“No.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
The professor exhaled.
“Good.”
Then her voice became firm.
“Then we have a factual record to protect.”
Elena swallowed.
“What do I do?”
“First, go home. Get some rest. Tomorrow, we deal with the documents.”
For a moment, Elena looked toward the restaurant.
Then whispered, “I think they fired me.”
Camila was quiet.
Elena continued.
“Or suspended me. I don't know.”
Her voice broke.
“I needed that job.”
Camila's expression wasn't visible through the phone, but Elena could hear the anger in her voice.
“We'll address that separately.”
Then she added, “And Elena?”
“Yes?”
“You did nothing wrong by speaking a language you know.”
Elena closed her eyes.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“Thank you.”
When the call ended, she began walking toward the Metro.
Paris continued around her.
Couples laughed outside cafés.
Tourists photographed the Eiffel Tower.
Taxis moved through wet streets.
And the world seemed completely indifferent to the fact that a young woman had just lost her income for answering a millionaire's question.
But inside La Verrière, the dinner hadn't returned to normal.
Inés Valcárcel was staring at Antoine Delcourt across the table.
And the conversation she was about to begin would be far more dangerous to him than anything Elena had said in Spanish.
Inés waited until the service doors closed behind Elena before she spoke.
“Antoine, what exactly did you think you were doing?”
The millionaire looked toward her with a tired expression.
“Must we continue discussing the waitress?”
“Yes.”
He sighed.
“She speaks Spanish. Congratulations to her. Can we return to the purpose of this dinner?”
Inés set down her napkin.
“The purpose of this dinner was to discuss whether our consortium should invest in your Spanish expansion.”
“Precisely.”
“And during that discussion, you decided to make a public wager about a service employee's intelligence.”
Antoine's expression hardened.
“I was testing a claim.”
Beatriz leaned forward.
“You were testing a claim that nobody had asked you to test.”
A few guests lowered their eyes.
Antoine looked toward Javier, apparently expecting support.
The banker remained silent.
Then he said, “She spoke Spanish more naturally than several executives I've worked with in Madrid.”
Beatriz smiled slightly.
Javier continued.
“And her economic analysis was sound.”
Antoine waved one hand.
“Then send her a medal.”
Inés stared at him.
For several seconds, she appeared to be weighing how direct she should be.