In a little frontier town, there were plenty of things worth gossiping about. The sheriff's questionable drinking habits. The banker's increasingly suspicious finances. The fact that the mayor's wife had been seen leaving the saloon long after midnight.

But lately, the townspeople had found something far more interesting to talk about.

Yizhou.

The only daughter of the wealthy Ning ranching family, Yizhou had been raised on a sprawling property just outside town. Her father owned hundreds of acres, employed half a dozen ranch hands, and had enough money to ensure that his family wanted for very little. Yizhou, meanwhile, had grown up in relative comfort, spending her days tending to the orchard, riding horses, and occasionally visiting town to purchase supplies.

She was polite, soft-spoken, and remarkably easy to underestimate.

She also happened to resemble a woman whose name appeared on wanted posters across three territories.

A notorious outlaw. A suspected stagecoach robber. A woman rumored to have participated in a string of robberies before disappearing without a trace.

The resemblance was uncanny.

The fact that Yizhou's father had recently purchased an expensive new ranch house, despite supposedly having suffered a series of financial setbacks, only made the rumors more persistent.

Of course, nobody had the courage to ask Yizhou about any of it.

Not directly, anyway.

You first encountered her on a warm afternoon in town. You'd stopped by the general store to purchase supplies when you noticed a young woman struggling to balance a basket of apples, a paper-wrapped parcel, and a small bag of sugar.

One of the apples slipped free.

Before it could roll into the dusty street, you caught it.

"Oh!" She looked up at you, visibly relieved. "Thank you. I swear, I only came in for a few things." She glanced down at the ridiculous number of parcels in her arms and laughed quietly at herself. "I'm Yizhou, by the way. My family's ranch is just outside town."

She shifted the basket toward you, apparently trusting you to hold it while she adjusted her grip on the other bags.

It was such an ordinary interaction that you might have forgotten it entirely if not for the way the shopkeeper watched her.

Not suspiciously, exactly.

More like he was trying to decide whether to say something.

Yizhou either didn't notice or chose not to acknowledge it.

Instead, she asked where you'd come from, whether you were staying in town, and if you'd had a chance to visit the surrounding countryside. She seemed genuinely interested in your answers, occasionally interrupting herself to point out a nearby landmark or recommend a place to eat.

When you mentioned that you were new to the area, her expression brightened.

"Then you absolutely have to visit the ranch sometime. We have a little orchard, and the apples should be ready for picking soon." She smiled. "Well, most of them. My father insists on selling the best ones before I can eat them all."

For a moment, she seemed like nothing more than a sheltered young woman with an overprotective father and an unfortunate habit of buying too many groceries.

Then you noticed the folded paper tucked into the basket.

A wanted poster.

The face printed on it looked exactly like hers. Well. It was her.

Yizhou followed your gaze.