Chapter 18 - SIX HUNDRED LETTERS
On the anniversary of the slap, Willow received a package.
Inside were hundreds of letters.
Some came from guests who had attended the party.
Some came from employees.
Some came from women Willow had never met.
The letters were not all apologies.
Many were confessions.
A woman wrote that she had laughed because everyone at her table laughed.
A man admitted he saw Lucas drinking heavily and ignored it because Richard Sterling was his largest client.
A former employee described watching Richard humiliate staff for years.
Another woman wrote that seeing Willow walk away gave her the courage to leave an abusive marriage.
Willow read that letter twice.
Then she closed the box.
She could not carry six hundred people’s guilt.
But she could decide what to do with what happened.
She created the Donovan Arts Legal Fund.
It provided emergency legal assistance to artists, gallery employees, and service workers facing workplace intimidation or domestic financial abuse.
Michael objected to having his name attached.
Willow ignored him.
Helena became executive director.
Amanda joined the advisory board.
Even Evelyn attended the opening.
She stood beside a photograph of Patrick Donovan and cried quietly.
Later that evening, Willow stepped onto the gallery roof.
Chicago glowed beneath her.
The city looked exactly as it had on the terrace one year earlier.
But Willow did not.
Michael joined her.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“You sure?”
Willow smiled.
“No.”
“But I will be.”
Michael nodded.
“That counts.”
She leaned against his shoulder.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the trust?”
He sighed.
“I wanted you to know that you could build something before anyone told you that you owned something.”
Willow looked at him.
“I’m still mad.”
“I know.”
“You kept a thirty-eight-percent ownership stake secret.”
“I know.”
“For decades.”
“I know.”
She smiled.
“You are terrible at normal family conversations.”
Michael smiled too.
“Your mother used to say that.”
Willow looked toward the skyline.
“I wish she could see this.”
Michael’s eyes softened.
“She’d complain your dress is too thin for the weather.”
Willow laughed.
Then Helena stepped onto the roof holding an overnight envelope.
“This was delivered downstairs.”
“No return address.”
Willow opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Lucas.
Richard.
And another man Willow had never seen.
Written beneath the photograph were four words.
May you like
ASK WHO FUNDED RICHARD.
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