Beside her sat Arthur Vance Jr.—not a relative, but a high-priced corporate defense attorney hired by Sterling Maritime Industries. Arthur was fifty-five, dressed in a three-thousand-dollar bespoke suit, holding a leather briefcase on his lap.
The heavy steel door buzzed and swung open.
It wasn't the detective.
Daniel walked into the room, dressed in a tailored charcoal suit, carrying a single leather folder under his arm. Behind him stood Marcus Vance, the long-time legal head of Vance Logistics.
Attorney Arthur Vance Jr. immediately stood up, buttoning his suit jacket. "Mr. Vance, this is a violation of protocol. My client is awaiting her bail hearing. You have no right to speak to her without the District Attorney present."
"Sit down, Arthur," Marcus Vance said smoothly, placing a heavy hand on the defense attorney's shoulder and forcing him back into his chair. "We aren't here as prosecutors. We're here as shareholders."
Daniel walked around the metal table, stopping directly across from Maya. He didn't sit down. He looked down at her with a quiet, penetrating gaze that made her shift uncomfortably in her cuffs.
"Did you sleep well, Maya?" Daniel asked softly.
Maya let out a short, mocking sneer. "Save the sympathy, Daniel. Your little video stunt was cute, but Arthur here will have the evidence suppressed by Friday. The camera was installed without my explicit written consent in a residential area where I had an expectation of privacy. Any judge in Connecticut will toss the footage out of court."
"He's right, Daniel," Attorney Arthur added smugly. "The surveillance footage is legally fruit of the poisonous tree. You have no case."
Daniel opened the leather folder he was carrying and dropped three thick, bound documents onto the stainless steel table.
"I'm not relying on the camera footage, Maya," Daniel said calmly.
Maya glanced down at the cover page of the top document. Her smirk vanished instantly.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT: SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK — FORENSIC FINANCIAL AUDIT: AEGIS HOLDINGS & STERLING MARITIME LTD.
"What is this?" she whispered, her voice losing its confidence.
"While you were busy spending six months setting up my father with fake slush fund ledgers," Daniel said, leaning forward and resting both hands on the metal table, "my security team unlocked the two encrypted phones I took from your purse last night."
Maya’s eyes went wide. "That's illegal search and seizure—"
"Not when the phones were purchased using a corporate credit card issued under Vance Logistics International, which you used to buy them during your employment as our head of interior design," Marcus interjected with a cold smile. "The devices belong to us, Maya. And so does everything stored on their hard drives."
Daniel flipped open the second document, pointing to a highlighted line item.
"You weren't just transferring money to set up my father," Daniel said, his voice dropping into a razor-sharp register. "You were funneling money out of Julian Sterling's offshore accounts in Grand Cayman into a personal private account in Zurich under your name. Three million dollars, Maya. You were skimming from your own father."
Maya pulled back sharply, her face turning pale as ash. "That's... that's a lie!"
"If Julian Sterling finds out that his favorite covert agent was stealing ten percent off the top of every corporate acquisition deal he funded," Daniel continued, "do you think he'll still pay for your three-thousand-dollar-an-hour defense lawyer? Or do you think you'll disappear into the federal system the second he revokes your bail bond?"