Victor's expression changed.
She continued.
“It also says the project will depend on a revised environmental assessment.”
Henry raised an eyebrow.
Victor quickly interrupted.
“That's not difficult.”
Naomi looked at him.
“You said it was.”
He clenched his jaw.
Michael spoke in Mandarin.
“She is correct.”
Victor turned toward him.
“What?”
Michael repeated himself in English.
“She translated it correctly.”
Silence.
Naomi handed the document back.
“I believe that completes the challenge.”
Victor looked at her.
For the first time that evening, uncertainty appeared in his eyes.
But pride was stronger.
He reached for his phone.
“Fine.”
He opened his banking application.
“One hundred thousand.”
Naomi expected hesitation.
Instead, Victor stared at the screen.
Then he looked up.
“You know what?”
His smile returned.
“I've changed the bet.”
Naomi folded her arms.
“How?”
“You can have the money.”
She waited.
“If you can tell my guests something about my project that they don't already know.”
Henry's expression tightened.
Naomi studied Victor.
That wasn't a language test.
It was a trap.
“What exactly do you mean?”
Victor leaned forward.
“You're supposedly educated.”
He tapped the proposal.
“You've supposedly read it.”
“Supposedly?”
“Then find something.”
Naomi looked at the document again.
She could have refused.
The original bet had already been won.
But she had spent six years serving people who assumed a uniform erased intelligence.
She had spent years hiding the fact that she had graduated from Stanford.
Not because she was ashamed.
Because every time she mentioned it, customers either laughed or asked why someone with a degree was waiting tables.
The truth was complicated.
Her father had become ill during her final year of law school.
Her mother had already passed away.
Naomi had gone home.
Bills accumulated.
Her father's business failed.
She stopped attending classes.
And life moved forward without asking permission.
She had never stopped studying.
She had simply stopped paying tuition.
Naomi looked down at Victor's proposal.
Then she noticed a number.
A small number.
Buried in a footnote.
She looked at Henry.
“May I?”
He nodded.
Naomi turned toward Victor.
“Your project isn't worth nearly a billion dollars.”
Victor's face hardened.
“What did you say?”
“Your projected cost is nearly a billion.”
“Yes.”
“But your proposal assumes a tax-credit structure that hasn't been approved.”
Victor stared at her.
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
Naomi pointed to the page.
“The environmental mitigation credit is listed as secured.”
She turned the document around.
“According to the date here, the application was still pending when this proposal was printed.”
Michael took the document.
His expression changed.
David leaned over.
Henry read the page carefully.
Then he looked at Victor.
“Is this accurate?”
Victor didn't answer immediately.
And that hesitation was enough.
Naomi stepped back.
“I think you should discuss that with your investors.”
She turned to leave.
Victor's voice stopped her.
“Wait.”
Naomi looked over her shoulder.
His arrogance had cracked.
Just slightly.
But it had cracked.
“Who are you?”
Naomi smiled.
“Tonight?”
She picked up her order pad.
“Your waitress.”
Then she walked away.
Behind her, Henry Lin said quietly:
“No.”
He looked at Victor.
“I think we should find out who she really is.”
The Woman Behind the Apron
Naomi made it halfway to the kitchen before Elena caught her.
“What on earth just happened?”
Naomi kept walking.
“I won.”
Elena stared.
“You won what?”
“The bet.”
“You actually took the bet?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Naomi stopped.
“One hundred thousand.”
Elena's mouth fell open.
“You're joking.”
“No.”
“Did he pay?”
“Not yet.”
Elena grabbed her arm.
“Naomi.”
Naomi turned.
Elena's expression had changed.
She was no longer amused.
“You know who Victor Hale is, right?”
“Yes.”
“He can make complaints disappear.”
“I know.”
“He can make people lose jobs.”
“I know.”
“He owns half the commercial properties around here.”
“I know.”
Elena lowered her voice.
“And you just publicly embarrassed him.”
Naomi looked toward the dining room.
“I didn't embarrass him.”
“He did that himself.”
Naomi smiled faintly.
“That too.”
But something about the night bothered her.
Victor's proposal.
The tax credit.
The environmental assessment.
Those weren't minor errors.
Someone had either been careless or intentionally misleading.
And Victor had not reacted like a man surprised by a mistake.
He had reacted like a man who had just discovered someone knew his secret.
Naomi went into the service hallway.
Her phone vibrated.
It was her father.
She answered immediately.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Are you working?”
“Yes.”
“Busy?”
“A little.”
He coughed.
Naomi's smile disappeared.
“You okay?”
“I'm fine.”
She knew that tone.
It meant he wasn't.
Her father had always been proud of her.
When Naomi had been accepted into Stanford, he had cried.
When she told him she was studying law, he had told every neighbor.
When she left school, he had blamed himself.