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had spent their entire relationship bemoaning Lindsey’s singular focus. Work always came first—a mantra Elaina had resented from day one.
    Maybe she’d changed, and maybe working together on a human interest piece devoid of controversy was the perfect way to mend fences.

C HAPTER T HREE
    Dale drove her truck up the long, rocky drive to the Circle Six ranch, rehearsing how to break the news to Peyton Davis that her brother had turned up under more than a little suspicious circumstances. When she reached the main house, she saw Peyton standing on the porch with a scowl on her face. She climbed out of the truck and called out as she walked toward the house. “Sorry to just drop by. Is this a bad time?”
    Peyton shook her head. “It’s fine. I heard you driving up, but I was hoping it was Lily. She was supposed to be home a couple of hours ago.”
    Dale heard a slight edge of panic in Peyton’s normally calm voice, and she couldn’t help but flash back to the memory of Maria’s death she’d relived earlier that day. “Where is she?”
    “She left just before lunch to go out to Valencia Acres. She and Sophia haven’t had a chance to visit in person since last week.”
    “I guess they have a lot to talk about,” Dale said. Lily, Peyton’s girlfriend, had met her birth mother, Sophia Valencia, who she’d been told her entire life was dead, for the first time the week before. Unfortunately, their meeting had been marred when she’d learned that Sophia’s brothers, her uncles, were the notorious Sergio and Arturo Vargas, co-heads of the Zeta Cartel and at the very top of the most wanted list being hunted by Peyton’s federal task force.
    Dale was well aware that the fact that Sergio was still on the run had Peyton worried about Lily’s safety. She didn’t blame her. Sergio and his brother were responsible for dozens of gruesome murders and, although she’d never been able to prove it, she suspected they were at least tangentially responsible for Maria’s death.
    As for Lily, she wouldn’t be safe until both of her uncles were in custody. She’d personally debriefed Lily after a shootout at Sophia’s ranch that culminated in Arturo’s arrest. Before he was taken into custody, Arturo had taunted Sophia about the circumstances that led her to spend most of her life having no contact with her daughter. When Lily was only days old, Sergio and Arturo had taken Lily from her mother and handed her over to Cyrus Gantry, Lily’s natural father. In return for the privilege, Cyrus had spent his life beholden to the criminal element, while lying to his only child about her parentage, insisting she had been adopted after her mother died in childbirth, a lie that once found out, would drive Lily to distrust his every word. Cyrus’s troubles were compounded by the fact that Peyton, the woman Lily loved, was investigating him for money laundering.
    Despite her own sense of foreboding, Dale searched for something encouraging to say. While she was thinking, Peyton’s mother, Helen Davis, appeared in the doorway, her expression drawn with worry.
    “Is she home?” Helen asked.
    Peyton shook her head. “No, but I hear someone else coming up the drive. If it’s not her, I’m going to head out.”
    “Maybe they just lost track of time,” Dale offered. She flicked a glance at Helen, and Peyton introduced them. “Mom, this is Dale Nelson, the lead agent on the task force.”
    Helen shook Dale’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Dale. Any chance you could help Peyton here keep a cool head? She’s been pacing the porch for the last hour.”
    Peyton shook her head. “I should’ve gone with her.”
    The sound of the car engine was closer, and Dale raised a hand to shield against the sunlight, but she could only make out that the vehicle was big. While the three of them stood still, watching and hoping for the best, Dale listened as Helen offered words of advice to her daughter.
    “The girl needed to be with her mother