I could see the cogs of Leo’s brain whirring and wished I could shake the sense of unease that I felt, knowing that if I put a foot wrong, or tried to end it with him, he was armed with some dangerous information that could destroy me. I stood up and headed for the bathroom, feeling Leo’s eyes on me. ‘Are you going home, then? I thought you were staying the night.’

I turned to face him. ‘I was, but now that he’s coming home, I need to be there to make it plausible. You’re not upset with me, are you?’ I fixed him with wide-eyed stare.

Leo thought about it for a few seconds before he shrugged. ‘Not really, no. You’ve worn me out anyway,’ he added, with a wolfish grin.

‘Good. Now be a good boy and call me a cab while I remove all traces of my outrageous behaviour tonight.’

I heard Leo laughing as I closed the bathroom door behind me. I looked at the time on my phone. It was just gone eight. Ben would have left his mother’s house at around 7.45, so I had about an hour and a half to shower and get home before he did. It was cutting it fine but I should just about make it.

The limo Leo had booked crawled through the London traffic, making me grit my teeth with anxiety. I had forgotten that getting from East to West London was always a mission, even when the rush hour had supposedly finished, and I wished I had just caught my usual train instead. My car was parked at the station in Surrey, so I would need to go there first anyway. ‘Don’t you know any quicker routes?’ I asked the driver, as we drew to a halt at yet another set of traffic lights.

‘This is the quickest route,’ he replied, his voice clipped with an Eastern European accent and a level stare in the rear-view mirror.

I sighed and leaned back against the plush leather seat, drumming my fingers on my leg. I clicked on Find Friends. Ben was only just approaching the M25, so I was still on track to get home before him, as long as there weren’t any more hold-ups. There was nothing more I could do, so I closed my eyes for a moment and took a long, soothing breath, trying to block out everything around me and relax instead …

I woke with a jolt and sat bolt upright. ‘Where are we?’ I demanded, looking around me in a panic, trying to get my bearings. I didn’t recognize the houses and fields, as they sped by outside my window, although in the dark it was hard to tell anyway.

‘There was an accident. We had to take a diversion.’ The driver sounded unapologetic and bored, which immediately caused my hackles to rise.

‘For God’s sake! Why didn’t you know how to avoid it in the first place? Don’t you get traffic updates on that thing?’ I gestured to the electronic map he had on his dashboard.