I took a deep breath as Hayley was clearly impatient for me to speak or get out. ‘I have been offered another job,’ I blurted out quickly.

Her eyes instantly narrowed.

‘When we talked about New York, you indicated that I could start to take on work that would lead to me becoming an agent,’ I carried on even though the look she was now giving me bordered on murderous. ‘But then you said it would be another six months before I could do anything outside of being your assistant. This new job will start me on track to becoming an agent straight away. And so, uh, I think for my career, I should take it.’

‘Oh, do you?’ she asked icily.

‘I am so grateful for the past six months here,’ I added quickly. ‘I have learnt so much from you, Hayley. But New York was a huge challenge and I felt like you didn’t exactly support me out there and when I came up with an idea that turned things around…’ I had to summon every bit of confidence to keep going as she stared me down. No wonder she was such a good negotiator. I was almost ready to tell her I was talking nonsense but I knew in my gut, I was right. I was scared but there was relief now I had told her my feelings too. ‘You then took all the credit for it. That was disappointing, if I’m honest.’

‘It was disappointing that I had to come out there after you were messing things up.’

That felt unfair. ‘Jake blurted out that article was true; that wasn’t my fault. I did my best to make things better after that, encouraging him to be honest… In the end, that was what worked. Wasn’t it?’ I was confused why she wouldn’t say that had been the right thing for Jake to do.

‘I am your boss and Jake’s agent. You are merely my assistant. But you think in an important meeting, I should give you credit for something that was a fluke in the first place?’

I immediately knew I had done the right thing. We both knew that had been no fluke. She really was incapable of praising someone and didn’t want to admit she had been wrong. That didn’t feel like a good mentor to me.

‘I worked hard out there. I did everything I could to help Jake. And it worked. He’s had a great offer from his publisher. But you refuse to even consider me taking on more responsibility. Simon Langley⁠—’