It had always been the single most important thing in her life. She had lived it, breathed it, and nurtured it for endless days and endless nights, never regretting one minute she had spent on the company bearing her name, and with one lie, it could remain hers. One untruth, while sullying the name of someone buried months before, was all she had to utter and things would remain status quo with no questions asked. It was her word against a man who was at times confused and scared. Puzzled by his surroundings, his knees would shake, and his voice would tremble, but he was also a man who over pints of ice cream had become her friend...but he was dead. Gone from the earth to the heavens above, what harm would a lie do now? He was an unknown so why would it matter if those around the table thought him a fool? Why would it matter at all?

Addison cleared her throat, prepared to speak the fiction that once and for all would assure her that Kane Holdings would be forever hers, but as she looked up at the men staring back at her, their eyes dark with greed and their lips glistening with anticipation, she was transported back in time. To a time when angry words were spewed and when Joanna told her that she’d never understand how someone could give up everything in their life...for someone they loved.

Swiveling in her chair, Addison held out her hand to Fran, silently requesting the return of the paper that had damned her. Turning back around, she met the steely gaze of the Board of Directors of Kane Holdings with one of her own. “It’s true,” she said, pushing the paper across the table.

Their heads popped from their collars like moles in a carnival game, and if any blood had remained in Fran’s face, it was gone.

Reece’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline, his eyes shifting from one board member to the next before his focus fixed on Addison. “Damn it, girl, do you know what you’re saying?”

“I know exactly what I’m saying, Reece,” Addison said as she got to her feet. “I can’t speak for the rest of the men in this room, but Robert Sheppard was no more daft than you are. His body may have been weak, but his mind was sharp, and what he wrote on that piece of paper is the truth.” Addison glanced at Fran before she looked at the ones who were about to tear her company to shreds. “And unless I’m mistaken, my services are no longer required here. Good day, gentlemen. I’d like to wish you luck, but my heart wouldn’t be in it. I’m sure you understand.”

***