I was not just a survivor anymore.

I was now the primary owner, and the Chairwoman, of Vance Global, the very empire my husband had tried to murder me to protect.

Outside the courthouse, after the verdict, dozens of reporters had gathered on the stone steps, cameras flashing, and one thrust a microphone toward my face.

“Mrs.

Vance!

What do you have to say to the public, after taking control of your husband’s empire?” I stood at the top of the courthouse steps, and I looked out at the Chicago skyline, and I felt the cool morning breeze against my face, and, for the first time in three years, I breathed without fear, and without pain, and without hesitation.

And I adjusted the smartwatch on my wrist, and I smiled softly into the cameras, and I gave them the only piece of wisdom I had that could possibly be worth anything to another person in danger.