5

Inside the meeting room, Faith and I are seated at a small table positioned about a dozen feet back from a rectangular table, behind which sits the executive team with my future on the small screen in their hands. Our CEO, Timothy Sykes – silver fox and ageing Lothario—is chair. He’s flanked by two Titan executives I recognise but haven’t met.

‘Grace, Faith, thank you for your attendance,’ Timothy begins, unnerving me with his formality. Ordinarily, our CEO greets the pair of us with something along the lines of ‘Why, hello there, ladies.’ He’s in his usual attire of navy chinos, a perfectly pressed white shirt and expensive brown leather loafers. A tennis junkie with his own central London court – perhaps now cemented over after wife number 3 ran off with his tennis coach – the man is in terrific shape for any age, let alone pushing sixty. His flirtations too bumblingly British to cause a #MeToo objection, our CEO is, rather, quite the catch. Faith says she’d do him in a heartbeat. Personally, I’m more endeared that, as CEO, Timothy knows me to talk to. He’s always so… nice. Which is presumably how he landed himself in such a mess with his divorces – this last one cost him the shares he sold off to Titan. On top of which, his ex cashed in with every gossip magazine that would interview her about their super-charged sex life. How she simply had to run away with Stefan, the Swedish tennis expert, because Timothy’s children from his prior marriages never included her as ‘family’. (A twenty-two-year-old Ukrainian dancer, younger by far than all of Timothy’s four children, none of whom still live at home, Milenna is the sort of woman rich old men are supposed to have a fling with, not marry without a pre-nup.) Poor Timothy. Always smitten. Perhaps, one day, it’ll be fourth time lucky?

‘This is Brian Bunce, financial controller for Titan.’ Timothy introduces the middle-aged and balding man seated on his left. ‘Brian is here temporarily from LA for group budgeting purposes.’

Brian barely looks up from his iPad. He’s dressed ‘casually’ for his finance job in media in a green hoodie, pale denim jeans and white trainers. Sparing us no further attention, he jabs the screen with his finger, sucking his lips in furiously. Brian is the finance guy who’s cut our budget down to zero.

Clearing his throat, Timothy turns more enthusiastically to the woman on his right. ‘And this is Joanna Minnow, our new global vice president of content. Joanna, remind me for how long you will be with us in London, will you?’