"What issue?"
"The payment was issued as part of a dispute resolution agreement."
"Yes."
"Are you aware that Northstar initially disputed your company's claim?"
"I am."
"And that they challenged the valuation?"
"I am."
"How was the dispute resolved?"
Maya looked at her.
"Privately."
Evelyn frowned.
"Ms. Carter, we need to understand the source of funds."
"You do."
"Then I need more information."
Maya leaned back.
"I can give you the information you legally require."
"And if I need more?"
"Then tell me."
The room became quiet.
Daniel crossed his arms.
He had begun to realize that Maya wasn't nervous.
Not even slightly.
Most wealthy clients were impatient during compliance checks.
Maya wasn't.
She was almost relaxed.
Evelyn returned to the documents.
Then she noticed something.
A letterhead.
A signature.
She looked closer.
"Who is Adrian Carter?"
Maya's expression changed.
Only slightly.
"My father."
"He founded Carter Industrial?"
"Yes."
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
Daniel's eyes widened.
He knew the name.
Adrian Carter had been one of the most respected industrial engineers in Illinois.
He had built a company from a small machine shop into a nationwide supplier.
Then, fifteen years earlier, he had died suddenly.
The company had collapsed shortly afterward.
Or so everyone believed.
Daniel looked at Maya.
"You inherited the company?"
"No."
"Then what happened?"
Maya gathered the papers.
"My father left me his research."
Evelyn said nothing.
"His company failed because of a patent dispute," Maya continued.
"People assumed he lost everything."
"Didn't he?"
"No."
Daniel stepped closer.
"What are you saying?"
Maya looked at him.
"I'm saying my father spent the last years of his life developing a manufacturing process that nobody understood."
She paused.
"When he died, I continued his work."
Evelyn slowly sat down.
"And Northstar?"
"They invested."
Daniel stared at the check.
Suddenly the twelve million dollars looked different.
Maya continued.
"They invested in the technology."
"And the settlement?"
"Northstar violated the agreement."
"So they paid you?"
"After arbitration."
Evelyn looked at the documents again.
Everything was legitimate.
Everything was documented.
The check was real.
The money was real.
Maya was real.
Daniel suddenly remembered laughing downstairs.
His face became uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Maya looked at him.
"For what?"
"For assuming."
She smiled.
"You weren't the first."
Daniel didn't know what to say.
Then Evelyn's phone rang.
She answered.
"Yes?"
Her expression changed.
"What?"
She stood.
"Repeat that."
Silence.
Then she looked at Maya.
"The issuing bank has released the funds."
Maya nodded.
"Good."
Evelyn hung up.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"The transfer has been cleared for immediate settlement."
Daniel stared.
"How much?"
Evelyn looked at the check.
"Twelve million seven hundred fifty thousand."
Silence filled the room.
Then Evelyn said something nobody expected.
"Ms. Carter, would you consider moving more of your assets to Sterling National?"
Maya smiled.
"Perhaps."
Daniel looked hopeful.
Then Maya added:
"But not today."
She gathered her papers.
"Today, I only came to deposit a check."
And she walked out.
Maya did not leave the bank immediately.
Instead, she walked down to the lobby and sat in a quiet corner near the entrance.
Rain continued falling outside.
She watched people hurry past the glass doors.
Daniel eventually found her.
"Ms. Carter."
She looked up.
"Yes?"
"I wanted to apologize again."
"You already did."
"I meant it."
"I know."
Daniel sat across from her.
"I've been thinking about something."
Maya waited.
"When you came in this morning, I thought you were..."
He stopped.
"Poor?"
Daniel looked embarrassed.
"Yes."
Maya smiled.
"Most people don't say it out loud."
"I shouldn't have judged you."
"No."
He nodded.
"Can I ask you something?"
"That depends."
"Why did you come here dressed like this?"
Maya looked down at her coat.
"Because this is how I dress."
Daniel laughed nervously.
"No special reason?"
"No."
"You could afford anything."
"I suppose."
"Then why?"
Maya looked through the window.
"Because my father taught me something."
"What?"
"He said if people respect your clothes before they respect your character, they don't respect you."
Daniel considered that.
Maya stood.
"I'm leaving."
"Before you go..."
He hesitated.
"What will you do with the money?"
Maya smiled.
"That depends."
"On what?"
"On what happens next."
She walked outside.
Daniel watched her disappear into the rain.
He didn't know that Maya had another reason for choosing Sterling National.
She hadn't chosen the bank randomly.
Three months earlier, she had discovered something disturbing.
Someone had been attempting to acquire Carter Industrial Solutions.
Not openly.
Not through a normal acquisition.
Through shell companies.
Hidden investors.
False valuations.
A network of corporations had been buying pieces of the industrial supply chain connected to Maya's company.
At first, she assumed it was ordinary competition.
Then she found something.
A former employee had leaked internal financial projections.
Those projections had been sent to a private investment group.
The group was connected to a man named Victor Lang.
Victor was a billionaire investor with enormous influence in Chicago.
He owned shipping companies.
Construction firms.
Energy businesses.
Financial institutions.
And he had wanted Carter Industrial Solutions for years.
Maya had refused to sell.
Now Victor was becoming aggressive.
Two weeks earlier, someone had offered Maya twenty-five million dollars for her company.
She refused.
Three days later, her warehouse insurance premiums mysteriously doubled.