Lara noticed.
She also noticed kindness.
A finance director helping an elderly guest find a chair.
A young Hexton employee stepping aside to thank a server by name.
One board member introducing her assistant before herself.
Companies were rarely entirely good or bad.
That was why Lara did not make decisions from isolated impressions.
She kept watching.
At the center of the room, a massive display showed Hexton’s logo.
Beneath it appeared:
HEXT0N GLOBAL + WINDCHE INDUSTRIES
A NEW GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP
TRANSACTION VALUE: $800 MILLION
Lara stopped.
She had not approved that wording.
The deal was not signed.
She took out her phone and photographed the display.
Then sent it to Naomi.
Three dots appeared almost immediately.
They’re announcing completed partnership language?
Apparently.
That was not approved.
I know.
Want me to call legal?
Not yet.
Lara put away the phone.
Five minutes later, Adrien noticed her.
Not recognized.
Noticed.
Selene saw her first.
She and Adrien stood near the velvet-rope entrance to the VIP lounge with two investors.
Selene’s eyes moved across the ballroom.
Then stopped.
“Who is that?”
Adrien followed her gaze.
Lara stood twenty yards away studying the event screen.
He frowned.
“No idea.”
“She looks lost.”
“Probably somebody’s assistant.”
Selene watched.
Lara’s dress was elegant, but without logos.
No necklace.
No visible diamonds.
No designer clutch.
No obvious signs of the social armor Selene understood.
“She doesn’t belong here.”
Adrien took a drink.
“Then security will deal with her.”
Selene smiled.
“Where’s the fun in that?”
Adrien looked at her.
He should have stopped the conversation there.
Later, board members would ask why he did not.
He never found a useful answer.
Maybe because alcohol had softened his judgment.
Maybe because months of praise had convinced him the ballroom existed for his entertainment.
Maybe because humiliation had become normal enough in his leadership style that what followed did not feel unusual until the cost appeared.
Selene set down her champagne.
“Come on.”
She walked toward Lara.
Adrien followed.
Several people noticed.
The CEO moving through a room attracts attention.
By the time Selene reached Lara, half a dozen guests were watching.
Selene stopped directly in front of her.
“Excuse me?”
Lara looked up.
“Can I help you?”
Selene tilted her head.
“I was going to ask you that.”
Lara waited.
“Are you lost?”
“No.”
“This is an invitation-only event.”
“I know.”
Selene’s smile sharpened.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Adrien arrived beside her.
Up close, he looked at Lara and experienced the vague sensation that he had seen her before.
He dismissed it.
People in business often looked familiar.
“You work for the hotel?” he asked.
Lara turned to him.
“No.”
“Catering?”
“No.”
Selene laughed.
“She says she was invited.”
“I was.”
“By who?”
Lara looked toward the large Windche display.