Piraeus, December 1899
Perhaps this night is my last. Perhaps it is the only chance to tell everything exactly as it happened, to make it known, to deliver justice. I am not an expert, I do not know the laws, I do not even know much about letters. Everything I have learned over these years is from my work. I learned about countries through their markets, acquiring raw materials, searching for people, wholesalers, and partners, studying the competition, trying to conquer them afterwards. I learned about the various parts of Greece by buying grapes, spirits, wood, and hoops for barrels. And I learned about politics from my work. When a state goes bankrupt, businesses cannot help but be destroyed, the efforts of a lifetime lost. That is why you need to know what and how, the causes, the reasons, the triggers. You must be prepared for everything.
Just like the afternoon when Augustina wandered around Plaka and had not realized from the words and haste of the people that something was happening. She was so absorbed in her thoughts and so desperate from her decision to accept to marry Manos Chatzigiannakos. Everything had started as dusk was falling. And that night would be the most important of her life. It predetermined everything that followed, I am sure.