"Patricia," he said, more urgently than before. "Please. You should listen to what she's saying."
Patricia waved him away. "I am done listening. This woman is creating a spectacle, and the rest of you seem determined to make it worse."
Diana ended her call but kept the phone in her hand. She faced Patricia and asked, "Before this goes any further, will you tell me the founding principle of Luminous Designs?"
The question caught Patricia off guard. She had expected a demand for a refund, a request for a lawyer, or an announcement that some influential friend was about to intervene. Instead, the woman she considered an unwelcome browser was asking about a principle mentioned in company orientation. Patricia's confusion sharpened into irritation.
"I don't see how that is relevant," she replied.
"It is relevant because you said you decide who deserves to be served. I want to know what your company says about that decision."
"Our founding principles emphasize excellence and customer experience," Patricia said, drawing from a sentence she had repeated in presentations. "We provide exceptional service to clients who appreciate the standard of this brand."
"To which clients?" Diana asked.
"Our customers," Patricia answered. "Our real customers."
Diana let the qualification remain in the air. For twenty-three years she had tried to build a business that did not force people to prove their humanity before proving they could pay. Yet here, beneath her company's emblem, a manager had reduced the principle to a distinction between real customers and everyone else. She had heard enough.
"My name is Diana Mitchell," she said. "I founded Luminous Designs."
Patricia's expression changed, but not completely. The name found a place in her memory and collided with everything she had assumed about the woman standing before her. Her eyes moved toward the bracelet, then toward the employees who had gone suddenly pale. For one last second she seemed to consider whether refusing to believe the information might make it disappear.
"That isn't funny," she said.
Diana opened her bag and took out a business card from a plain leather holder. She placed it on the counter, facing Patricia, without flourish. Beneath the sunburst emblem were the words Patricia had seen at the bottom of nearly every important corporate email for the past eight months: Diana Mitchell, Founder and Chief Executive Officer.
The showroom was quiet enough for everyone to hear Patricia's breath catch.
For three seconds Patricia stared at the card without touching it. She could see the name, the embossed company emblem, and the direct line beneath the title, but the information did not seem to connect with the person who had been standing in front of her. Then she looked toward Ashley, who was holding the employee tablet with the founder's photograph still on the screen. A dangerous amount of understanding arrived in her face all at once.
"Diana Mitchell," Patricia repeated. "Our Diana Mitchell?"
"There is only one founder of this company," Diana said. "And she is standing here asking why you thought she was stealing from her own store."