Regina's eyes had narrowed the moment the small red stain bloomed across her sequined bodice, her expression shifting rapidly from mild irritation into something far sharper. She rose slightly from her seat, her hand moving before Ivy could fully register the danger, striking across the young server's face with enough force to snap her head sideways.
The sharp crack of the slap cut clearly through the ballroom's ambient chatter, drawing immediate, startled attention from the surrounding tables. Ivy stumbled back, one hand flying to her stinging cheek, blood already beginning to well from a small cut where Regina's ring had caught her skin.
"Look what you've done!" Regina's voice rose sharply, gesturing furiously at the small stain marring her expensive gown, entirely unbothered by the visible injury she'd just inflicted on a girl barely out of childhood.
Ivy remained frozen, tears springing immediately to her eyes, one hand still pressed against her bleeding cheek, the other clutching instinctively at the strap of the small bag slung across her shoulder — the bag containing the one thing she'd been hoping, all evening, to find the right moment to deliver.