Diana did not push.
Then Ashley whispered:
"Yes."
"How often?"
"Not always directly."
Diana waited.
Ashley continued.
"If someone spent too much time with customers she didn't consider serious, she'd reduce commission priority."
Diana's jaw tightened.
"Meaning?"
"Better clients went to other associates."
"How did she define better?"
Ashley looked uncomfortable.
"People who looked like they could spend."
Diana's voice became softer.
"What did that mean in practice?"
Ashley swallowed.
"Designer clothes."
"Known clients."
"Certain neighborhoods."
She paused.
"Sometimes race."
Diana closed her eyes for half a second.
There it was.
Not one ugly moment.
A system.
Kevin approached.
"Ms. Mitchell."
"What?"
"There are two former associates I think you need to speak with."
Diana looked at him.
"Why?"
"They left because of Patricia."
"Did they file complaints?"
Kevin looked ashamed.
"One tried."
"What happened?"
Kevin looked toward the back office.
"Patricia handled it."
Diana stared.
"She investigated her own complaint?"
Kevin nodded.
The frustration Diana felt was deeper than anger now.
Because this was not simply a bad manager.
It was a failure of structure.
She had built rules.
Somewhere between corporate headquarters and Rodeo Drive, those rules had been bent until they protected the person they were supposed to monitor.
Diana looked toward the diamonds.
The pieces had never looked colder.
Her company had been founded on one promise.
Nobody should walk into luxury and be made to feel small.
Somehow, inside her own flagship, that promise had been reversed.
The people who looked sufficiently wealthy were welcomed.
The people who did not were tested.
Diana sat in a private viewing room.
Corporate counsel joined by video call.
The head of HR arrived thirty minutes later.
A regional director came from Century City.
Diana listened.
She asked questions.
She did not tell anyone what conclusion to reach.
By evening, the review had expanded.
Twenty-three months of customer interactions.
Commission assignments.
Security removals.
Complaints.
Refund disputes.
Employee turnover.
VIP classification.
Diana insisted that investigators separate bad service from bias.
"Do not invent discrimination where evidence doesn't support it."
The HR director nodded.
"But where patterns exist?"
"Follow them."
The review took six weeks.
The findings were worse than Diana expected.
Patricia had created an informal client-ranking system.
Nothing official.
Nothing written as openly discriminatory.
It used words like "priority."
"Qualified."
"High intent."
"Premium-ready."