“I’ll amend our discovery answers to provide the witnesses to opposing counsel,” I say, and then hold my breath to see what they’ll do.
This is a bad legal tactic, but one I’m hoping I can get away with. At the very least, I can give Leary a heads-up, and perhaps she can find something on these witnesses to discredit them. In revealing this, I’m doing something highly unethical. I’ve got the ability to destroy Leary’s case, and maybe her in the process, but I just can’t find it within me to care that I might be crossing a line. I’m determined to help her in any way I can, although she’ll probably never know of my efforts.
“No.” Harry Bent finally pipes into the conversation. He’s the most brilliant of the partners sitting around this table, and I’m not surprised that he’s the one who’s going to ruin my plans of helping Leary. “Don’t disclose the witnesses. Call them as surprise witnesses after Jenna LaPietra testifies.”
This sucks and is what I was afraid was going to happen.
Ordinarily, I’m required to identify all my potential witnesses to Leary. The exception is a witness who’s called in to rebut the other side’s evidence. This can be sprung as a surprise.
Harry is commanding me to ask Jenna point-blank on the stand if she engaged in illegal acts of prostitution. She, of course, will deny it. Then I will parade these three witnesses in front of her and Leary, who will watch while they sit on the stand and call Jenna a whore. The judge is going to let me do it, too.
I feel sick to my stomach, but I nod in agreement. “Sounds good,” I mutter.
“This is fantastic,” Lacy chortles over the possibility of humiliating a nice woman. “And this is so good, you need to recommend to the insurance carrier that they don’t offer a fucking dime to that woman. This needs to go all the way.”
She’s right, of course, because honestly, this evidence is so good they shouldn’t offer money. This evidence is so good that it could completely prejudice the jury.
I have no clue if Jenna LaPietra prostituted herself, but frankly, I don’t give a shit. Personally, I think it’s irrelevant, and I can see how a desperate mother would do something like that. Unfortunately, though, my feelings don’t seem to matter, and I’ve been given a direct order to exploit this evidence to our favor.
I want to vomit.
“I think I’ll sit second chair on this case with you, Reeve,” Gill says, almost cackling in glee. “A case this big should have two attorneys on it, and that way we can bill double.”
Asshole. Greedy fucking asshole.
A weariness overtakes me. For the first time since meeting Leary, I actually regret said meeting. I regret getting involved with someone that was supposed to only be a casual fuck, and because she’s so amazing, I now have feelings involved. I regret being the biggest idiot on the face of the earth for not recognizing that it’s impossible to be in bed with your enemy and not understand that someone is going to get hurt.
Unfortunately, Leary is under my skin now. She’s in my blood. While the appropriate thing would be to cut things off with her, I find myself too selfish to do so. Nope. I’m going to ride the Leary train all the way into the station, until I call those witnesses into court and destroy everything we’re starting to build.
“Let me get this straight—you’re fucking your opposing counsel?” Cal asks.
I have no clue why he’s stunned. He knows I’m no angel. He knows that would never stop me.
“Yes,” I grit out.
“And you have feelings for her?” he asks, stunned again.
I understand the disbelief. I’ve made it this far without a single long-term relationship. The fact I’ve been seeing Leary for three weeks has him perplexed.
“Yes,” I say in a softer tone, because I most definitely have feelings for this woman.
“You are fucked,” Cal says sympathetically.
I told him the entire sordid story, starting with meeting Leary in the elevator. I had to wait while Cal laughed hysterically, proclaiming that Leary might be his favorite person ever, even though he’d never met her.
When he finally stopped laughing, I told him the rest. I told him every bit of it and how in just the last several weeks, I’ve gone from fuck buddy to having feelings.
This he did not laugh about, because he knows this is serious stuff. The reason I called Cal is not just because he’s my best friend, but because he’s a true monogamous romantic at heart. He’s the type of guy who always dreamed of a fifty-year marriage with adoring children and grandchildren. While I’ve seen him have his share of flings and one-night stands, the truth is that Cal has always been looking for The One.
He found her, too, not that long ago, and I expect to be attending Cal and Macy’s wedding in New York before too much longer.
“I guess I don’t understand the big deal,” Cal says thoughtfully. “She loses the case. So what? That happens.”
“Apparently not to her,” I mutter. “But that’s not the problem. The problem is that she’s tied to this case emotionally. She has some personal connection to the plaintiff. It’s going to destroy her if she loses.”
“What’s the connection?” Cal asks curiously.
“No clue,” I admit with frustration.
He’s silent a minute, then he gently says, “Reeve, how much do you even know about this woman?”
I understand what he’s saying. How bothered can I be when I don’t even know what the true stake is to Leary? I don’t know this because she hasn’t opened up to me. He’s saying that maybe I’m still in fuck buddy–dom and don’t realize it.
Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly. “I know enough about her to know I want to know more.”
“Got it,” Cal says in immediate understanding, then hesitantly, “If she’s that important, maybe you should tell her what you know.”
I shake my head and rub the bridge of my nose, because he has managed to zero in on the source of my anxiety. “I could lose my bar license if I did that,” I tell him, which he already knows. “And honestly . . . she’s not that important.”
It hurts me to say that, but it’s true. I like her . . . a lot. But not enough to ruin my career.
“Understood,” Cal says. “Then maybe you should break it off.”
Yeah, that’s not going to happen, either. I’m too addicted to her right now. I’d sooner cut off my right arm. “I’m not willing to do that, either.”
“Then you are well and truly fucked, my friend,” Cal says sadly.
“Don’t I know it,” I agree.
So, Cal ultimately doesn’t provide any insight that helps, but more or less validates the conclusion to which I had already come. I’m going to keep this information to myself, for the sanctity of my law license. I’m going to let this play out and see how things continue to develop with Leary and me. And if our feelings continue to grow stronger, I have to hope to God that Leary won’t hold it against me when I destroy her case.
CHAPTER 13
LEARY
“I’m not sure how it’s possible,” Reeve says as he stares at me across my kitchen table, dinner having been fan-freaking-tastic. “But you actually get more beautiful every time I see you.”