Chương 5 - The Manager and the Mirror
Julian crossed the lobby in a straight line, ignoring two guests who tried to speak to him. By the time he reached Ethan, his expression had changed from surprise to something that looked uncomfortably like shame.
“Ethan,” he said. “I'm terribly sorry. Where is Lily?”
Ethan gestured toward the fireplace. “Where she can sleep without being told she's in the wrong building.”
Julian looked at the child, then at Lupita standing beside her cart. “What happened?”
“I want to hear your staff explain it,” Ethan said.
Chloe emerged from behind the desk. “Mr. Ross, this gentleman claimed he had an executive suite, but there was nothing in our public inventory. He became confrontational when we explained the property was full.”
Julian turned to her. “Which inventory did you check?”
“The availability screen.”
“The private allocation?”
Brenda interrupted. “We were going to check that next. The gentleman wouldn't give us time.”
“That's interesting,” Ethan said. “Because you found time to threaten an employee who asked you to check it and to call security on me.”
Julian's face tightened. He had worked for Ethan for six years. He knew the man's dislike of public confrontation, his almost pathological insistence that guests not be embarrassed, and his habit of asking staff for explanations before reaching conclusions. Seeing him look this disappointed frightened Julian more than shouting would have.
“Chloe,” Julian said slowly, “this is Ethan Vance.”
For a moment Chloe appeared not to understand. Then she glanced at the photograph hanging near the private elevator, a photograph Ethan had avoided looking at since Sarah died. It showed a younger man cutting a ribbon beside his wife at the Grand Regent's opening. His hair was shorter and his jaw cleaner, but the tattoo climbing his throat was unmistakable.
“Oh,” Chloe breathed.
Brenda's eyes traveled from the photograph to Ethan and back again. She gripped the edge of the desk.
Julian continued, “He founded this hotel group.”
The donor who had recognized Ethan earlier stopped near a column. Two bell attendants exchanged horrified glances. Someone in the ballroom began applauding a speech that nobody at reception could hear.
“Mr. Vance,” Brenda said, the words rushing out, “we had no idea. If we'd known—”
“That's the problem,” Ethan said. “What would you have done differently?”
She opened her mouth and closed it.
“Would my daughter suddenly have been tired enough to matter? Would Lupita have been allowed to speak? Would my confirmation email have become easier to read?”
Chloe's expression crumpled. “I thought you were trying to get an upgrade.”
“That's still not a reason to talk to someone like that.”
Julian looked as if he might dissolve into apologies, but Ethan held up a hand. “Not here. Not while Lily's sleeping. We are going to establish what happened, and then we'll decide what it means.”
He asked Daniel to keep the front desk staffed by another qualified employee and requested that Chloe and Brenda step into the adjacent administrative office. They wouldn't be detained or publicly humiliated. They would, however, stop using the reservation system until its activity had been secured. Julian summoned the night auditor and the regional IT lead by phone.
Julian took in the gathering audience and felt a private wave of professional humiliation. He knew how to make a room full of investors feel important. Earlier that evening he'd been telling the gala committee that outstanding service was the company's defining feature. He'd practiced that speech in his car and had earned a standing ovation when he delivered it. Now he couldn't remember the last time he'd walked downstairs unannounced during an ordinary shift. The thought of his own words being repeated back to him by a reporter made him flinch, but the sight of Lily asleep by the fireplace embarrassed him more. He had mistaken smooth public performance for reliable everyday leadership, and his boss was making him see the difference.
Lupita raised her hand slightly, an oddly schoolroom gesture from a woman old enough to be several employees' mother.
“Yes?” Ethan asked.
“Mr. Vance, your daughter needs somewhere warm now. You can investigate all night, but she's still waiting.”
Ethan looked toward Lily. The directness pierced his anger. Once again, Lupita had noticed the person everyone else had forgotten.
“You're right. Julian, find an available family room immediately. Somewhere close enough that I can come back downstairs when she's settled.”
Julian reached for his phone. “I'll open the executive penthouse.”
“Only if the memorial suite genuinely isn't available. I don't want anyone moving another guest in the middle of the night to accommodate me.”
Julian paused. His eyes shifted almost imperceptibly toward Brenda, who had gone pale.
“Is there an issue with that suite?” Ethan asked.
“According to the system,” Julian said, “it was blocked for maintenance this afternoon.”
“It wasn't blocked this morning.”
Julian swallowed. “No.”
“Who approved the change?”
The manager looked at Brenda again. This time she noticed and seemed to shrink inside her expensive blazer.
Chloe tried to speak. “It was an administrative correction. We thought—”
Ethan's phone vibrated. A photograph appeared from the number of an old colleague at headquarters: the annual gala program, photographed from the table at which the colleague was sitting. A gold-bordered advertisement congratulated Meredith Sloan, regional finance chief, on the success of the Children's Hope partnership. Beneath it was a smaller announcement: the presidential memorial suite had been donated for a private sponsor experience.
Ethan stared at the image. Sarah's room had never been part of a sponsorship package. It was held privately on the anniversary of her death; only he and Lily visited it.
“Julian,” he said, keeping his voice quiet, “who authorized the gala to give away my wife's suite?”
Julian read the photograph and went utterly still. “I didn't.”
A horrible possibility settled between them. Ethan had spent the past year praising the Children's Hope partnership without once reviewing the details. He had approved its purpose, signed its budget, and left its management to the very people his growing company required him to trust.
Lupita watched him look at his sleeping daughter, and she saw the instant he stopped thinking only about a ruined evening.
“There's something else,” she said. “I think you should hear it before anyone makes another call.”
May you like
Julian turned toward her. “What is it?”
Lupita hesitated, then glanced at the desk drawers behind Chloe. “For three months, guests have been paying cash for rooms the system says are unavailable. And I don't think the front desk is keeping all the money.”
