Chapter 28 - The Legacy of Independence
As the autumn leaves began to turn the trees along Michigan Avenue into shades of amber and gold, Zariah walked through the private sculpture garden she had commissioned on the terrace of her headquarters. It was a secluded, tranquil space high above the chaotic noise of the city, designed with stark, clean geometric lines that mirrored her internal philosophy: nothing extraneous, nothing vulnerable, nothing uncalculated.
She paused beside a towering pillar of brushed steel, watching her own reflection ripple across its polished surface. She had spent two decades proving that a woman could build an empire from absolute nothingness without needing to compromise, submit, or play by the rigged rules established by old-money dynasties. She had carved out her own sovereign territory in a world designed to subjugate the unprepared.
