Before she could second-guess what she was doing, she felt herself move towards his office, making her way straight towards his bag and pulling out the papers, her heart pounding in her throat. Flicking through, she had barely scanned the first page when she heard a flushing from down the hall. Pulling her phone from her pocket, she took a photo of the first page then stuffed the papers back into the bag and ran back out into the office, making it to Lauren’s desk just as Emsworth moved back into the room.

‘Still here?’ he said.

‘Just finishing up,’ she replied, not daring to meet his eye, hoping he did not notice her quickened breath.

Walking to the tube station twenty minutes later, she couldn’t shake the feeling she was being watched. With a quick glance behind her shoulder, she faced forward again and pushed the idea out of her mind, putting it down to the sense of guilt for what she’d snuck a look at, distracting herself from the lingering sense of unease by committing to memory the name she had just seen on the paper: Francisco Nguema.

Chapter 15

Gabriela

‘You’re coming to this Christmas lunch?’

The first thing Gabriela saw of Madeleine was her perfectly painted fingernails tapping rhythmically against the corner of her desk. When she finally looked up from her notes, she smiled and pushed her chair back so as to get a proper look at her, the sequin pencil skirt and low-cut leotard.

Giving a wolf whistle, Gabriela raised her eyebrows. ‘Wowzers, glad to see you’re getting into the spirit of it. To be honest, I didn’t see you as a natural enthusiast for this sort of thing.’

‘Bof.’ Madeleine raised her eyebrows. ‘Let’s just say I have my mind set on a certain present this year.’

Without turning, she indicated Serena, who was laughing effusively with one of the guys from Operations.

‘Oh God, not you too—’

Madeleine kissed her teeth. ‘So, you coming or what? You can be my wing-woman.’

Gabriela groaned, leaning into her desk drawer, pulling out the Christmas bauble earrings that Tom had presented her with the night before. Afterwards, he’d shown her the miniature reindeer outfit he had picked out for Sadie, his face creasing with laughter as their daughter teetered like a reckless drunk at a stag party across the living room which already felt ten times smaller than when it was just the two of them, incapable of holding her in.

For all its faults, not least the way her once buoyant career was toppling towards a dizzying freefall, the system Tom and Gabriela had created had started to work. After months spent finding their feet, feeling out the balance of power, they had in many ways adjusted to the new rhythm of their lives.