And then the chairwoman stepped to the table carrying the lacquer menu folder.
She recognized the older lawyer from his corporate photograph. The younger finance executive looked tired and uneasy. The operations director greeted her courteously. The property investor barely noticed her. The billionaire glanced at her dress and immediately began the performance that would make him infamous.
After her flawless Mandarin reply and the revelation of her ownership, the senior attorney requested a private discussion before any papers were signed. The billionaire refused at first. He insisted that an employee pretending to be a chairwoman could not interrupt his acquisition. The attorney showed him the shareholding record and reminded him that the restaurant group's controlling shareholder was identifiable through the transaction materials his own team had reviewed.
'Then why didn't anyone recognize her?' the billionaire demanded.
The attorney looked embarrassed. 'We were told she'd join a later meeting. I did not expect her to conduct service.'
The chairwoman replied, 'That tells me something about your expectations. It doesn't change my identity.'
The property investor tried to recover the mood. He smiled expansively and called the incident an unfortunate cultural misunderstanding. The chairwoman looked at him and asked which culture made it acceptable to demand that a worker kneel. He had no answer.
She placed the two contract versions on the table. The original licensing schedule was clear. The later appendix was equally clear but radically different. The property investor leaned forward, apparently hoping to take the documents. She moved them slightly toward counsel instead.
'Who instructed your team to include these property interests?' she asked.
The property investor spoke first. 'Standard security. Nothing to worry about.'
'Fourteen interests are not nothing. Five of them relate to options we haven't exercised. Three archives contain work owned partly by other people. What exactly were you securing?'
The investor's smile thinned. 'The capital you're asking us to provide.'
'I didn't ask you to provide capital against someone else's intellectual property.'
The older lawyer began comparing the pages. He looked increasingly concerned. The younger finance executive asked when the revised appendix had been approved by the hotel board. Nobody answered immediately.
The billionaire's face darkened. 'You are turning a dinner into an interrogation.'
'No,' the chairwoman replied. 'I am declining to sign a document until everyone understands what it does.'
'You'll regret insulting my company.'
'Your company can defend its terms in writing. Mine will review them in writing. That is how a legitimate transaction proceeds.'