Chapter 8 - The New Blackwell
Six months later, Blackwell Domestic Services no longer existed.
I replaced it with the Blackwell Employee Trust.
Every household employee received a written contract.
Transparent wages.
Overtime.
Health insurance.
Paid leave.
Retirement contributions.
Childcare assistance.
And an independent complaint system that reported directly to the board.
No executive could access employee payroll without two independent approvals.
No one would ever again have to wonder whether their employer was stealing from them.
June became the first employee representative on the trust.
She almost refused.
“I'm not qualified.”
I smiled.
“Neither was the person who stole your money.”
She laughed.
That was the first time I'd heard her laugh without embarrassment.
She eventually enrolled in evening business classes.
Her children started receiving proper medical care.
Lila got her braces.
Micah began speech therapy.
And June moved her family from the cramped apartment into a small house in the suburbs.
It wasn't a mansion.
But it was theirs.
One Saturday, I visited.
Micah ran outside.
“Mr. Blackwell!”
I laughed.
“Daniel.”
He nodded seriously.
“Daniel.”
Lila came behind him.
She had a basketball under her arm.
“You want to play?”
“I don't know how.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Everyone knows how.”
I smiled.
“Apparently I don't.”
June stood in the doorway.
“You're going to regret saying yes.”
She was right.
Ten minutes later, I was exhausted.
The children were laughing.
And for the first time in years, I wasn't thinking about contracts.
Or acquisitions.
Or stock prices.
I was just a man in a driveway with two children throwing a basketball at him.
June walked over.
“You look happy.”
I looked at her.
“I am.”
She smiled.
“You know what my mother said?”
“What?”
“She said people like us aren't supposed to get lucky.”
I looked at the house.
“Maybe luck has nothing to do with it.”
“What does?”
“People.”
She nodded.
I realized something.
May you like
My empire had been built on numbers.
But my life was being rebuilt on people.
