He took a step away from the bar. "Gerald, there was some problem with a guest. Victoria said she was trying to keep the seating in order." Gerald's face hardened.
"A guest was physically struck in front of dozens of people. That's what I'm hearing from the hotel." Richard turned fully toward him. "Struck?" It was the first time he had heard that word applied to the evening.
"Your wife hit her," Gerald said. He kept his voice low, not out of politeness to Richard but because there was no need to turn a terrible fact into a spectacle. "I suggest you find out exactly what happened before you speak to anyone else about misunderstandings." He paused, then added, "And remember this wasn't a closed transaction. There are obligations on both sides that don't disappear because people want the deal to survive."
Richard moved away without answering. Victoria was laughing softly at something an acquaintance had said, her diamond earrings catching light as she turned her head. He caught her wrist and asked her to come with him. The movement was urgent enough that the conversation around her stopped. "Richard," she said irritably, "you are being dramatic. What's happened?"
"Did you strike that woman?" he asked. Victoria blinked, surprised by the question rather than the accusation. "She was being confrontational, and I had to stop her from making a scene." Richard stared at her.
"That is not what I asked." Victoria drew herself upright. "I corrected someone who refused to follow the event arrangements. She would not listen."
"Did you hit her?" His voice was barely above a whisper now.
After a moment, Victoria said, "It was a slap. She wasn't injured. You're acting as if there was a catastrophe." Richard looked toward the head table and then back at his wife. "The woman you hit is Maya Brooks." Victoria opened her mouth with an expression that might have been impatience, but he did not let her interrupt.
"She's the chief executive of Apex Meridian," Richard continued. "Our acquisition partner. The woman who decides whether tomorrow's signing goes ahead." Victoria's face changed so visibly that Richard would later recall the precise instant her certainty turned into fear. She turned toward the head table and studied Maya with an intensity that had been missing when she first confronted her. "That can't be right," she whispered.
"It is right," Richard answered. "And she has suspended the deal." Victoria looked back at him, her lips parted.
"But she didn't identify herself." Richard felt something snap inside his understanding of the evening. "Why should she have had to?" he asked. The question surprised him almost as much as it surprised her.
James Whitmore approached after noticing their expressions. He had heard fragments of the story, and his first reaction was concern that a public scandal would complicate the acquisition. Then Richard told him about the slap, and James fell silent. "Mother, you actually struck someone at a charity gala?" he asked.
Victoria raised her chin. "She was refusing to cooperate. I had no idea she was important."