And I did win, by every external measure; the decree, the assets, the collapse of all three of them.

But winning, it turned out, was not freedom.

Winning is still a relationship.

As long as I was savoring my victory over Roman, I was still bound to Roman, still oriented around him, still spending the currency of my attention on the man who had spent years spending mine.

The hatred that fuels revenge is not the opposite of the bond; it is the bond, wearing a different coat.

A woman consumed with triumphing over the man who hurt her is not free of him.