Evan reached inside the breast pocket of his tuxedo and pulled out his handset.

‘Everyone was very clear about not bringing phones into the ball,’ I groaned as he put it away. ‘Am I the only person here who did as she was told?’

‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Almost certainly.’

‘Classic Fran,’ I said with a sigh. ‘Follows all the rules and still gets it wrong.’

‘Hey.’ He smiled, warmth flooding his eyes and smothering my panic with his calm assuredness. ‘I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal. She’s probably been through a million bigger scandals than this, and you know how fast things come and go online these days, it’ll be old news by Monday.’

‘That doesn’t make it OK though,’ I said, sitting upright. ‘Just because shitty things have already happened to her doesn’t mean she should be all right with more shitty things. And please don’t say she shouldn’t have taken them if she didn’t want anyone to see them because I’ll have to punch you and I really don’t want to.’

‘I would never say that,’ he said, looking chastened. ‘I’m not perfect, but I do know sharing nudes goes under the “bad” column. It always feels skeezy when they get leaked.’

‘But you still look at them?’

‘We all looked at that Chris Evans pic, and don’t tell me you didn’t,’ he answered. ‘But yes. I don’t feel good about it and I would never actively seek them out, but I have seen them.’

‘Maybe this is one of those things we know is wrong but don’t really worry about until it happens to someone we know,’ I said, fully aware I’d seen more than one naked celebrity in my time and really hadn’t stopped to think about it before now. ‘But this arsehole was talking about selling them to Clive Carden.’ The look of alarm that took over Evan’s face did not fill me with confidence. ‘Do you know him?’

‘Do I know Clive Carden?’ Evan asked, laughing as he spoke. ‘Yeah, yeah, I do.’

‘Of course. Everyone knows everyone here,’ I replied, thinking about Juliette, alone on that yacht, blissfully unaware that at least six people not of her choosing had just seen her vagina. ‘It’s illegal, isn’t it? For him to try to sell the photos?’

‘I don’t know,’ he answered with a grim look, ‘but I am sorry. This isn’t how you should be spending your first Crystal Ball.’

‘How did you know this is my first?’ I reached a hand up to my head, scraping a bit of fringe back behind my ear and feeling altogether too aware of myself. ‘Did you see my shoes?’