“You!”
Guests turned.
She stepped away from the head table.
“What are you doing here?”
Adrian continued walking.
Olivia pointed toward security.
“I fired this man!”
Nobody moved.
“Security!”
Martin hurried forward.
“Ms. Harrington, please lower your voice.”
“Don’t tell me what to do! Throw him out.”
Charles suddenly stared at Adrian.
His champagne glass stopped halfway to his lips.
“Adrian?”
Olivia turned.
“Dad?”
Charles slowly stood.
“Adrian Bennett?”
Adrian nodded politely.
“Good evening, Charles.”
The older man’s face turned pale.
Olivia frowned.
“You know him?”
Her father looked at her as though he had just learned the building was on fire.
“What did you do?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Olivia, what did you do?”
She laughed nervously.
“He’s some chef from downstairs. He served terrible fish, so I fired him.”
Charles closed his eyes.
“No.”
Olivia looked between them.
“What?”
Her father lowered his voice.
“He owns the hotel.”
The ballroom seemed to shrink.
Olivia stared at Adrian.
“What?”
Charles continued.
“He doesn’t just own this hotel.”
His voice became weaker.
“Bennett Meridian owns the entire resort group.”
Evan stepped away from Olivia slightly.
She shook her head.
“No. He was cooking.”
Adrian spoke.
“I was.”
“But you’re the owner?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you be working in a kitchen?”
“Because I like knowing how my employees are treated when management isn’t watching.”
The sentence landed harder than shouting would have.
Olivia swallowed.
Charles stepped forward.
“Mr. Bennett, my daughter had no idea who you were.”
Adrian looked at him.
“That is exactly the problem.”
Charles froze.
“If she had known I was wealthy,” Adrian continued, “she would have been polite.”
Olivia opened her mouth.
He stopped her.
“She believed I was a cook. She believed the people in that kitchen depended on her father’s money. That made her think humiliation was acceptable.”
“I’m sorry,” Olivia said quickly.
Adrian looked at the clock.
11:54.
