Page 23 of Deadly Colton Search (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

Her gaze had been drawn repeatedly to the edge of town, where the large Colton Oil headquarters loomed over the landscape. That was where Ace had worked, along with the rest of the people he’d believed were his family. It was part of his life, which meant it was part of her heritage.

And it was as foreign to her as all that dry land the building sat on.

Had she made the right decision in coming?

Even as she asked herself that, Nova knew the truth. There was nothing left for her in New York. And a nomadic life driving around the country, picking up waitressing jobs, wasn’t a life for her child.

Which meant she had to figure out how to survive here.

Her talk earlier with Nikolas about her work continued to fight for space in her thoughts. Was it possible she could find styling work here, in southeastern Arizona? Would someone actually pay her for that? Yet even if they did and she attempted to build a business off a few initial jobs, the baby would be here in a couple of months. She would need to factor in taking some time off, all in the midst of trying to establish herself.

None of it was easy.

And the answers she so desperately sought seemed to hover just out of reach.

Tell Nikolas.

They’d only met that morning. Did she dare risk opening up about Ferdy? Even if she could get past her own personal embarrassment about taking up unknowingly with a criminal, exposing his crimes could put her child in a position of danger.

Do you think you can run away from me?

That had been the text that had finally done it all those months ago. The one that had convinced her she needed to stay on the run all while keeping a watchful eye. Two of them, really.

She’d spent the ensuing months staring at shadows, convinced every one held her ex-boyfriend. And so far it had worked. There was no way she could risk alerting Ferdy now.

Would Nikolas really be able to keep the knowledge of such crimes to himself? Wouldn’t he be honor bound to call the cops with her suspicions about Ferdinand Adler?

From a distance, it all seemed well worth doing and she chastised herself for not being brave. For not doing what needed to be done to get a bad man off the streets and unable to hurt others.

But she also had no idea how deep Ferdy’s influence ran. Did he have people inside the NYPD? Inside the city government? Would she put her new family at risk, not to mention the fear she already carried for the baby, if she pursued this?

It all roiled around, over and over, and she struggled to make any sense of it.

Midbite on another blueberry, her gaze caught on a small billboard on the opposite side of the parking lot. Although the town appeared focused on maintaining a quaint air and uncluttered landscape, there were local advertisements throughout town, the ads wrapped in tasteful wood frames.

A woman stared back from the image in a professional suit, looking worldly and successful. It seemed like the right match for the headline—“Be Your Best You!”—yet something was off.

Curious, Nova thought, leaning toward the window to get a closer look.

Her gaze drifted over the words and the flowing script at the bottom of the billboard.

Affirmation Alliance Group, Micheline Anderson, founder.

What was that all about?

Nova cursed the burner phone that made searching for anything about as easy as scratching her own back, so she opted for getting her information the old-fashioned way. She climbed out of the car and walked over to the young woman standing under the billboard handing out fliers. She wore a pressed suit like the woman in the ad, leaving a first impression of competence and success.

Until she spoke.

“Hello.” The woman nodded, a beatific smile filling her face. The smile didn’t stop there but continued on up, shading her eyes with a spacey sort of look that made Nova think of someone coming off a three-day bender.

Minus the bloodshot eyes.

Despite the smile that suggested inner peace and harmony, the woman looked lost.

“I’m so glad you’re here today,” the woman said, her smile still bright, her eyes still vague and unfocused.

“Well, thank you. I noticed you over here and thought I would come say hello. Stretch my legs for a bit.”

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