I posted the video online and then I got up and hurried after Jake. He had looked so downhearted that even though I was upset he hadn’t come completely clean, I had to check on him. I told myself that was because for all intents and purposes here, I was looking after his career like his agent would, but my heart ached for him in a way that I wasn’t entirely sure was professional only.

Turning when I left the room, I caught a glimpse of Jake as he walked through the lobby of the hotel so I followed him outside, breathing in the fresh air with relief.

‘Jake,’ I called and he stopped, sinking down onto a concrete bench nearby. I walked over slowly and sat down next to him.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said after a moment. ‘I was going to explain everything but, in the moment, I just couldn’t. It’s too personal and raw for me to do that. I felt like everyone in that room would be judging me, and people close to me, and I couldn’t handle it. I thought telling them that I was trying to avoid Davis Mulberry finding out something personal would have been enough. Do they really expect me to be even more honest?’

‘I suppose only getting half the story means your imagination wants to fill in the gaps,’ I said, knowing that’s exactly how I felt about it. ‘It makes it harder for them to trust what you told them.’

‘Maybe this is worse, them thinking I’m a liar, but I still wasn’t able to say the full story, Freya.’

I sighed. ‘I don’t know if what you said was enough or not. It’s best I tell you that.’

He nodded. ‘I know. I’m not getting my hopes up. But worse than the reaction in there was the look on your face.’ Jake turned to me and I looked at him in surprise. ‘I felt like you were disappointed, and I hated that. I don’t want to let you down. I know you believe I should be honest, and I trust you. It was nothing to do with me not respecting your opinion or anything. I’m just not used to being… vulnerable, I guess. And what’s happened the past few months has made me even more reticent to open up.’

‘It is nice to hear you respect my opinion,’ I admitted. ‘I was doubting my advice to you. I still am. I don’t know where we go from here.’

‘Let’s get out of the hotel again. This conference feels like it’s not the real world. When we went out earlier, that felt real.’ He looked at me with those piercing eyes again. ‘I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.’