This is is a nice thoughtful piece of work. You read her carefully--far more carefully than she read other philosophers. I think your description of her is accurate as far as it goes, but I have more problems with her than you do. I think the change you describe happened soley because of her financial circumstances. When she saw no way of being able to support herself financially with her creativity, she was very sympathetic to the idea of force as a way of producing justice. That is why she justified Roark's demolition of the building. Once she had property herself, she decided protecting property was the highest moral good, and wrote Atlas Shrugged.

You might find these two pieces of mine interesting.

https://www.academia.edu/5393180/A_Critique_of_Libertarianism

https://www.academia.edu/752850/Altruism_Pity_and_Compassion_Significant_and_Ignored_Differences