Common sense has often associated both translations and translators with different forms of betrayal. In this paper I intend to focus on how the theme of betrayal in translation is treated in terms of a love triangle, in which the translator's "unreliable" handling of the original is associated with some form of competition with the author for the love of a woman. The object of my analysis will be a short story by Moacyr Scliar entitled "Notas ao Pé da Página", first published in Brazil in 1995. I believe that such an analysis may help us further understand the often negative reputation translators seem to have in a culture that worships originals and tends to distrust any activity that somehow "touches" them. It may also help us reflect on why mainstream translation theories have always been so interested in controlling and disciplining translators and their interventions in the texts they necessarily have to rewrite.