‘He needs you, Isabelle, and you need to be there. You’re not doing yourself any favours by being here.’

‘Cheers.’

‘I don’t mean it like that. Don’t worry about Fiona, I can take care of her. And if she doesn’t like it, she can lump it. We’ve outgrown each other. It’s about time we . . . well, you know. I need to do a lot of thinking.’

‘Not because of this. Not because of me.’

‘Not just that, no.’ Dan thoughtfully stabbed his egg yolk with a bit of sausage. ‘But I don’t want to talk about Fiona. I want to talk about you.’

‘Okay,’ said Isabelle, suddenly afraid he was going to make a declaration. Well, let’s get it over, she thought, like a woman at the dentist’s.

‘Go to LA. Look after Will.’

‘But Tokyo . . .’

‘Don’t worry about Tokyo. I’m going anyway. If you can make it, there are plenty of flights from LA. If not, I’ll take care of business for you.’

Isabelle said nothing.

‘Don’t you trust me?’

‘Of course I trust you, Dan. You’re about the only person in the world I do trust. But I just don’t understand why you would do all this. You’re risking your job, you’re pissing off your clients, you’re staking everything on Cissé when you know perfectly well that in six months’ time there might not even be a Cissé. Why would you do that?’

I know why.

He put down his knife and fork.

‘Because I love you,’ he said, very simply. ‘I always have, from the very first time I met you.’

Isabelle’s hand flew to her mouth; she couldn’t help it.

‘Sorry,’ said Dan. ‘I didn’t mean to say that. But now you know.’

Massimo Rivelli saw himself as a horse – a magnificent Arab stallion, in fact – upon which a host of parasites was feeding. There were fleas and flies and mosquitoes, worms and ticks and burrowing larvae, there were little birds pecking at his skin and his ears, and there were beetles crawling in his wake to eat his shit. Every so often he would whisk his tail or toss his mane, stamp his hooves or kick with his hind legs, to drive them away. If necessary, he could bite. But whatever he did, the army of parasites got bigger, fattening on his resources, inviting their friends to the feast. How soon before it would be dogs and jackals and vultures that were feeding on him? How much longer could he keep going?