The coworkers marveled at how impressive Harvey was, throwing him quiet thumbs-up behind his back.

I stayed silent for a few seconds.

Everyone watched me clench my jaw, certain I was about to throw myself at Harvey.

After all, in their minds, a broke nobody like me who'd never seen real money would have blown it all long ago. Where would I find the cash to pay him back?

But I stayed perfectly calm, pulling out my phone and wiring three million dollars to the bank's account.

I didn't so much as blink.

I held up the payment screenshot. "I've been at this bank for three years, and the gifts I received each year were worth less than eight hundred thousand. I've just paid three million. Is that enough to settle the debt?"

I ignored the shock on everyone's faces.

I ignored Harvey too, roaring behind me that I'd obviously embezzled the bank's funds.

As I passed Frances Fox's office, I gave a long look at the nameplate hanging on the wall: President's Office.

Three years ago her bank had barely any business, teetering on the edge of collapse.

Now it was the largest private bank in the city, and it was me who'd lifted her into that chair.

"President, Samuel is our biggest client. The bank does two hundred thirty million in deposits every year, and he alone accounts for two hundred million of it!"

"How can you just let him walk away, offend him like this?"

I'd just lifted my foot to keep moving when I heard Moira's helpless protest.

But Frances's answer was nothing but irritation.

"He only parked his money in our bank. It's not like he gave it to me."

"And I have to pay him two million dollars in interest every year!"

"Your procurement department sends him gifts worth nearly a million annually. Isn't that all my money too?"

Moira let out a heavy sigh.

"President, that's not how the math works. The whole bank runs on Samuel's two hundred million. Without him the bank's cash flow snaps. If he—"

"There's no if!"

Frances slammed the file down hard on her desk.

"He makes his money off this interest, year after year. At the end of the day, he wouldn't be where he is without me!"

I rubbed my fingertips together, and Frances's words struck me as nothing short of laughable.

She thought far too much of herself.

She thought I lived off the interest on two hundred million.

And she was foolish enough to believe I had no choice but to keep my money with her.

The interest rate she gave me was lower than any other bank in the city.

If I parked that money anywhere else, the interest alone would start at three million a year, minimum.

But for old times' sake, as her former classmate, I'd never made an issue of it.

I never imagined she'd actually feel cheated.

Actually believe I was living off her.

Frances had thrown Moira out of the office.

Moira looked crushed, and when she saw me standing in the doorway, she forced out a bitter smile.

I gave her a nod.

"Come with me. Nothing good will come of staying here, working under someone like that."

Moira had ten thousand times the vision Frances did. She handed in her resignation without a moment's hesitation.

She and I carried our things out, one behind the other.

Harvey chased after us, and the second he saw the scene, his needling words came right on cue.

"Oh-ho, I knew it. There's definitely something going on between these two."

"Samuel gets fired, and Moira goes scurrying right after him!"

"Moira, aren't you afraid your husband finds out?"

Furious, Moira rushed at him, neck stiff, glaring Harvey down.

"Say one more word of that garbage and I'll rip your mouth off!"

Harvey pressed closer, taunting. "Go on, hit me!"

"Best thing you can do is clear out with him. I'll have the President hand the procurement accounts to me. I'll show her exactly who's the real master at keeping clients happy."

I caught Moira's already-raised hand and stepped forward, putting myself between them.

I gave Harvey a faint, scornful smile.

"Go ahead. I'd love to see just how good you are at holding on to your clients."

When I walked through the door, my mother was home.

Seeing me back so early, she pressed me, puzzled.

I didn't answer. I only said one thing.

"I pulled all two hundred million out of Southeast Bank."

She exchanged a glance with my father in the kitchen, and neither of them asked a single question.

I took after my father, born with a distaste for work.

I didn't even want to take over the family company. I only wanted to drift through easy, unhurried days.

They let me have my way, and gave me two hundred million.

I couldn't spend it all, and when my old classmate Frances Fox hit a wall in her career, I simply parked the money in her bank.

At the time she thumped her chest and swore up and down.

As long as her bank could be revived, she'd give me the absolute best service there was.

All my life, what kind of service hadn't I enjoyed?

The things she promised meant nothing to me.

Then she heard I was bored out of my mind every day, and she kept a seat open for me at the bank.

She practically begged me to come in, said it'd be a way to kill time.

But she'd gotten cocky now.

She'd started to lose all sense of where she stood.

In that case, I had no choice but to remind her.

Before the next day had even arrived, Southeast Bank was struck as if by a bolt from a clear sky.

The depositors decided the bank had no money and began demanding their savings back.

Harvey had just started the job and was desperate to make a good impression in front of the president, so he showed up at the door red-faced and frantic, lugging an armful of gifts.

After the steward opened the door, he turned a fawning smile on my mother, who was on the sofa watching the stock market.

"Ms. Head! You're our bank's biggest client, and seeing you today, your presence is truly stunning!"

"This is some red wine and bird's nest tonic I brought for you and your husband. Please accept it."

My mother had spent years dominating the business world, and there was nothing she despised more than this kind of flattery.

She stayed icy and said nothing.

Harvey's hand hung in midair, then dropped back down, awkward.

"Here's the thing, Ms. Head. I noticed you've had two hundred million on deposit ever since our bank opened. Why did you suddenly pull all of it out today?"

"You'll be losing quite a bit of interest this way!"

Displeased, my mother flipped her phone face-down, and the moment she opened her mouth she left Harvey deflated.

"You're wasting my time over a little interest like that?"

My mother's presence was overwhelming. Harvey turned pale with fright and instantly went to stammering.

"Ms. Head... I didn't mean... "

"I know your time is precious, you probably... no, you definitely think this is small change beneath you, but our bank's business... "

The crease between my mother's brows dug deeper and deeper. Her patience was utterly spent.

She tossed the phone aside and took a sip of tea.

"Russell, see him out!"

Harvey clutched at Butler Russell's hand, refusing to give up, still working his lips.

Except now he was grasping for anything to say, and what came out had practically zero tact.

"Ms. Head, our bank really needs this money. None of this year's projects are even finished yet!"

"You don't care about this kind of money anyway, so just leave it in our bank!"

Butler Russell understood my mother's temper best of all.

She wasn't tall, and she looked gentle and refined.

But her temper was worse than anyone's.

Butler Russell delivered a warning right into Harvey's ear: "Who do you think you are, telling Ms. Head what to do with her money? Get out of here, now. If you make Ms. Head angry, you can't possibly carry the consequences!"

He was right. My mother was already on the edge of blowing up.

She hadn't asked me anything, but she knew I'd kept the money in Frances Fox's bank out of friendship.

She also knew I'd always valued loyalty above all.

For me to suddenly pull the money out, they must have crossed my line.

That was when I came downstairs, fresh from a nap, and threw my arms around my mom in a fond hug.

I asked, half coaxing, like a kid wheedling for a treat.

“I'm starving. What did you make me for dinner tonight?”

The next second, my eyes met Harvey's, and he looked an absolute mess.