in front of her.

“Hunter called me last night,” Carson said, his voice grave and low. “He tried to convince me not to come today. He told me you were unstable, that you’d completely lost your mind.”

Selena felt the ground shift beneath her feet, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. “And did you believe him?” she asked, bracing for the answer.