‘MADE. UP,’ Duke reiterates. ‘They even gave you the wrong dad! That’s how made up it is!’ He notices tears threaten in her eyes. ‘Look,’ he says, trying to be calm. ‘I’m sorry if the story has upset you, and I can understand how intrusive it must feel. As you have already pointed out, you don’t even want to be here. In fact, I thought you were going home, so, if that’s still your plan you can be certain of the fact this won’t be repeated. At least not for you, anyway. For me, it’s part of the job.’

‘I’m not going home,’ Evie grumbles, looking at the ground.

‘Oh?’ Duke says.

‘That contract is legally binding, apparently. You’ve got me here as a hostage. A hostage who is now being photographed against her will.’

Duke considers this. He feels for her – he does! – but the machine is bigger than he is. He can’t rewrite the laws of the biz, established a century ago.

‘I’ll see if I can do anything about the contract, okay? I can’t control the paps, but if you really do want to go home, I’ll ask how we can make that happen.’

She looks at him from under her lashes then, like she hates having to acknowledge what he’s said might be a solution.

‘Don’t worry about saying thanks,’ Duke sarcastically offers, when it’s obvious she isn’t going to give any words of gratitude for his suggestion.

She scoffs at him. ‘I’ve got nothing to thank you for,’ she tells him.

Seriously, what crawled up her jacksy and died? It’s like she’s incapable of basic niceties.

‘This is your world, and you’ve dragged me into it,’ she tells him. ‘So I’m not saying thank you for you cleaning up your own mess. Just get it sorted, okay? So we can both go on with our very separate, very different lives?’

Duke sighs. This woman. He’s never met a more difficult, stubborn, obstinate human.

‘Fine,’ he says. ‘Thanks for the pep talk.’

She turns on her heel and the way she storms off makes Duke realise he’s never truly seen anyone flounce before. At least not since this morning.

Duke calls his therapist, Phoebe, that night. He’s been seeing her on and off for six years now, after Jennifer Aniston told him it was imperative he get a neutral party to talk to if he was going to survive his career. It helps give him another perspective when he’s stuck in his own head. In fact, Phoebe doesn’t often say much. Mostly he talks, and she nods or makes a ‘hmm’ noise, exactly like she’s doing today.