The details were simple enough that even without knowing the full business arrangement, Maya could follow the sequence.
Someone had acknowledged the Sicilian’s arrival.
Someone had confirmed that what he requested would be ready.
Someone had then apparently decided to act as though none of that had happened.
Laurent leaned toward her.
“Maya, you are finished here if you continue this.”
There it was.
The threat he understood best.
Not a gun.
A schedule.
A paycheck.
A job.
Under ordinary circumstances, it would have worked.
Maya needed the work.
Laurent knew it.
He knew which servers picked up extra shifts.
He knew who could afford to lose a Tuesday and who could not.
He carried that knowledge the way the Sicilian carried his weapon: openly enough that nobody forgot it existed.
Maya folded the message carefully.
Then she placed it back on the table.
The boss asked what Laurent had said to her.
Maya translated honestly.
“He said I’m finished here if I keep translating for you.”
One of the five men gave a humorless smile.
Laurent’s voice sharpened.
“That is an internal employment matter.”
The Sicilian answered him directly, even though he knew Laurent could not understand.
Maya hesitated before translating.
Laurent noticed.
“What?”
Maya looked at him.
“He asked why you keep threatening people when you don’t understand the room you’re standing in.”
A tiny sound came from somewhere near the windows.
Someone had inhaled too sharply.
Laurent’s jaw tightened.
“I am calling security.”
He reached for his phone.
Maya thought the men around the table might move.
None did.
The Sicilian simply spoke again.
This time Maya almost smiled despite herself.
“He says you already mentioned security.”
Laurent stopped.
The boss continued.
Maya translated sentence by sentence.
“He says he came here expecting a private conversation.
He says he asked about an agreement.
You answered him about wine.
Then you insulted the way he speaks.
Then you threatened to remove him.”
Laurent opened his mouth.
Maya raised one hand.
She had never done that to him before.
The gesture surprised both of them.
“I’m not finished.”
The restaurant seemed to contract around those words.
