“You own the entire company?” Tiffany choked out, her voice barely a squeak. The showroom had gone dead silent. Even the wealthy onlookers had stopped breathing.
Marcus, the general manager, was practically sweating through his designer suit. His hands remained tightly clasped in desperate prayer. “Mrs. Hayes… please. The global acquisition papers cleared at 8:00 A.M. We didn’t expect you until next week. I—”
“Until I looked the part, Marcus?” Mrs. Hayes interrupted. Her voice was smooth as glass and twice as sharp.
All around them, the dealership came to a grinding halt. Every iPad in the showroom flashed a glaring red *SYSTEM LOCKED*. The motorized glass front doors hummed, sliding shut and bolting themselves.
Tiffany’s arrogant sneer had melted into pure, unadulterated panic. She scrambled forward, the heels of her stilettos slipping awkwardly on the polished porcelain. “Ma’am—I, I didn’t know! I swear! I’ve been the top seller here for three years, I just thought you were—”
“A nobody?” Mrs. Hayes finished for her. She didn’t yell. She didn’t have to. She simply reached down and elegantly picked up the keys Tiffany had violently thrown at her.
Mrs. Hayes pressed a button. The red sports car chirped cheerfully.
“You told me to visit a ‘regular’ dealership,” Mrs. Hayes said softly, letting the keys dangle from her manicured fingers. “I took your advice. As of sixty seconds ago, this location is permanently closed. I’m liquidating the entire inventory.”
Marcus gasped. Tiffany looked like she was going to be sick.
“Every vehicle here is being donated to the city’s underprivileged youth mechanic program,” Mrs. Hayes continued, dropping the keys into her ordinary brown handbag. She adjusted her pearl earring and flashed a chilling, perfectly polite smile. “Except this red one. I’m having it crushed into a metal cube for my new office coffee table.”
She stepped past the trembling saleswoman, pausing just long enough to whisper over Tiffany’s shoulder.
“You were right, my dear. I don’t belong here. And now? Neither do you. Pack your desk.”