Chapter 4

Chicago greeted me with biting winter winds and endless gray skies—a fitting welcome for my new beginning. The city felt vast and impersonal, exactly what I needed after New York's suffocating familiarity. Here, no one knew about my humiliation. No one whispered behind my back or gave me pitying glances. I was just another face in the crowd, another wolf trying to make her mark.

Leo Vance's offices occupied the top floors of a sleek downtown building—all glass and steel, with panoramic views of Lake Michigan. Unlike Montgomery Financial's old-money opulence, Vance Capital embraced a modern, minimalist aesthetic. No mahogany…