"Patricia, maybe we should..."
Kevin had started, his voice diplomatic and calm.
But Patricia had whirled on him like a wild animal.
"Kevin, stay out of this!" she screamed, pointing her finger at him accusingly.
Then she had turned to Marcus, the security guard.
"Marcus, escort this woman out."
"Ma'am, are you sure?" Marcus had said carefully, looking between Patricia and Diana.
That's when Patricia had completely lost it.
Her voice had risen to a shriek that could probably have been heard three stores down.
"She's a thief and doesn't belong here. Get her out, or you're both fired!"
The word "fired" had seemed to echo through the store.
Patricia had just threatened to fire two employees for refusing to remove a customer who hadn't committed any crime other than asking to buy expensive jewelry while being Black.
Diana's composure, which had held steady through 15 minutes of microaggressions and outright discrimination, had finally cracked.
Not into rage.
But into something far more dangerous.
Cold, calculated fury.
"You want to talk about firing people?" Diana had asked, her voice so quiet that everyone in the store had leaned forward to hear her.
Diana had pulled out her phone, but her hands had been shaking then.
Not with fear.
But with the kind of rage that came from years of being underestimated, dismissed, and discriminated against.
The rage of a woman who had built an empire from nothing, only to watch an employee destroy everything she had worked for in the span of 30 minutes.
"Don't you dare record this!" Patricia had screamed, now completely hysterical.
Diana had looked up from her phone with eyes that could have cut glass.
"I'm not recording," she had said in a voice that was deadly calm. "I'm calling my board of directors."
For the first time since this confrontation had begun, Patricia had looked genuinely confused.
"Your what?"
Diana's fingers had moved across her phone screen as she dialed a number she knew by heart.
When someone had answered, her voice had been crisp and professional, the voice of someone who was used to being obeyed without question.
"Sarah, it's Diana Mitchell. Emergency board meeting. Now."
Patricia had caught the name Diana Mitchell.
And something had tugged at the back of her memory.
She had heard that name before.
But where?