“My name?” Nick felt as if he were in an alternate universe. “What in the hell does my name have to do with anything?”

“You need to talk to your family. We might be able to get this thrown out if it’s a witch hunt,” Paul said.

Nick was silent for several minutes as he sat back and tried to fit the pieces of this puzzle together. He had no idea what was going on. He didn’t like the feeling.

“Paul, does this Reynolds man have family?” Nick didn’t want to ask the question. He was sure it was nothing more than a coincidence. It couldn’t be anything else. Even he wasn’t that unlucky.

Paul looked at his notes. He didn’t show surprise by the question. Nick must be modulating his voice well enough. That was good.

“Yes, he’s married, has one daughter, and looks like a son, but his name isn’t listed,” Paul said.

The back of Nick’s neck was tingling, and he felt a cold sweat break out on his brow. He didn’t like the feeling at all―not one little bit. He also didn’t want to ask the next question. But he knew ignorance wasn’t an escape. It might work for a short time, but it wouldn’t last forever.

“What’s the daughter’s name?” Now Paul gave him a quizzical look.

“Why?”

“Please just give me the name?” Nick said. He found his perfect little world beginning to unravel again. He didn’t like it.

“Chloe Reynolds,” Paul said.

Nick felt the color leaving his cheeks. The smile that had been on him almost permanently for the past few days might never come back again. Nick believed in things like fate. He even believed in accidents. This was just too much of a coincidence for him to ignore, though. This was bad.

There was a judge who hated him, and he had a friend pulling on his coat strings who wanted to see him go down―and that man’s daughter had been in his house for nearly a month where she could snoop through his things, spy on him, report back to the enemy. But after what had happened at the party a few days ago he especially didn’t want to believe the worst. That man had hit Chloe. But had that all been an act for him to witness? He was terrified to believe it was the case.

Nick ran through his life during the past month. There was nothing Chloe would have found that even remotely indicted him. But that wasn’t the point. He’d trusted her―had been falling for her. He’d been thinking she might just be the one he couldn’t let get away.

Was it all nothing but a lie? Nick felt worse than he had while waiting to be rescued from the tumultuous sea that had been trying so desperately to pull him under the night of the crash. He felt a pang in his chest he didn’t at all understand. He’d trusted her.

“What is going on, Nick?” Paul asked. He’d given Nick several minutes to process whatever it was he was trying to process, but the attorney was now growing restless.

“She’s my physical therapist,” Nick said quietly.

Paul didn’t often react to things, but at Nick’s words, his friend and attorney leaned back, his face a mask of shock. It was taking the man a few moments to form words. Now the man knew minutely how Nick was feeling.

“You’re sure it’s the same person?” Paul questioned.

“Yeah, I have no doubt. I knew before you said the name, I just didn’t want to admit it to myself,” Nick said.

“How involved with her are you?” Paul asked him.

Nick sighed. “We’re sleeping together―I’d say that’s pretty involved.”

Paul sighed, and then the confusion evaporated and a little gleam entered the attorney’s eyes. Nick had no idea what the man was thinking, but Nick was sure he’d want nothing to do with it.

“No,” Nick said as he sent a glare the man’s way.

“You have no idea what I’m about to say,” Paul complained.

“I don’t like the expression on your face,” Nick told him.

“Well, too damn bad. I’ve been fighting a losing battle from the moment your case came up. We finally just got the upper hand,” Paul said.

“How in the hell do you figure that?” Nick snapped.

“Because she doesn’t know that you know exactly who she is. You can get information from her. Don’t lovers have pillow talk after doing the deed?” Paul crudely asked.

“You’re disgusting,” Nick snapped.

“I’m also costing you a lot of money, so you should heed my advice.”

Nick glared at the man. “I’m not going to continue sleeping with her, so there won’t be any damn pillow talk,” Nick pointed out.

“Yeah, I have a feeling you will. Don’t tell her you know anything. Let it ride, and let’s see if the judge will incriminate himself. This could go so much farther than a charge. This might reveal corruption in the JAG offices,” Paul said, his voice a bit too excited at the prospect.

“I’m not playing this game, Paul,” Nick threatened.

“Don’t you feel a bit used?” Paul pointed out, hitting Nick right where it hurt. He wanted to throttle the attorney. Paul smiled. “This can be your chance for revenge.”

“I don’t want revenge. I want answers,” Nick thundered.

“You can get both,” Paul told him.

As pissed as Nick was, the seed was planted. And now that Paul had put the idea there, he wasn’t going to be able to push it away. His chair scraped back as he shoved away from Paul’s desk and stood. He turned to walk away.