Page 108 of Moonlit Colorado

“Ayla talked me through it. She said there are fake pictures of her online. People use AI and Photoshop and who knows what to make this stuff look real. I still needed to hear it from you, though.”

“Then let me make it crystal clear. I have never met Nina in person. If I had, I would’ve told you.”

“But who would do this?”

Someone who wanted to hurt Grace. And through her, hurtme.

Not only that. It was a threat. A message that they could get to Grace at any time, and that made my blood run ice cold. I wanted to seriously fuck up whoever was responsible.

But I was a lot more concerned about how Grace was feeling right now. “We’ll find out. Are you okay?”

“Kind of. Not really.” She tucked her head between my shoulder and neck.

Of course she wasn’t. Those photos had played havoc with her trust issues. “What do you need?”

“Just to be with you. I knew you wouldn’t lie to me.”

Guilt ate at my insides. Because therewassomething I’d kept from her. I couldn’t go another minute without giving her the truth.

“I wouldn’t lie. But…” I cleared my throat. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Her head lifted, worry on her pretty features.

“I asked Warren, my investigator, to track down your brother. Grayden.”

THIRTY-ONE

Grace

I had beenon an emotional roller coaster today. And Dane was throwing me for yet another loop. “Your investigator was looking for Grayden?”

“Found him, to be exact. Warren gave me your brother’s contact info today. I wanted to see if we could find him, just in case you decided you’d like to get back in touch with him. Since you mentioned it to me in Silver Ridge. But I got ahead of myself. I should have cleared it with you beforehand, and for that I’m sorry.”

I was still stuck on the first part. My brain was having trouble processing it. “You found Grayden. Is he okay?”

Dane shifted to take his wallet from his back pocket. He unfolded a paper from inside and handed it to me. I pored over the words. There wasn’t much. Two addresses, both in Seattle.

Grayden lived inSeattle.

A tear streaked down my cheek. “But he’s okay,” I repeated.

I hadn’t seen or heard from Grayden in a decade. Over ten years. I’d been a teenager back then, still a kid. I’d wondered if he was dead. But he wasn’t.

He was in Seattle, and I couldn’t get my head around it.

“Grayden has no idea we were looking for him,” Dane said. “We haven’t made contact with him. But yes, it does sound like he’s okay. Warren didn’t find anything to the contrary. Your brother is single, no kids.” Dane brushed away my tears with his thumb. “Are you angry with me? You have every right to be.”

“If I was angry, I’d tell you.” I shook my head. “I’m feeling a lot of things. Too much. But not angry with you.”

No. I just needed a minute to breathe.

This afternoon had been rough. The sheer terror of thinking I had been wrong about Dane. That had been like looking over the side of a cliff and feeling myself start to lose my footing.Awful.

Ayla had helped. She’d brought me back to reality. In a literal sense, because she had pointed out the subtle flaws in those pictures that pegged them as fake. Unfortunately, it was something she was experienced with.

But in the end, it wasn’t Ayla who had convinced me. It was remembering something Piper had texted to me a couple of weeks back.

Trust yourself.

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