Marie Ferrarella - Colton Undercover

Playing the part of a benevolent pillar of the community, Livia built the town she had adopted a much-needed hospital, funded most of their 4-H program, allowed other ranchers to use her water supply without charge and threw legendary parties. Shadow Creek’s society worshipfully revolved around her. No one questioned where her rather fabulous wealth came from, especially not those who benefited from it.

But eventually, the law, steadily collecting evidence against her over the years, managed to bring charges against Livia. Ten years ago the onetime queen of Shadow Creek was convicted of numerous charges, including murder. She had just barely avoided the death penalty—bribing the judge no doubt, Josh thought—and was sentenced to serve five life sentences in Red Peak Maximum Security Prison in Gatesville, Texas. Her neighbors all turned their backs on her, her vast fortune was confiscated and her six children were left to fend for themselves the best way that they could.

It sounded, Josh thought, like a perfect ending, with justice being served—except that, maximum security prison or not, Livia had managed to escape two weeks ago. The first thought that occurred to him was that one of her children must have been instrumental in bringing about her escape and was currently helping and sheltering her.

But which one?

He’d looked into all their backgrounds.

Josh spread out the six assorted photographs, some candid, some professional, of Livia’s children.

They were nothing if not an eclectic bunch, he thought. They only had one thing in common—well, two, if he counted that they all had the same mother—or at least that was what the birth certificates said. Claudia, her second youngest, had been born while she was traveling in Europe and there was only Livia’s word that she’d given birth to the girl.

Each of her children was good-looking in his or her own way. It was always harder confronting attractive people and getting them to confess, Josh mused. Somehow, they thought that their looks would help shield them from the dire consequences of their actions: in essence, their “get-out-of-jail-for-free” cards.

But he intended to confront them, because one—if not more—of them was responsible for Livia’s escape.

Finding out who it was, how they had engineered it and where they—and Livia—currently were was the job he’d been assigned by the Bureau. And it was why he had his “go bag” stashed in the trunk of his silver sedan. He was leaving for Shadow Creek.

Apparently all the siblings, except for River, Livia’s third born, were finding their way home after having scattered once Livia’s trial was over.

Of the six, his gut was pointing him toward Leonor Colton. Out of all of Livia’s children, Leonor was the only one who visited Livia while she was in prison. He knew that Leonor certainly had the money to finance her mother’s escape. He’d just conducted a check on her accounts and saw that there had been a large withdrawal made a few months ago.

Was that money used to bribe guards to look the other way?

And there was more. Leonor had just recently returned “home” to Shadow Creek and Josh had to wonder why. Was it to reconnect with her roots, or just with her mother? Granted, by all accounts, Livia Colton made Joan Crawford come across like Mother of the Year in comparison, but desperate times meant desperate measures and if the woman was to turn to any of her six children, it would be Leonor.

Livia had already been sighted once in these last two weeks, around the time when the man who had kidnapped her grandson, Cody, was killed. Josh had a strong feeling that the woman had been involved and was responsible, at least indirectly, for the man’s death.

That meant that she was somewhere in the state. Maybe even close by.

Working on this assumption, Josh got ready to go.

“Next stop,” he murmured under his breath, his voice echoing about the empty office, “Shadow Creek. Hopefully to slap the cuffs on you, Livia—and whoever it is that’s been helping you. Playtime,” he informed the woman’s photograph just before closing the file and putting it into his folder, “is over. It’s time for you to pay the piper.”

Smiling grimly, Josh left the office.

Chapter 1

Thanks to the special trust fund her late father had set up for her, unlike many people her age, thirty-one-year-old Leonor Colton didn’t need to work. She wanted to work. Wanted to put her art degree to use and do something that made her feel as if she was contributing in some small way to society. That was why she had initially taken that unpaid internship at the Austin Art Museum. While others might have floated along, especially since they weren’t getting paid, Leonor worked exceptionally hard. She put in long hours, coming in early and staying late, long after the museum had been closed to the public.

All this hard work managed to impress Adam Sheffield, the director who was in charge of the museum, so much so that once her internship was over, he offered her the job of assistant curator. She took it gladly and worked her way up to her current position of curator.

For a while, Leonor thought, looking back now, things had seemed as if they were going quite well for her. Better than well. She had managed to hold her head high, despite the devastating scandal that had all but ripped her family apart. Because of her mother’s arrest and subsequent conviction—something that neither she nor any of her siblings saw coming—they had gone from being at the pinnacle of Shadow Creek’s community to being objects of everyone else’s contempt.

Leonor had risen above the gossip and mean-spirited talk, ignoring it and going on with her life. She’d gotten her education—a degree in the arts—and a job she loved in her chosen field. Even her love life had taken a much-needed turn for the better.

Or so she had thought.

Up until that point, the redheaded, green-eyed Leonor had only dated sporadically and she had never had a serious relationship—possibly because of the love ’em and leave ’em example that her mother had set for all of them.

And then David Marshall had come along.

Handsome, charming and oh-so-smooth, David had completely swept her off her feet in what amounted to record time. Looking back, Leonor couldn’t believe how quickly she’d surrendered to him, taking down her barriers and opening up her heart. She must have been crazy. But from the bottom of that isolated heart, she had honestly believed that David Marshall was the man she was meant to marry.

Desperately needing to have someone to talk to and trust, in a short amount of time Leonor had completely opened herself up to him and told David not just who she was, but also made him privy to all of her family’s numerous and heretofore well-kept secrets.

It felt so wonderful to finally open up to someone, to have someone she could really talk to without being afraid of any sort of censorship or being looked down upon judgmentally.

She should have been afraid, Leonor thought ruefully now. Considering everything she had been through with her mother’s arrest, she should have been leery, not trusting.

Water under the bridge, she thought regretfully.

A few months ago, after things seemed to be going so well, she woke up one morning to find that David was not only gone from her bed, but gone, it soon became apparent, from her life, as well. And not long after that she found out that he had not only stolen her heart, but he’d taken a very large chunk of her money with him as well. No note, no explanation, not even an argument to serve as a foreshadowing of things to come.

He had just vanished without any warning.

It wasn’t the money she missed. Because of the way the trust fund had been set up, there was more than enough money left, money that David hadn’t been able to get his hands on. But she wasn’t angry about that. She was angry, hurt and confused because he had left her for no good reason.