My real victory was understanding that even if Crestview had never existed, I would still have had the absolute right to stand up, demand justice, and rebuild my life on my own terms.

I think about that a great deal now, because it is the part of my own story I trust least.

It would be so easy to tell this as a triumph — the clever woman, the secret power, the perfect trap, the villain destroyed.

People love that story.

They cheer for it.

But when I hear them cheer, I always want to stop them, because the cheering misses the thing that actually matters.

I did not win because I was right, or because I was good, or because I suffered enough to earn it.