‘Well, according to Tessa, Davis got more and more pissed as the night went on. And he started telling the conference organisers the whole event had been rubbish and crime events are so much better, and maybe they should come to one so they can improve their conference. Then a few attendees got involved to tell him he was wrong and he got really angry and pushed over one of the tables with drink on. It was chaos, apparently.’

‘Blimey. I knew he was a bit of a twat, but that takes the biscuit! He didn’t say anything about me and Jake, did he?’

‘No.’ Her eyes widened. ‘Why, did he know about you two?’

‘What happened then?’ I asked, wanting to put off telling Liv about what had happened with me, Jake and Davis.

‘The hotel called security and he was escorted out!’

‘God,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘How embarrassing for him.’

‘I know, right? He won’t have anything to lord over Jake now after this. It’s his reputation in tatters now!’ Liv grinned. ‘Couldn’t have happened to a nicer man, right?’ She frowned. ‘Are you okay, Freya? You aren’t yourself today.’

I sighed, unable to put it off any longer. ‘Me and Jake… Whatever it was between us, it’s all over now. And it could be why Davis Mulberry had such a meltdown. The three of us had a row at the party. It was horrible, Liv. And now I have to have a meeting with Hayley and Jake at his publisher’s tomorrow and pretend I haven’t seen the man naked!’ I cried out, causing a couple of people at neighbouring tables to look over at me in shock. ‘Oops,’ I said, ducking my head.

‘Don’t worry about them,’ Liv said. ‘Are you okay? How can it be over? I saw the way Jake looked at you. Hang on, what happened with Davis then? Did he do something to break you guys up?’

I gave Liv the blow-by-blow account of what happened at the party. ‘I wish I could just blame Davis but Jake clearly never trusted me. He thought I was using him to help my career. And that I think he’s just like his father. Maybe I didn’t trust that he wanted anything serious with me. So, I guess maybe I didn’t trust him either.’ I shook my head. ‘I need to focus on my career now. I need to get through this meeting at the publishing company, and hopefully, then Hayley will promote me. And I can forget all about Jake Richards!’

‘Oh, Freya,’ Liv said with sympathy. ‘I’m sorry it didn’t work out.’

‘You told me to be careful, and you were right,’ I said dully.

‘Are you sure you and Jake can’t talk and⁠—’