‘You want to close the production company because of some trainee camerawoman?’ His business partner had been livid, refusing to accept what he was hearing. ‘You’ve known me for twenty years. You’ve known her for twenty days. Come on.’

‘I do know you. And I know that this partnership is over,’ Elyas had said. He remained steady, trying to maintain some dignity in front of the man he’d once regarded as a friend, the man he had started his company with, who’d handled the business side so that Elyas could make the films he wanted. They’d won awards and accolades together, broken stories and changed lives. But accusations were being made and it was clear that his partner had crossed a line, one he could not come back from. ‘When I return, I want you gone,’ said Elyas.

‘You’ve lost your mind. If we fold now, we’ll never work in the industry again. No one will commission us.’

Elyas leaned forward. ‘You took advantage of a defenceless woman,’ he said. ‘You got off on a technicality.’ He paused, waiting for some response. Waiting for his partner to fill the silence. ‘I’ve spoken to her. I’ve seen the police report. You belong in jail.’

His partner’s face showed no remorse. ‘She was asking for it,’ he said. ‘She wanted to climb the ladder, and I helped her.’

Elyas stood up and walked towards the door. He needed to leave the room; if he didn’t he was worried he would punch him. He wanted to pummel him until he was bloody and broken, but he wouldn’t. That’s not the kind of man he was. The once-friend’s inability to keep it in his pants, his inability to take no for an answer, had landed them here, in a place where the thing he had toiled over, poured blood, sweat and tears into, was about to die. This was business. But it was also personal. That was Elyas’s line: if it wasn’t personal, it wasn’t worth doing.

The young woman had come to him in confidence, frightened that speaking up would spell the end of her career. But Elyas had spent enough years as a journalist to know the truth from a lie. She’d broken down when he’d said he believed her.

‘She’s a fucking liar,’ his partner said to him as he was about to leave. ‘You and your fucking feminist rhetoric. You always were a pussy.’

‘Daniel, you’ve mistaken my kindness for weakness again,’ Elyas replied, taking a breath and turning round. ‘I’ve already spoken to our lawyers and instructed them to begin the process of dissolving the company.’ His voice was as calm as still waters. ‘Or I can buy you out. It’s your choice.’