“I guess my mother has become my personal boogeyman,” Jade said. “I don’t want to see her or talk to her, and sometimes I think I’m crazy believing she’s coming for me.”
Since Livia had been in Shadow Creek recently, it wasn’t crazy. She had reached out to each of her children and not in ways that were pleasant and warm, nothing about a mother wanting to reconnect with her children. She was looking to settle some scores.
Jade took another bite of cake. “I want to protect myself and my siblings from any further interaction with her, but I don’t know how. Mother always did what she wanted. Heeding someone else’s words wasn’t one of her abilities.”
Declan had spent far too many hours thinking about Livia Colton and trying to understand her. The ultimate narcissist, sociopath and driven solely by her own needs, she defied understanding. Prison hadn’t changed Livia or made her see the error of her ways. From what Declan could tell, she was the same self-serving, hateful woman she’d been all her life.
Livia had been thought to be in Mexico, but she’d been spotted in Shadow Creek and murdered a man. Then she’d killed a man in Dallas who’d threatened Jade’s half sister Leonor. Livia had been spotted in Florida and was using old allies, look-alikes, prison guards, a judge and a Texas senator, to keep the authorities guessing as to her whereabouts. As quick as the authorities arrested and shut down her accomplices, the more people she found to help her.
“If you’re worried about your mother, I could check in on you.” If the expression on Jade’s face was any indication, she was as surprised by the offer as he was. His motives were a blend of wanting to find Livia and bring her to justice and wanting to see Jade again. When it came to women, he wasn’t usually this impulsive.
Jade stumbled over her words and then cleared her throat. “If you’d like to come by the farm, you are welcome anytime. I’d love to show you what I’m doing with my horses, and it would be great to have another person looking out for me. My family is worried about each other, but they have their lives and I’m here alone a lot. It’s a big place and I’m one small person.”
Declan didn’t like those odds. Being alone on the farm left her open to an attack by Livia or one of her henchmen. Though the authorities were disassembling the crime ring Livia had worked for over the years, they had not rooted out every person who’d been involved with Livia or who felt loyal to her. Livia was the queen of manipulation. Nothing else explained how, even after all she’d done and the hundreds of people she had ruthlessly hurt, anyone would carry their loyalty to her. Human and drug trafficking, smuggling and money laundering were among her convicted crimes.
Declan had loyalty to no one except Edith. Livia Colton had torn his family apart and he had sworn no one would get the better of him the way Livia had with his father.
Yet here he was, sitting in the dark with Jade Colton, Livia’s flesh and blood, and thinking about how he wanted to protect her.
Jade hadn’t had a crush on a man in months. She’d been too busy.
Too busy working on Hill Country. Taking pride in every inch of her land, she spent hours weeding, working the soil, maintaining her stables and barn, and caring for her animals.
That left little time for herself. Her personal life was the occasional outing with her half siblings, but even those had dwindled as each of them had found romantic relationships. Teenage sweethearts Knox and Allison Rafferty had been reunited and with their son, Cody, they were the sweetest family. Joshua Howard and Leonor had gotten together. Thorne and Maggie Lowell were married and had a baby on the way. Claudia and Hawk Huntley were crazy about each other. Of course River and Edith were the latest to fall in love. Even Mac and one of Claudia’s new employees, Evelyn, seemed to have started dating in a very adorable, old-fashioned courtship. But Jade? Her last relationship had ended in a crappy breakup. Had it been important to her, Jade would have made time for socializing.
But she hadn’t and she was booked solid seven days a week. While her work was a joy, it was a constant in her life and there were times she wished she could sleep in or stay up late to watch a movie without regretting it the next day. Some nights, she barely made it through dinner before she collapsed into her bed and fell asleep. After working every day for years, she hadn’t thought of taking a break until recently. Very recently. Like when she had spoken with the charming and charismatic Declan Sinclair and she’d started to wonder what it would be like to go on a date. On a date with him, specifically. What it would be like to have a weekend away from work, the two of them taking off in her car on a road trip to somewhere quiet and relaxing.
She was getting way, way ahead of herself. Declan had mentioned he would stop by the farm to check on her, but that could mean anything and it certainly wasn’t a promise. His words weren’t the reason she had spent an extra few minutes that morning getting ready for work, ensuring her jeans were clean and her boots polished, her hair brushed neatly into a braid. She had stopped shy of putting on makeup, which would melt off in minutes under the sun.
Plenty of reasons to avoid Declan. River’s half brother. River had issues, like all of Jade’s siblings. Some of those problems were related to Livia, others of their own making. But his biological ties to Declan and their ongoing effort to form some type of relationship were awkward. He was Edith’s boss. Edith would be her sister-in-law and if Jade was dating Declan, that could put her in the middle of something. But evaluating the complexities wasn’t enough to put her off from the idea.
Nothing in Jade’s life flowed easily. By virtue of the fact that she was Livia Colton’s daughter, she was destined to struggle at every turn. The fear of Livia returning and hurting her or her horses or even outright killing her was her constant companion. Meeting new people was dicey; Jade didn’t know if they would make the connection to her mother and what they would say or do if they did.
As she was walking across the training circle toward the stables, a terrible memory speared into her brain. Jade standing behind the split rail fence, watching her father, Fabrizio, train one of his horses. Livia stormed toward him, her fists balled, already yelling. Her mother always seemed to be yelling. At Fabrizio. At her. At Claudia. At the housekeeper. At the chef.
Fabrizio turned toward Livia, calm and cool. He was the only person who didn’t seem to get visibly upset when Livia threw a tantrum.
Jade couldn’t recall what they were saying or why Livia had been shouting. Jade’s hands hurt and she scrunched behind the post, trying to hide and turning her face away. After more shouting and several loud noises, curiosity got the best of her and she peeked around the fence. Her father suddenly lying on the ground, tan dust blowing around his unmoving body. His horse, his most favorite horse, pranced nervously near him.
Livia had raised her fists and lowered them on her father’s head. Again. And again.
Jade hid behind that post and squeezed her eyes shut and cupped her hands over her ears. The ambulance had come. Livia had screamed and wailed in grief. A police officer had found Jade. He had taken her to the EMT.
The police had questioned her while Livia watched with her eyes narrowed.
Jade had lied. She had said she hadn’t seen anything. She had come running when she heard the ambulances. She didn’t know what had happened. She wanted to know how her father was.
Livia had been the one to tell her that her father was dead, kicked to death by his beloved horse. Then her mother had embraced her and Jade had wanted to kick her. But even at the young age of seven, she had recognized that Livia was not to be trifled with. Jade kept her mouth shut about what she had seen.
When