I did not shed a single tear.

I had done my crying quietly, over eight years, in a kitchen, and I was finished.

When I walked into the grand ballroom the photographers turned their lenses toward me without recognizing my face.

Across the room, Ferdinand was laughing with Ravenna at the head table.

Leontyne was charming a journalist.

Corvina was livestreaming to her followers — “This is what real success looks like, everyone.