"About what?"
"About what you may have discovered."
The next morning, Naomi went to the public records office.
She began tracing Harbor Crest Advisory.
The company had no employees listed.
No office.
No public website.
No legitimate business activity.
Its address belonged to a mailbox service.
But the ownership trail led somewhere interesting.
A holding company.
Then another.
Then another.
Finally, Naomi found a familiar name.
Malcolm Sterling.
Not directly.
Through a trust.
Naomi printed everything.
Then she found another company.
And another.
The same pattern appeared repeatedly.
Companies were created.
Foreign investors were brought in.
Contracts were translated.
Money moved.
Companies disappeared.
Naomi sat back.
She suddenly understood.
This was not one fraudulent contract.
It was a system.
And Ethan Vale was the person connecting it.
But there was a problem.
Naomi was not a lawyer.
She was not an investigator.
She was a waitress.
Who would believe her?
That question haunted her.
Until Mr. Chen called again.
"I want you to come to our hotel."
Naomi arrived that evening.
Mr. Chen was waiting with two attorneys.
One was American.
The other was Chinese.
They had copies of the documents.
"We have reviewed everything," the Chinese attorney said.
"We believe you found evidence of intentional misrepresentation."
Naomi swallowed.
"What happens now?"
"We report it."
"To whom?"
"Federal authorities."
Naomi looked at Mr. Chen.
"And Malcolm?"
"His attorneys are already claiming the discrepancies were translation errors."
Naomi laughed bitterly.
"Of course."
The American attorney looked at her.
"There's one problem."
"What?"
"We need someone who can explain exactly how the language changes the legal meaning."
Naomi understood.
"You want me to testify."
"Yes."
She looked down.
She had spent her entire life trying to stay out of other people's conflicts.
Now she would have to stand in a room full of lawyers and explain why the contract was deceptive.
"I don't know if I can do that."
Mr. Chen smiled.
"Last week you stood in front of sixty strangers and accepted a one-hundred-thousand-dollar challenge."
Naomi smiled faintly.
"That was different."
"How?"
"I didn't know anyone was listening."
Mr. Chen laughed.
"Now they will."
And he was right.
Within forty-eight hours, Malcolm Sterling's attorneys filed a complaint accusing Naomi of obtaining confidential information illegally.
The woman who had been treated as invisible was suddenly everywhere.
News outlets called.
Reporters waited outside the restaurant.
Customers recognized her.
A video of the bet went viral.
Millions of people watched the moment Naomi spoke Mandarin.
But nobody knew what happened next.
Nobody knew about Ethan.
Nobody knew about the contracts.
And nobody knew that Malcolm Sterling had one last weapon.
He was going to make Naomi look like a liar.
The hearing began on a rainy Tuesday morning.
Naomi sat beside Mr. Chen's attorneys.
Across the room sat Malcolm Sterling.
He looked different.
The confidence was still there, but something had disappeared from his eyes.
Perhaps it was certainty.
Perhaps it was control.
His attorney stood.
"Ms. Carter, you are employed as a waitress?"
"Yes."
"You have no law degree."
"Correct."
"You have no formal certification as a financial translator."
"Correct."
"You are not an attorney."
"No."
"So why should anyone believe your interpretation of a complicated investment agreement?"
Naomi looked at him.
"Because language doesn't require a law degree to have meaning."
The room became quiet.
The attorney smiled.
"That's a clever answer."
"It's a factual answer."
He continued.
"You claim the Chinese version contains obligations that aren't present in the English version."
"Yes."
"You could be mistaken."
"I could."
"So you admit your interpretation may be wrong."
"Anyone can be wrong."
The attorney smiled.
"Then we agree."
Naomi nodded.
"But I checked."
"Against what?"
"Three independent translations."
He stopped.
"What?"
"I asked three translators to examine the clauses independently."
The attorney looked toward Malcolm.
Malcolm's face tightened.
Naomi continued.
"All three identified the same discrepancies."
The attorney recovered.
"But you had access to the document."
"Yes."
"How?"
"It was given to me at the restaurant."
"Without permission?"
"I was asked to read it."
"By Mr. Sterling?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you keep a copy?"
"I didn't."
The attorney smiled.
"Interesting."
Naomi looked at him.
"Mr. Brooks made the copy."
Daniel was sitting behind her.