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Not that she was planning on being a walkover. She wasn’t. And she was damned if she was going to let Bea be one either. They could teach each other, she figured. She’d be calmer, Bea would be more confident. They could learn, improve each other. After all, wasn’t that what relationships are about?

It wasn’t until she walked into her office that she had the first hint that something was wrong.

Her assistant’s desk was empty.

She peered over at it. Empty and cleared. She sighed. Another one gone then. She’d have to get HR to send someone else up. Someone that she was going to be nicer to, she swore to herself. Someone she was going to smile at and be polite to. Someone she could count on to help her, not someone terrified of her.

Mostly.

A little fear would be okay. Just a little would add respect, and she definitely needed respect.

She went to her desk, flicked her computer on, and dropped her purse into one of the drawers. Then she sat down, flexed her fingers, and got down to work.

Except her login didn’t work.

She growled under her breath and tried again. And again, she got an error message. She sucked her teeth and took a deep breath. Okay, mistakes happened. She’d been away for two weeks. Maybe there’d been some kind of reset or something.

She picked up her phone and barked for her assistant to puther through to IT before remembering that there wasn’t an assistant. She slammed the phone down. Her stomach took an acid twist as she slammed back the rest of her coffee and then hurled the cup at the rubbish bin.

Fine. Alright. So she’d go down to IT herself and get someone. She couldn’t look up the phone extension without access to her computer. It was a glitch. A tiny little unimportant thing that wasn’t worth losing her temper over.

Then Darren appeared in her doorway and Alli finally breathed out. Okay, here we go. Things were going to be alright now.

“Miss me?” she asked.

“What are you doing here?” Darren said.

“Um, being your most productive employee,” she countered. “Although from now on I’m leaving at seven. I’ve learned a little something from this enforced holiday and you might not like all of it. I can keep my temper, but I’m also going to start prioritizing my personal life a little more.”

He swallowed and looked confused. “That’s… that’s great, Al. I’m proud of you. But what are you actually doing here? How did you get in?”

“What do you mean, how did I get in? Through the door, idiot. And what’s up with the computers? My password isn’t working and—” She stopped herself, her brain catching up. “What do you mean, how did I get in?”

Darren took a tentative step forward. “Alli, you’re not supposed to be here.”

She looked around. “Am I early? You’re pale. Am I dead? Is this one of those things where I died in a car crash or something and now I’m just here and…” She shook her head. “What’s happening?”

“HR was supposed to call you,” he said, coming a little closer.

She thought about this. She’d ignored a couple of calls last night. She’d been face-timing with Bea and then she’d wanted to get an early night, get enough sleep. “About what?”

He put his hands on the desk. “I think you know about what.”

“About what?” she repeated.

“Al…” He licked his lips and tried again. “Al, I did everything I could. Everything, I swear.”

Her stomach did a full-on somersault now, swirling around in her torso and making her feel sick. “Everything about what?” Her voice sounded high and more panicky than she’d like. “What are you talking about?”

“Al, you’re going to have to leave. You need to get out of here before someone calls security, before things get worse for you.”

She could feel the scratchy cushion of her chair under her thighs. She forced herself to laugh. “Why would I leave? I just got here.”

“Because you don’t work here anymore,” he said gently. “Because you’ve been fired, remember?”

There. There it was. The small spark that started it all, the heat that was going to build any second now. “Fired?” Her mouth was dry.

“The condition was that you graduated from an anger management program. You didn’t graduate,” Darren said.