This is my story- the one I was never supposed to tell. For a long time, I carried the weight of what was done to me in silence. I smiled when I was breaking. I disappeared when I needed to be seen. But one day, I stopped hiding. I spoke. And everything changed. Before the Storm, After the Fire is my journey through childhood sexual trauma, I found my way back to myself- through family, truth-telling, motherhood, and reclaiming my power I thought I had lost forever. I wrote this book for the little girl I used to be. I wrote it for my daughter. And I wrote it for you- if you've ever felt broken, voiceless, or alone. This isn't just a story about what happened to me. It's about how I rose anyways.