Despite being an average student, she was now a very wealthy and talented lawyer.
How? Willpower. Dedication. Despair. Nightmares. The relentless refusal to watch injustice against women unfold again. She had hundreds of reasons to give up, but one reason to keep going - and that one reason was enough.
God has said that if you are doing something good for others, you will never know when you will pass your limits and achieve impossible things.
Victoria didn't know if she believed that. But she believed in karma.
Now she had everything. Wealth. Reputation. Respect. Power.
But one thing still eluded her: connections. If she ever had to fight someone with influence in high places, she would lose. Wealth meant nothing against the right phone call, the right favour. She was building those bridges now, slowly. Learning the game she'd always refused to play.
It left a bitter taste. But justice required a strategy.
That night, after a long bath, Victoria went to bed with a book. She read until midnight, until her eyes grew heavy. But sleep didn't come easily.
Her mind churned through a case she'd been studying. A woman who had framed a man for a crime. The evidence was clear. Guilty. Seven years in prison.
But nobody asked why.
Nobody asked about the old grudge. Nobody asked what that man had done to her, to someone she loved. They only saw her crime.
The woman's words, recorded at the end of the case file, echoed in Victoria's mind:
"No! No! Don't leave him like this! He deserves hell! He hurt her! He was the one who took her away from me! He should die! Please..."
Nobody heard her. That was five years ago. She was still in prison.
Victoria fell asleep with those words echoing in her head.
A little before dawn, she woke with a start.
The nightmare had come again. The little girl. The ice cream. The dress. The news headline that destroyed her. The weight of everything she was trying to forget.
What was worse: soon after she left home and was preparing for the bar exam, she got another shocking piece of news. The mother of that girl escaped the hospital, bought a pistol with her life savings, and went back to that house. She entered his room while he slept and emptied bullet after bullet into his body. When the gun was empty, she reloaded and kept shooting. Ten bullets were found in him. Two missed.
By the time the door broke down, he was dead. She had saved the last bullet for herself. They found her with the saddest smile a human could make as her body went cold.
Victoria sat up, breathing slowly until her heart steadied. Then she got ready.
Black suit. Sharp. Professional. Armor.
Her office was in a good part of the city now. Two people worked for her, one investigator, one assistant. Small team. Efficient.
The space was spacious and comfortable. A kitchen with coffee, tea, and cookies for victims who needed warmth. Tissues, handwash, everything organised. The hall where she met victims was magnificent, not flashy, but warm. Inviting. A space designed to make broken people feel, for one moment, that they mattered.
Victoria had built this. From nothing. From herself.
Today was the final hearing for two cases. Both victims women. Both perpetrators were men who thought they could get away with it.
They were wrong.
Victoria won both cases. Eighteen years for the murderer. Ten years for the man whose cruelty drove a woman to suicide.
The victories felt hollow.
She left the courthouse with a heavy heart. Lunchtime came and went - she wasn't hungry. She went straight back to her office and sat at her desk.
Two wins. Two more women served.
But the woman from five years ago was still in prison. The one nobody heard. The one who framed a man for reasons nobody asked about.
Victoria closed her eyes. There was always more work to do. Always more women whose voices had been swallowed by a system that didn't want to listen.
She reached for the next file.