Mia felt a shiver running through her body at the thought. Her fear was mirrored in the other women’s eyes.

‘Did you do this?’ one of them was asking her. She thought it was Janie, but her head was spinning and the air was thinning around her.

‘It wasn’t me,’ Laura said. ‘I can promise you that.’

‘Well, it wasn’t me,’ Janie cried. ‘So was it you?’ She was shouting now. ‘Mia, did you do this?’

‘No,’ she breathed out – sharp, rapid breaths. Almost in slow motion, she reached out a hand to stop herself from falling, grabbing onto Laura’s arm to steady herself. Beneath her, her legs buckled, unable to hold her.

‘Mia, what is it?’ one of them asked. And then, ‘Who … Mia, who is that? Mia, is that your sister? What the hell—’ The words cut off sharply, as realisation dawned on each one of them.

‘Oh God, Jess,’ Mia muttered under her breath, hoping the women didn’t hear her. Thoughts of their conversation earlier that day flashed through her head, the state Jess had been in when she demanded Mia leave her alone. ‘What have you done?’

Mia, of course, knew exactly what her sister must have done, but she also knew it was entirely her fault. That afternoon when Mia had seen Miles, Harry and Janie walking down the cobbled path towards the quay, she hadn’t gone straight to the bar. Instead she drove home, anger creeping through her veins. She had wanted to get out of town, away from the view of the office – somewhere she wouldn’t have a chance of seeing that man again.

Her heart thumped hard as she crashed through the door, tossing her handbag across the kitchen. Mia stood by the table and silently slammed her fists onto it, fighting every urge to scream. Now what the hell did she do?

None of it had gone how she’d hoped. All the plans she’d been carefully laying were being thrown up in the air. First, Sarah Clifton leaving; then Laura and her doggedness; and now – how would she ever be able to walk back into the office again, knowing that Harry was working with Miles Morgan? Wondering each morning if she’d come face-to-face with him again.

‘What’s happened?’

Jess’s voice had startled Mia. She’d turned to find her sister in the doorway.

‘And don’t tell me nothing, because I can see something has.’

‘I saw him,’ Mia blurted out. ‘I saw him. Today.’

Jess opened her mouth as if to ask who her sister meant, but she didn’t say a word.

‘That man. That—’ Mia stopped briefly. ‘Miles Morgan. He was in the office today.’

Jess’s mouth widened, every muscle in her face tightening. ‘What?’ she said in disbelief.

‘He was there. With Harry Wood, discussing business – laughing with his bloody wife like they had no cares in the world.’