She’d turned the center’s motto—“Be Your Best You!”—into a rallying cry for all that was wrong and depraved about the world today and people ate it up. She’d even managed to snag a few B-list celebrities along the way, their ringing endorsements for the AAG skyrocketing her website traffic and the subsequent donations that poured in.
It had all been so easy.
Until it wasn’t.
Oh, sure, people were still willing to listen to someone who puffed them up and made them feel good. It was the day she finally realized that little tidbit that she’d been able to unlock the real secret to her success.
She’d spent so many years as a nurse, taking care of other people and cleaning up after them, living a life of drudgery. A noble calling, her mother had told her, when she’d pushed her into the profession at eighteen, determined her daughter would follow in her footsteps.
Noble?
From her youngest days, Micheline had always believed she was destined for so much more, but it had been hard to remember that while cleaning up bedpans and mopping up a floor someone had thrown up on. It was only when she had her son that she’d seen an opportunity that she could seize, in the wee hours of the morning at the hospital.
All because she’d had the courage to switch her own baby with another one born on the same night. That choice had changed her life.
And ensured her child would be a Colton.
She’d bided her time, knowing the choice would pay off some day.
And now that day was here.
Forty years later, that secret was trying to resurface once again. The email to Colton Oil all those months ago had been her brainchild. And it was the start of something so much bigger.
First, cast doubt.
Second, use that doubt to create chaos.
Third...
Well, she was in the process of implementing the third pillar now. Because once you created chaos, there really wasn’t anything to do except sit back and watch everything burn.
Chapter 5
Nova picked at the fresh fruit cup Nikolas had snuck into her take-home bag and considered her options. The clever man had both managed to bargain her into staying at his place for the night all while getting antioxidants into her by the shovelful.
And she was too tired and hungry to argue with him.
A fact she resented as she popped another blueberry into her mouth, the kind words of the last diner manager she’d met with still ringing in her ears.
I’m sorry I can’t help you. The rush is over and I’m full up on waitresses. I’m happy to give you a shot if I need subs, but right now I can’t offer you full-time work.
She’d kept her tone grateful and her attitude respectful, even as the urge to plop onto a stool and bawl her eyes out reared its head.
What else was she going to do? The manager at the diner had been incredibly nice, but Nova figured the woman was a by-the-book stickler. Which meant employment paperwork and a social security number.
Which meant going back on the grid.
Something she knew she had to do eventually. The money and tips she’d picked up on her drive out west had all been managed around places she wouldn’t stay long and where minimal questions were asked. But Mustang Valley didn’t offer the under-the-table lifestyle she so desperately wanted to maintain.
Tell Nikolas.
That voice nagged at Nova, over and over, only growing strong after an afternoon spent wandering around Mustang Valley. Although the time hadn’t paid professional dividends, she considered it a few hours well spent as she was absolutely captivated by the town, which managed to be both quaint and cutting-edge, all at the same time. The Mustang Valley Mountains that gave the town its name seemed like a protective fortress around the perimeter of the city.
She hadn’t known what to expect coming here, the majority of her life having been dominated by skyscrapers and concrete, but Nova was finding it increasingly easy to appreciate the arid land that stretched out everywhere she looked.
When she wasn’t looking at that distant horizon where mountains met the desert floor, she was taking in a different sight. One that offered a prominent reminder of why she’d come.
Colton Oil.