Patrick and Karl had no idea they were being tested, which is exactly why the test was valid.

They behaved, before a woman they believed to be powerless, as their truest selves, and their truest selves were contemptuous, and lazy, and cruel.

They failed not because they had a bad night.

They failed because the test caught them being who they actually were.

Chapter 5 — The Hotel Belonged to Her

Because what neither Patrick nor Karl knew, what they could not have guessed from the faded jacket and the tired eyes and the whispered voice, was that the woman they were turning away was not just any guest.

The Grand Regent Hotel belonged to her.