Page 23 of Colton First Responder (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

Family. Grayson, at age thirty-six, was the youngest of three from Payne’s first marriage to Tessa. He had an older brother, Ace—the one to whom it now appeared he might not be biologically related—and an older sister, Ainsley, plus adopted brother Rafe.

Ace was still a Colton, genetically or not.

Then there were three more siblings from his dad’s third marriage, to his stepmother, Genevieve: twins Marlowe and Callum, and Asher. In between his late mother, Tessa, and Genevieve, Payne was married to the sinister Selina Barnes Colton. Although they had been divorced for years, Selina still remained in a prominent position at Colton Oil, leading the siblings to wonder what she held over their father.

Grayson’s second phone call earlier had been with Callum.

Callum had confirmed to Grayson that Payne remained in a coma. They still didn’t know who’d shot him. And couldn’t Grayson get a little more involved with helping to figure that out, or working with the authorities more, since he knew them better and interacted with them as a first responder?

That wasn’t the first time Callum had suggested it. Or had prodded Grayson to get more involved emotionally, too—though he didn’t phrase it that way. Callum had recently uncovered the nurse who might have swapped her own newborn son with a sickly Colton baby forty years ago. That woman, Luella Smith, might be Ace’s biological mother. Callum had also fallen in love with a charming single mom, Hazel Hart, and adored her daughter, Evie.

But although Grayson was okay with the fact he was a Colton, he wasn’t really close to the family and didn’t intend to change that even now, partly for fear they would try to twist his arm to get involved with Colton Oil.

Although, close or not, he was really concerned about his father and how he was doing—and whether he would survive.

With his mind off on that tangent, Grayson had been looking more at his nearly empty paper plate than at Savannah, even though he had last mentioned her and her family.

While his family and their father’s situation might be important, they weren’t why he was here.

Or involved with what he wanted to do here.

He tore his gaze from the boring plate he’d not really noticed as his thoughts flew around. He looked up at Savannah.

She, too, appeared to be studying her empty plate. Her face was pale, her expression pensive but leaning toward sorrowful. Maybe even distraught.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She looked up at him. “Of course. It’s just that you mentioned my family. They’re a good group, my mother and brother. And yes, we have some money. B

ut my father’s gone now.”

The thought clearly, and understandably, made her sad. It was time to put this lunch behind them and do something else. Something that hopefully would be productive—in improving Savannah’s mood, if nothing else.

Better yet, they could discuss a bit of the past and hurl it into what they could do in the near future to change things drastically for the better for his lunch companion.

“Hey, Savannah,” he said. “You ready to take a walk outside? We need to take a bit of a hike to work off some of the calories from this enormous, filling lunch.”

* * *

Her family.

Ignoring the fact that it recently had included—been usurped by—that jerk Zane, Savannah briefly let her mind wander further as she stood up and cleared the table, tossing their plates into the plastic bag she was now using for trash. She also picked up the bottle of water she had been drinking from and placed it beside, though not in, the refrigerator. Why bother?

She wondered what her mother and younger brother, Randy, were thinking now. Her dad was gone, and of course she was sad about that—but he’d been a major reason she had wound up marrying Zane.

Oh, she’d had an elite upbringing, despite there being no private schools good enough around Mustang Valley for the Murphy children. Her parents, Randolph Senior and Eleanor, had imported live-in tutors to work with them while they also attended those public institutions, like the local high school, part-time, to ensure they learned everything privileged children of their ages should learn. And their mansion at the fringes of town had plenty of room for live-in help. That had been largely due to her father’s income as chief executive officer of a highly profitable manufacturing company, as well as his inheritance.

Her dad was gone now, but Savannah had not worried about her mother and brother after the earthquake. Neither would have been affected. Randy had moved to Phoenix to join a highly successful stock brokerage firm. Her mom was on an extended trip to Europe with some friends.

Savannah had lived in the family mansion until she married Zane, partying and enjoying her life, including getting involved with all the charitable events she could. She’d continued to help throw fund-raising events, which wasn’t much of a career, she realized, but she’d enjoyed it.

And she didn’t give a damn about what, if anything, was now left of the other mansion she’d lived in, her ex’s. While, apparently, he was enjoying multiple affairs.

Well, she wasn’t going to talk about any of those things as she took her walk with Grayson.

Still, she appreciated his company. And his apparent intention of helping her get through this and finding the truth so she would be exonerated. She didn’t know what she’d do with her life then, but she would definitely be out of prison.

Or so she hoped.

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