‘’Do it and let me know.’’ He waves him away with the ease of command, and even though all of the suits move, Joanne stays rooted firmly to the spot like an unwanted bad smell as he finally steadily brings his eyes back to me and scowls. Everything inside me dies with that look, and now I know that it meant nothing and that I mean nothing to him. The last flickering ounces of hope die a death and fall by the wayside as my heart plummets into darkness.

It was sex, a manoeuvre to ...