Those eight years now felt like they weren’t part of her life at all, but as if they belonged to someone else. Even the woman who lived in the flat above her – who kept her awake at night, shouting at her boyfriend – even that felt like it had never happened. Those years had held freedom, the promise of excitement, the ability to walk in and out of the shared front door of the flats without having to feel guilt and anger and disappointment.

The job at Morris & Wood gave Mia a flicker of opportunity – the chance to take back some control again. Once she got it, she knew she had to keep it.

She wished she felt more confident about what she was about to present to the Coopers team. The contents of her stomach were doing a merry dance, but she knew once she started talking she would be all right. Or she would have been, if Laura hadn’t joined them. Now all Mia could feel was Laura’s intent stare, waiting for her to cock up. She knew Laura Denning was here for a fight, and that made Mia feel the pressure even more.

The reason Laura had bypassed Human Resources, when recruiting for her cover, had later become so obvious to Mia. This was a woman who wanted to control, and her return was always going to pose a threat. Mia often wondered what Laura was like out of the office. When you stripped away her hard shell, who was she underneath?

Harry Wood, on the other hand, was as transparent as anyone could be. On the surface he ran his company well, but he wavered over the intricate issues, always deflecting to being one of the boys, careful not to upset the apple cart. He’d been so pliable when Coopers requested that Mia stay on, so ready to relent – an interesting weakness for a CEO.

His wife intrigued Mia. Janie Wood was an enigma. Whenever she came into the office she was always in a rush, avoiding anyone else who might love the chance to talk to her. Mia wondered what a clever, good-looking woman like Janie was doing with a man like Harry. Because strip away his looks and his money, and there really wasn’t much else to him.

Mia had read about the Woods in a local magazine after she’d come back to Lymington. Janie, who had once been a successful barrister, now stood by an Aga in her bespoke kitchen, speaking about her husband’s success and the wonderful things he did for the local community. Yet there was something about her that had made Mia wonder if Janie was really the type of woman to be sucked in by wealth and her husband’s power.