I tried to keep my face blank as I sat down, but Clay knew me too well.

“Okay, seriously, what happened to you?”

“I got mugged,” I said. “Nothing broken, and nothing some rest and painkillers can’t handle.”

He sighed as he sat down next to me. “You know I can tell when you’re lying, right?”

“I’m not lying.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re not?”

I deflected. “Is this really the discussion we need to be having now? You said you wanted to talk to me about my dad. How…what…”

I didn’t know what question to ask even though my brain had been scrambling to think of something.

“I know,” Clay said quietly. “I know everything. I saw the file.”

The air rushed right out of my lungs. When he said he needed to talk about my dad, I’d thought that maybe he’d heard a rumor that he wanted to discuss. But this…this was more than I’d thought it would be.

“I can explain,” I said. “Anton didn’t tell you because we didn’t like talking about it.”

Clay shook his head. “That’s not it. I understand why neither of you wanted to talk about it.” He put his hand on my knee for a moment, but there was nothing sexual about it. “I’m so sorry.”

I nodded, then took a slow breath. “What do you want to know?” I didn’t want to talk about it now any more than I had before, but he knew enough that it’d be better to give him answers than let him guess.

“I’m not here for answers either.” He still looked sympathetic, but it moved to the background. He was all business now. “Your father filed an appeal.”

I felt the blood drain from my face as I shook my head. “That’s not possible. The case was airtight.”

“Because of your testimony,” Clay said. “And there wasn’t anything wrong with that. He’s claiming insufficient counsel.”

“Bullshit,” I said.

“Yeah, that’s what pretty much everyone involved in the case thinks.” He stood and went into the kitchen, coming back a few seconds later with two bottles of water. “I’d say you need alcohol for this conversation, but it’s not a good idea to mix it with whatever you’re taking for that.” He gestured at my face.

“Thanks,” I said dryly. “You sure know how to make a girl feel special.”

He sat back down next to me but put a little more space between us this time. I knew this was serious, but a part of me wanted to keep going with the easy banter the two of us had always enjoyed, even back when I was just Anton’s little sister. Once he started giving me details, I couldn’t pretend it wasn’t happening.

“The defense attorney who handled your father’s case was arrested three weeks ago on bribery charges.”

“Shit.”

Clay nodded. “Exactly.”

“All of that lawyer’s cases are getting reviewed then?” I asked. “As a precaution?”

“I wish it was that simple.” He took a drink before continuing. “Every defendant he ever worked for is filing an appeal, but not all of them will be granted a new trial. They have to prove that something happened in their case.”

“That’s what, hundreds of cases? It’ll be years before anything happens, right? And with my testimony, there’s no way he could be granted a new trial. I was there. I told everything that happened.” Panic clawed its way up my throat.

“Your dad’s case is one of the ones that was specifically involved in the investigation that busted his lawyer,” Clay said. “It was a corruption case, internal affairs looking into some cops they thought were dirty. One of them got arrested and started talking, implicating a handful of other cops – some officers and some detectives – as well as a couple other lawyers.”

“What’s the connection?” I spoke around the lump in my throat.

“One of the detectives implicated was the same one who took your witness statement back then, and the officer who gave the name was one of the first responders. Both men’s financials show payments from the defense attorney to their personal accounts around the time of your father’s trial. They both gave sworn statements that they’d been paid to make sure your father went to jail.”

“And since the bribes were for a conviction rather than an acquittal, my dad’s appealing on the grounds that his defense attorney was actually working against him.” I followed the facts to their obvious conclusion.

“Two days ago, Internal Affairs found the payments. They were verified and submitted as evidence in your father’s appeal. This morning, the judge granted him a new trial.”

Even though I’d been expecting this outcome from the moment Clay had started explaining things, it still felt like I’d gotten hit again. My chest tightened, and my lungs constricted, making it difficult to breathe. With everything that had happened today, I wasn’t sure I could take anything else, but I couldn’t show that side of myself to Clay. Not when we needed to keep some space between us.

“They’re going to need you to testify.”

I nodded, unable to speak just yet. That wasn’t a surprise either. There had been other people involved, other victims, but nothing had been more damning than his thirteen-year-old daughter sitting in the witness stand and talking about what he’d done. I’d been old enough and strong enough to stand up to the defense attorney’s questions, but young enough that it had been difficult to find a way to discredit me without getting a sympathy vote from the jury.

“I know it’s been nine years, but–”

“It’s not something you forget,” I interrupted quietly. “I remember every detail.”

He touched me now, taking my hand and holding it between his. “I wish I could tell you that you wouldn’t need to do this, but it’s out of my hands.”

“It’s all right,” I lied.

“No, it’s not.”

I managed a partial smile. “No, it’s not,” I agreed. “But I survived it then, and I’ll survive it now.”

“You had Anton then,” Clay said, squeezing my hand. “And you’ll have me this time. I already put in a formal request to be involved with making sure you’re protected and that you get where you need to go.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” I protested.

“You’re my friend,” he said simply. “And it’s what Anton would’ve wanted me to do.”

I nodded because I didn’t have it in me to argue. My choices were simple. Testify and relive that awful day, knowing that some suit was going to pick apart every single thing I said and try to make me out to be unreliable. Or option two, refuse to testify and watch as my father went free.

No way in hell was I going to let that monster out.

“I can stay for a while,” Clay said, “so you aren’t alone. No funny business, I promise.”

“Do you have a room reserved somewhere?”

“I was planning on driving back tonight.”

“No,” I said, removing my hand from his. “You’re staying on the couch.” I pointed at him. “And no arguing.”

He held up his hands in surrender, and I went to find bedding for the couch. Saying that I didn’t want him driving back tonight was true, but it also gave him an excuse to stay and keep an eye on me.

As much as it pained me to admit it, it also meant I didn’t have to be alone tonight, and we could keep pretending that things between us were the same as they were before we’d started sleeping together.

I needed that right now because things were going to get worse before they got better.