Chapter 6

• The city felt different in the morning light.
• I stepped onto the studio rooftop terrace and looked across the skyline, breathing deeply into the calm air. It was quieter than the chaos that had driven me away, and that was exactly how I wanted it. I could feel the contrast settle in my chest. A realization that the world still shattered below, but here, in this hidden corner of San Francisco, I was building something steady.
• I opened my laptop at the small outdoor workstation I had created earlier in the week. The browser was already logged into my secure dashboard. Notifications had built up a stream of light alerts. The boutique feature had already reached three thousand views, a handful of saves, and one strong comment from a respected magazine editor. They wrote: “Elegant with silent strength. Fresh, refined, worthy of attention.”