Renata did not answer immediately.
Her eyes moved from Ethan to Dylan, then to Mia standing beside the table with an empty bread plate in her hands.
Ethan repeated the question in French.
“The exact word, please.”
This time Renata’s expression sharpened.
“Révocable,” she said.
“I said the authorization remains revocable during the pilot period.”
Ethan became completely still.
Dylan leaned forward.
“There’s nuance here.
In the commercial context, the practical effect—”
“No,” Ethan said.
He switched to English.
“You told me she said irrevocable.”
The room changed.
One of the consortium representatives lowered his glass.
The other pushed his chair back several inches.
Renata closed the folder in front of her without taking her eyes off Dylan.
Dylan gave a small, almost offended laugh.
“Ethan, we’re discussing a complex bilingual agreement.
Words don’t always map perfectly.”
Mia finally set down the bread plate.
“Those two do.”
Dylan turned toward her.
For the first time all evening, the polish slipped.
“This is a private negotiation.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have brought me into it,” Mia said.
Silence.
Ethan looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
Mia unlocked her phone and placed it beside his hand.
The anonymous message was still there.
Mia Carter will be serving Polaris tonight.
Don’t disappoint us again.
Ethan read it twice.
Then he looked at Dylan.
“How did you know her name?”
Dylan’s jaw tightened.
“I told you.
Restaurant staff.”
“Samantha never introduced me to the room,” Mia said.
“And I never gave you my name.”
Renata opened her folder again, but not to continue negotiating.
She removed her notes and began turning back through pages she had marked during dinner.
“What else have you translated tonight?” she asked.
Dylan’s face hardened.
“Everything accurately.”
“That was not accurate,” Renata said.
Ethan rested both hands on the table.
“Nobody signs anything.”
One sentence killed the momentum of an eighty-million-dollar negotiation.
The representative nearest the window stood.
“We came here believing final commercial points had been settled.
If our positions have been misrepresented, we need to know how far this goes.”
“Agreed,” Ethan said.
Dylan turned on him.
