‘I should have known when I saw the fedora,’ I replied. ‘He’s so clearly one of those men who thinks wearing a hat is equivalent to having a personality.’

The tunnel opened up into another room, much more intimate than the ballroom, with walls draped in gun-metal grey silks and black velvet-covered tables dotted all around. It was filled with yet more people in outfits that cost more than ten times the average mortgage payment. And there was me thinking the ballroom was the entire event. Oh, sweet, naïve Fran. I chose a table in a dark corner, Evan pulled out my chair, and I sank into it, trying not to show surprise at the random act of chivalry. It wasn’t something I was used to.

‘They shouldn’t get away with it,’ he said, his perfect nostrils flaring as he spoke, clearly still annoyed. ‘They think they run this thing but that was so far out of line. I’m going to find someone from security and—’

‘No!’ My hand shot out to pull him back. ‘I mean, it’s all right, you don’t have to do that. I don’t want to make a fuss.’ The last thing I needed was a chat with an armed security guard in possession of a guest list.

‘They were threatening you, Francesca. I think that warrants a fuss.’

He was right, it did, but I’d already been threatened with an unexpected dip in the sea and I really didn’t want to end my weekend in a cell. I clearly wasn’t dressed for it.

‘I think us laughing at them did more damage than security ever could,’ I told him. ‘And I did throw his phone over the edge.’

Evan’s face semi-relaxed into a frustrated smile, and my heart soared. ‘Not that I don’t fully support your actions, but can I ask why?’

‘He was showing photos he should never have had in the first place,’ I said, flashing back to an extremely unwanted memory. ‘Naked photos that were clearly not sent to him by the subject.’

‘Nudes?’ Evan looked down at my hand still on his arm and I snatched it back. Hands to yourself, Francesca. ‘Who was it?’

‘Juliette.’

‘The singer, Juliette?’

‘There is only one Juliette,’ I replied wearily.

Resting my elbows on the table, I pressed my fingertips into my temples. Maybe if I pushed hard enough, I’d find the reset button for my brain.

‘How’d they get them?’

I turned my palms upwards and frowned. ‘Your guess is as good as mine.’

‘Could have hacked her phone, I guess, they’re all tech bros. Or they could have bribed someone for them, you never know. Do you know her?’

‘That’s debatable. God. If they’d just left their phones in their rooms like we did, I wouldn’t be thinking about this right now.’