Colton Undercover. Marie Ferrarella

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       Prologue

      “You, lady, are a real piece of work.”

      At the moment, there was no one else in the FBI field office in San Antonio, Texas with Special Agent Joshua Howard. His words were addressed to the photograph of Livia Colton he had pulled from the file on his desk. A file he had gone over and reviewed countless times in the last few days.

      Livia, or rather, her untimely escape from prison, was the reason he was about to temporarily relocate to Shadow Creek, a place unofficially known as “the town that Livia built,” and with good reason.

      Josh shook his head as by now all too familiar details danced before his brown eyes. The life of the attractive, blond-haired, fifty-two-year-old illegitimate product of a one-night stand between one of the wealthier Coltons and a drug-addicted prostitute read like something out of a Hollywood movie, right down to the part where, by all indications, Livia’s once-unchecked sociopathic behavior rivaled that of a classic “bad seed.”

      While behaving lovingly toward her easily manipulated father, Livia was ruthless toward her half siblings. Rumor had it that, by his own admission, Livia was the only person whom Matthew Colton, her convicted serial killer half brother, truly feared. In Josh’s book, that was saying a great deal.

      Marrying and discarding husbands as if they were used tissues, Livia amassed a considerable fortune and six children along the way, all presumably with different fathers. Resorting to her natural cunning, she managed to quadruple her fortune through organized crime. She’d trafficked in drugs, women and whatever else might have been profitable at the moment.

      Her children, she barely tolerated unless there was a photographer within the vicinity to immortalize her with them. She had been a great one for photo ops. There had been one offspring, her oldest daughter, Leonor, whom people said she disliked less than the rest.

      Not exactly a glowing testimony, Josh thought.

      The living definition of a wild child Livia Colton had finally given, before her downfall, at least outwardly, all the signs of wanting to settle down. She’d gotten married again, this time to an Argentine horse breeder who it was said treated her children far better than she did. She had had her last child, Jade, with him.

      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.

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