"I don't care if you own the plane," Maya replied, her voice remaining perfectly level. "This is my seat."

The commotion attracted the attention of the lead flight attendant, a woman named Susan, who hurried over with a strained smile. "Is there a problem here, Mr. Sterling?" Susan asked, addressing Richard by name and completely ignoring Maya.

"Yes, Susan, there is," Richard huffed. "This woman is sitting in my colleague's seat. She's refusing to move back to coach. I need you to handle this so we can take off."

Instead of asking to see both passengers' boarding passes, Susan turned to Maya with a condescending expression. "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to collect your belongings and move to the main cabin. We need to accommodate Mr. Sterling."

Maya felt a cold fury settle in her chest. This was exactly the kind of systemic bias she had been hired to root out of the company. "Did you check the manifest?" Maya asked quietly.

"Ma'am, please don't make this difficult," Susan warned, her tone hardening. "If you don't have a first-class ticket, you cannot be in this cabin."