‘Rupert, do you believe him?’ My voice rises and Rupert leans forward, grasping both my hands in his. ‘Do you honestly believe that I am capable of that?’

‘I told him that that isn’t the Emily I know,’ Rupert says, squeezing my hands so tightly I can feel the sharp ridge of my diamond engagement ring cutting into my skin. ‘I didn’t even want to meet with him, but I wanted to tell him to back off, if it is him who has been hassling you.’ He pauses. ‘Do you want to tell me the full story? I think I deserve to know.’

I nod, swiping at the tears on my cheeks. Maybe once I have told Rupert the full story we can move on, and Harry won’t hold any sort of threat anymore. ‘I should have told you before, I’m sorry. It was just too painful to talk about. Harry’s right – I did know he was married when I met him.’

‘OK,’ Rupert says, but I can see the look of disappointment on his face, and I feel a hot dart of shame.

‘He told me about Liv, his wife. He told me that they were getting a divorce, that he didn’t love her anymore. He was a gentleman at first. He took me to nice places, treated me well. I’d never really had that before, he dazzled me, I guess. He was the big boss, the man everyone in the company looked up to, and here he was, giving all his attention to me.

‘Everything changed after a few months. He became secretive, argumentative. I was walking on eggshells around him all the time. It started small, just harsh words and a light slap every now and again, but as time went on, it got worse, more violent. I had to hide the bruises at work, pretend that I had fallen over again… clumsy old Emily. The day I told him I was leaving him was the day it all came to a head properly. He accused me of taking everything from him – Liv, the kids… even though he hadn’t seen them at all in all the time we were together – and then he dragged me out of bed and put his hands around my throat, and he strangled me until I passed out.’ I let the tears run freely down my cheeks now, and Rupert’s face is filled with horror.

‘I got out as soon as I came round. I found a room with Mags and she helped me put myself back together again. And then I met you.’ I give him a watery smile, the emotion of telling him making me feel wrung out and drained.

‘Jesus, Emily. You should have told me before.’

‘Can you believe I didn’t want to tell you, because I knew Harry was married? I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea about me.’