Yet it didn’t matter. I had taken back everything they tried to strip from me.

The Aftermath

That night, Robert walked out of the ballroom with no one by his side. His circle of powerful men dissolved like mist, leaving him exposed.

Me? I walked out too—only I wasn’t alone. Journalists swarmed me, investors sought my attention, women I barely knew pressed my hand with admiration in their eyes.

And for the first time in years, I felt something I thought I’d lost: freedom.