Chapter 2 - THE PAGE THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST
The first thing Dominic did was not threaten me.
That surprised me.
The second thing he did surprised Victoria even more.
He asked the restaurant manager to close the private dining room.
Within two minutes, the velvet doors were shut.
The remaining diners were politely moved away.
Two men in dark suits appeared outside.
And suddenly I was no longer a waitress standing beside an arrogant customer.
I was the only person in the room who could explain why one piece of paper might unravel a criminal empire.
Dominic removed the document from its leather folder.
“Start again.”
Victoria crossed her arms.
“Dominic, this is humiliating.”
“No,” he replied. “Being wrong would be humiliating.”
Her face went still.
I examined the pages carefully.
The original sections were aged photocopies from the 1950s.
Page 46-B was different.
Newer typeface.
Different margins.
Different legal phrasing.
Someone had created an English translation during the late 1990s and inserted it into a much older record.
Then I noticed the footnote.
My stomach tightened.
“What?” Dominic asked.
“This reference number.”
I showed him.
KM-46/97.
“That isn’t archival numbering. It looks like an internal law-firm code.”
Dominic glanced at Victoria.
For the first time, she looked nervous.
I continued reading.
The substituted translation did something very specific.
The German version required the Russo family to hold certain shipping assets in trust for dockworkers and commercial partners whose property had been seized during the war.
The English replacement eliminated that obligation.
It changed “custodial control” into “absolute beneficial ownership.”
Millions of dollars in assets could suddenly be treated as private family property.
Dominic’s voice became quiet.
“Who produced this translation?”
I turned the page.
At the bottom was a faded rectangular stamp.
VALE, HART & BENNETT
INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL COUNSEL
NEW YORK
Victoria reached for the folder.
Dominic pulled it away.
I looked between them.
“Vale.”
Nobody answered.
Then I remembered something.
Victoria had been introduced to me earlier as Victoria Russo.
But a society photograph I had once seen while researching Dominic’s businesses had listed her maiden name.
Victoria Vale.
I stared at her.
“Your father owned this law firm.”
Her expression changed.
May you like
And in that moment I realized the mistranslation wasn’t merely connected to Dominic’s empire.
It was connected to Victoria’s family.
