“Wait. What did you say?” My chest suddenly constricts, and I sit up a little straighter.

“The bar part? He owns one. I’m looking up what it’s called. Give me one sec because I don’t want to get it wrong—”

“FU-Bar,” I whisper more to myself than to him.

“Yes. That’s it. Why didn’t you tell me you found him?”

“I didn’t. I don’t think. His nickname. What’s his nickname, Kell?” At the same time, Kelly’s email finishes downloading. I’m met with a picture of Gunner looking back at me. He’s a little younger, dressed in desert camo, with a grin on his face and dog tags around his neck.

Jesus Christ.

I stare, blinking over and over as if doing that is going to make any sense of my current reality. As if Gunner isn’t Ryan and Ryan isn’t Gunner. As if everything that has happened during the past week just shifted and tilted, when it’s the last thing I wanted it to do.

“Chase? You okay?”

“Yeah. Yes. Sorry. I was just reading your email.” I refocus on it now, but don’t really see anything. The words are a blur.

“He seems like a helluva guy. Make sure to tell him thank you for his service for me when you talk to him.”

“I will.” I stare at the picture again. “Thanks, Kelly.”

The call ends. My phone drops to the bed beside me. And all I can do is stare at that image of a young Gunner and die a little.

How is this possible?

How have I been so busy enjoying the man I found that the possibility didn’t cross my mind?

I’m mad. Furious. Because this screws everything up. Everything.

We both think the other person is someone else. Correction, I thought he was someone else, but now know he’s the man I’ve been looking for. He still thinks I’m someone else—or that I do something else. What’s he going to think when he not only finds out I’m a sports agent, but one who came here to let him know he was, in fact, recruitable before? The one who was coming here with thoughts of exploiting his veteran status for the benefit of my company?

Deception.

Isn’t that what he said is a deal-breaker for him?

Isn’t that what I’ve done? Deceived him?

My head spins as I walk to the other side of the room and pull the tattered envelope from my bag. I run my fingers over the handwriting and wonder who the twenty-year-old was before he became the man I know today.

Coach Bassett said he was arrogant and wild and yet the person I know is the complete opposite.

How is this possible?

How did this happen?

Dear KSM,