One year later, the harsh hospital lights felt entirely different.

I walked back into the burn unit of the county hospital, my heels clicking confidently against the linoleum. Tucked securely under my arm was a thick, royal blue folder.

Dr. Lena Ortiz spotted me from the nurses’ station and rushed over, her face breaking into a massive grin.

“Look at you! You’re lifting that right arm higher than you did last month,” she observed, gently squeezing my hand.

“A combination of rigorous physical therapy and pure, unadulterated spite,” I joked, returning her careful hug.

With the massive influx of recovered funds, I’d officially founded The Ember Project—a large nonprofit legal and medical foundation designed specifically for victims of domestic abuse whose severe injuries had been cleverly disguised by their abusers as “clumsy accidents.”