Athena began ranting about loyalty to her and to Goddess and I felt my conscience stand to attention. Surely, she didn’t expect me to write lies?

I could still feel the irritated patch of skin close to my ear. I angled my face to the right, pushing a hunk of my curls away so she could see it again. “Athena, please take another look at this.”

She peered at the pinprick red spots.

“I didn’t have these when I went to the launch. That foundation caused it.”

Athena’s mouth gave a small wobble. “You must have done. You just didn’t notice it.”

“I can assure you that I didn’t.”

Athena’s jaw ground with fury and she seemed on the precipice of exploding when Orion appeared at the office door. “Athena…”

“Can’t you see Leonie and I are in the middle of something here?”

Orion ignored Athena’s thunderous expression. “You need to see this. I’ve just received an email from two women who were at Tilly Crabtree’s launch. They’re members of staff at Saskia’s department store.”

“Yes? And?”

“They both volunteered to have one of Tilly’s makeovers too, using her new Glorious foundation.”

Athena flapped one hand, irritated. “Well, spit it out, whatever it is.”

“Both women’s skin flared up within ten minutes of it having been applied. Just like Leonie.”

Athena’s gaze hardened but she said nothing.

“And before you ask,” said Orion calmly, “they’ve both just emailed me photographs.”

Athena barged past Orion and out of her office. “Show me.”

Orion curled up her lip in an exaggerated Elvis style at Athena’s back and returned to her PC, with me following. “Here.”

She clicked on each of the images of the aggrieved women and two photographs shimmied up on screen, showing both of them with the same patchy rash as I had across their cheeks. “Both of these women saw and overheard Leonie talking to Ms Crabtree, found out Leonie works for Goddess, and decided to contact us.”

Athena continued to hunch over Orion’s screen, her jaw jutted out. I noticed her cheek throb with tension.

“It would not be ethical or proper to write a positive review after this,” I maintained. “Imagine if we did. We would be putting ourselves and the magazine in a very difficult and dishonest position.”

Athena ground her capped teeth together. Her right foot tapped in her pointed kitten heels while she mulled everything over.

She manoeuvred the PC mouse and straightened up. “I’ll speak to Tilly. Explain the situation and smooth things over.”

She raked me up and down. “I will also suggest she goes back to the drawing board with Glorious.”