Chapter 7 - WHAT VINCENT COULDN’T FIX WITH MONEY
The estate changed.
Slowly.
Some employees trusted the new systems immediately.
Others did not.
One anonymous hotline received exactly zero complaints for the first month.
Vincent was furious.
Rebecca laughed at him.
“You think zero means everything’s perfect?”
“It should mean something.”
“It means people don’t trust it yet.”
“What do they need?”
“Time.”
Vincent hated time.
Money moved faster.
Buildings moved faster.
Men moved fastest when he told them to.
Trust did not.
That frustrated him.
One day he asked me:
“How long until they believe it?”
I answered:
“Longer than you want.”
He frowned.
“Helpful.”
“You asked.”
Another month passed.
Three reports arrived.
Then seven.
Most were ordinary.
Scheduling.
Supervisor behavior.
One complaint about a cook playing music too loudly.
Vincent read every summary.
At first, he wanted names.
Denise refused.
He learned.
The estate began sounding different.
People laughed in hallways.
Not constantly.
But enough.
Staff stopped dropping conversations when Vincent entered.
The first time two gardeners continued arguing about baseball after he walked by, Vincent looked almost offended.
Then pleased.
He later told Renzo:
“They ignored me.”
Renzo answered:
May you like
“Congratulations.”
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