AFTER BREE SIGNED THE NDA, Elena Martin left for another meeting.  Bree took the two cardboard boxes into her office and locked the door behind her.

She removed her jacket and got out a pad of paper and her phone in case she wanted to take photographs for later reference.  Bree opened the first file and was intrigued to see it held the records of a lawsuit from several years before; the file was stamped DISMISSED and SEALED in red letters.

The case had been brought in Raleigh, North Carolina, by two women and a man she'd never heard of against a defendant whose name was instantly recognizable.  It shocked her.

"Frances Duchaine," she whispered.  "The Frances Duchaine?  Really?"

Bree read the first few sentences of the dismissed suit and her free hand traveled to her mouth.  By the time she was halfway through the document, she was not only thoroughly engrossed but also angry.  When she finished, she was furious and wanted to throw the file away.  But then she went back to the start of the complaint and that stamped word DISMISSED and wondered how much, if anything, she'd read was true.

Bree forced herself to withhold judgment, calm down, and be open-minded.  She set that file to one side and chose another from the box.

Before Bree opened it, though, she thought: What if it is true?  But how could it be?  Wouldn't someone have known?  Duchaine is not exactly a secretive billionaire.  A billionaire, yes, but not some secretive financier.  She's a marketer at heart.  She's her own brand.  In the public eye all the time.  Someone should have known.  But again, why would a woman as successful as Frances Duchaine take the risks alleged in the suit?

Bree looked back at the first suit and the date of its dismissal, then wrote down the name of the plaintiffs' attorney - Nora Jessup - and her address.  She also noted the superior court judge's name - Eloise Carmichael.  Only then did she open the second file.

It contained a stapled sheaf of photocopied press clippings about Frances Duchaine and her meteoric rise and sustained position in the world of high fashion.  Bree knew some of her history, but she spent the next hour studying the woman in greater depth.

Duchaine had suddenly appeared twenty-five years earlier, plucked from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology by no less an icon than Tess Jackson.

At that time, Tess Jackson's eponymous brand was growing so fast, she couldn't keep up with design demands.  Jackson had graduated from FIT herself and was a generous alum.  She'd called the president of the school and asked to see the portfolios of the three senior students the faculty believed showed the most promise.