“You told Addison that you wanted to go back to the office and talk about the options. I was just wondering what they were.”

“There aren’t any, but people were beginning to stare, and I was trying to get her off the street. The way she is with publicity, if she wakes up tomorrow morning and sees her picture on the front of the tabloids, today’s little tantrum will seem like a walk in the park.”

“Oh,” Millie murmured. “Will she truly lose everything?”

“No, of course not,” Fran said through a grin. “This has nothing to do with her personal wealth. She’ll still be one of the richest women in this country. Addison's private investments alone guarantee that, but you and I both know that’s not what this is about. The only thing she cares about is Kane Holdings, and in a month, the board will have no recourse but to take it all away from her.”

“Just like that?”

Fran emptied what remained in her glass, and placing it back on the table, she sighed. “Just like that.”

***

Shortly after two o’clock, Millie rode the lift to the top floor of the Kane Holdings building. Taking a deep breath as the chime signaled she had reached her destination, she stepped out into the carpeted hallway, smiling at a few of the office staff as they strolled by. Walking to the end of the corridor, Millie pulled open one of the etched glass doors leading into the president’s office, but as she entered, the sound of someone’s sobs stopped her momentum. Bewildered, she looked at the two secretaries stationed to the right and left of the entry and saw the youngest, hired only a few months before, bawling her eyes out as she filled an empty box with picture frames and plants.

“What’s this?” Millie asked, taking off her raincoat.

“I’ve been sacked,” Phoebe McPherson said, sniffling back a tear.

“What? Why?”

“When Miss Kane came back, she told me to cancel all her appointments for the day. I didn’t think that would include the Milborrow meeting since it’s taken us so long to get it scheduled, so I reminded her about it, and she went into a rage. She called me incompetent and then tossed my day planner to Lydia, and told me to pack my things and go.”

“Oh, I see,” Millie said. Taking the time to hang up her coat in the small cloakroom behind the woman’s desk, when Millie reappeared, she looked over at the other secretary, Lydia Patel. “So, did you cancel everything?”

“Yes, but the Milborrow people were not happy,” Lydia said.

“No, I suspect they wouldn’t be,” Millie said with a frown. Turning her attention back to Phoebe, Millie reached over and placed her hand on the box filled with odds and ends. “There’s no need for this. You’re not sacked.”

“But Miss Kane said—”