I began keeping a notebook titled “Things Willa Wants Me to Remember.” It contained preferences about pancakes, a warning that she disliked socks with seams, and one sentence in capital letters: DO NOT TELL HER THE END OF A BOOK.

I had once maintained meticulous records for billion-dollar transactions.

This was the first notebook I looked forward to opening.

PART 18

When the independent corporate review concluded, it confirmed that my mother’s office had intervened in the correspondence without a lawful or personal mandate from me and that the legal team’s approval procedures had been seriously inadequate.

The board required revised policies for delegated communications and outside counsel review in sensitive personal matters.

Robert Laird had retired by then, but he provided a statement acknowledging that he’d implemented Victoria’s instructions and failed to confirm my wishes directly.