Chapter 2 - Five Languages, One Dangerous Lie
Dante dismissed everyone except Lucy, Enzo, and Felix.
Felix sat rigidly at the table.
Lucy remained standing.
Dante poured himself coffee from the pot she had brought.
“Russian,” he said.
Lucy nodded.
“What else?”
She hesitated.
“French.”
Dante switched languages immediately.
Lucy answered without thinking.
His eyebrow lifted.
He changed to Spanish.
Lucy replied.
Italian came next.
Then German.
By the fifth exchange, Enzo was staring at her as though the furniture had started discussing international finance.
Dante returned to English.
“Five?”
“Seven.”
Enzo blinked.
“Seven?”
“Eight if you count Portuguese, but my accent isn’t very good.”
Enzo stared at Felix.
“We’ve been paying this guy twelve thousand dollars a month.”
Felix glared at him.
Dante ignored them both.
“How?”
“My father was a linguistics professor.”
“Was?”
“He died.”
Dante noticed the way her voice closed around the word.
He did not press.
Instead, he pushed the recorder toward her.
“Listen again.”
Lucy did.
This time she translated sentence by sentence.
When she finished, Dante looked at Felix.
“Your version and hers aren’t even close.”
Felix stood.
“She’s manipulating you.”
“Why would a maid manipulate me?”
“Money.”
Lucy laughed once.
It escaped before she could stop it.
Dante looked at her.
“Something funny?”
“I make eleven dollars an hour.”
Enzo looked uncomfortable.
Dante frowned.
“You make what?”
Lucy immediately regretted speaking.
“Nothing.”
“No. Finish.”
“Eleven dollars an hour.”
Dante looked at Enzo.
Enzo raised both hands.
“I don’t handle housekeeping.”
Dante returned his gaze to Lucy.
“You’re risking your life tonight for eleven dollars an hour?”
“I wasn’t trying to risk anything.”
“Then why speak?”
Lucy looked at Felix.
“Because people could die over a mistranslation.”
Dante studied her.
“People die every day.”
“That doesn’t make unnecessary deaths intelligent.”
Enzo’s eyebrows rose.
Nobody spoke to Dante like that.
Dante leaned forward.
“What would you do?”
Lucy stared at him.
“With Levanov.”
“I clean your bathrooms.”
“Tonight you’re doing something else.”
Lucy thought.
“Call him.”
Felix shook his head.
“No.”
Dante noticed.
“Why not?”
“He won’t answer.”
Lucy looked at Felix.
“How do you know?”
Felix realized his mistake.
Too late.
Dante’s voice became quiet.
“Excellent question.”
Felix went pale.
Dante pulled out his phone.
“Get me Levanov.”
Ten minutes later, a secure laptop sat on the table.
Micaia Levanov appeared on-screen.
Older.
Silver-haired.
Expressionless.
He spoke Russian.
Lucy translated.
Dante answered.
The conversation lasted nine minutes.
By the end, Dante had learned three things.
Levanov had never threatened the docks.
Someone had been feeding both organizations false information for months.
And Felix had personally delivered several of those translations.
The call ended.
Felix bolted.
He reached the door.
Enzo caught him.
Dante remained seated.
“Who paid you?”
Felix said nothing.
“Who?”
“I want protection.”
Dante laughed softly.
“You’re negotiating?”
Felix looked at Lucy.
She saw terror in his eyes.
Not fear of Dante.
Fear of somebody else.
That frightened her more.
Felix whispered.
“You don’t understand.”
Dante stood.
“Help me.”
Felix shook his head.
“If I talk, I’m dead.”
Dante walked closer.
“If you don’t, you’re useless.”
Felix’s eyes moved toward Lucy again.
Dante noticed.
“Why do you keep looking at her?”
Felix said nothing.
Lucy’s stomach tightened.
Then Felix whispered something in French.
Lucy went cold.
Dante looked at her.
“What did he say?”
Lucy did not answer.
“Lucy.”
She looked at Felix.
Then Dante.
“He said…”
Her voice lowered.
“Ask the maid why her father owed fifty thousand dollars to the Moretti family.”
Dante’s expression changed.
And suddenly Lucy understood.
May you like
Felix knew exactly who she was.
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