“So you let go of your dream to be a lawyer and had to scramble to settle all of that, Harley?” Philip asked gently.

I bit my lip and nodded.

“Percy advised me to head west, where all of the downstream ripples of his trial and everything about what had happened with Dad would most likely be less known. So I followed his advice after I’d managed to settle everything,” I continued, after taking another sip of water. “Our family name was free and clear, but I was literally down and out. Eventually, I found myself in Vegas, with very little money left.”

Matt stood up again and pulled a nearby stool closer. He smiled and squeezed my forearm, and said, with something like pride in his eyes, “And look at you now. The sharpest legal mind I know. Beautiful, poised, polished, respected, feared, even. I pulled myself up from the bootstraps, too, Harley. But my story’s for another time.”

“I just wanted to tell you now that I knew from the moment that I met you that you were very special…”

I interrupted him, and said quietly, “But my ending up down and out in Vegas is the point where things become more complicated …”

Philip shook his head and gave me a fresh glass of water. “What Matt’s saying is true, Harley. Your story is remarkable. I only knew you as one of Annie’s friends when you and Annie were growing up, but when you started working in the firm, impressing the heck out of everyone, and showed how passionate you were about the law, and how committed you were to your clients, I knew then that I had a kindred spirit in you. It was hard not to favor you over the others … for me and for the other partners.”

I blew a breath out shakily, “Your support … both of you … makes the rest of what I have to say even more difficult to share now.”

They sat back, each crossing their arms across their chests, funnily enough. They were open to what I had to say, their body language told me.

“I did some financial analysis for someone who turned out to be the owner of a very exclusive, high class escort service,” I started to share again. “She paid me well for that, and then asked me if I wanted to work for her full-time, as an adviser of sorts.”