“No.”
“Then yes.”
Rebecca’s face changed the moment Hannah entered the conference room.
“You cannot be serious.”
Giovanni remained seated.
“Hannah identified the discrepancy that stopped us from signing a defective agreement.
She belongs in the discussion.”
Tyler laughed.
“She pours drinks for a living.”
Hannah answered before Giovanni could.
“I poured drinks because hospital bills don’t accept Yale diplomas.”
Tyler’s smile disappeared.
Rebecca looked at Giovanni.
“This girl has manipulated you.”
“No,” he said.
“She translated a paragraph.”
Rebecca’s voice hardened.
“Our companies have spent eighteen months building this partnership.”
“I’m aware.”
“Hundreds of jobs depend on it.”
“I’m aware.”
“You are prepared to damage your own company because a temporary maid had an unpleasant evening?”
Giovanni looked at Hannah before answering.
“No.
I’m prepared to damage my own company rather than sign a contract containing terms my executives were not properly shown.”
Rebecca went silent.
Then Giovanni placed another folder on the table.
Inside were outside counsel’s translation analysis, Marcus’s statement and still frames from the security recording.
Tyler went pale.
Rebecca did not.
She attacked.
“You think a video changes anything? My son was joking.
She overreacted.”
Hannah felt the old humiliation rise inside her.
This time she did not swallow it.
“You poured wine on an employee, refused her earned wages, fired her for being humiliated and then accused her of theft when someone finally treated her like a person.”
Rebecca stared at Hannah as if servants were not supposed to remember entire sentences.
Tyler pushed back his chair.
“This is insane.
Gio, tell her to leave.”
Giovanni’s eyes moved to him.
“Don’t call me Gio.”
The room became very quiet.
Rebecca changed tactics.
“Do you understand what happens if we walk?”
Franco, standing near the wall, answered before Giovanni did.
Moretti Imports had already committed capital for new facilities tied to the Ashford partnership.
Other financing agreements assumed the deal would close.
Termination would mean losses, delays and questions from lenders.
For the first time, Hannah understood the size of what Giovanni was considering.
This was not an envelope of money.
It was not a ride home.
The Ashford agreement was large enough that killing it could injure the business empire that had made Giovanni untouchable.
Rebecca saw Hannah understand.
Her smile returned.
“There,” she said softly.
