Colton 911: Secret Defender
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Marie Ferrarella
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Prologue
If it wasn’t for the excruciating pain shooting up and down her leg to the point that her eyes were filling with tears, Nicole Colton would have been utterly furious with herself.
Of all the stupid things she had done in her life—and there had been a number of them over the last fifty-eight years—this definitely took the cake.
She felt like the pathetic embodiment of that awful commercial she had always felt was created for no other reason than to embarrass and humiliate older people—she steadfastly refused to use the term “senior citizen”—and make them feel clumsy and utterly inept. The fact that she was here, sprawled out on the floor after inadvertently taking a slip because of a wet spot, was exceedingly aggravating.
Especially since she found that she was unable to pop right back up the way she usually did. The pain was just too agonizing.
The cutting words “I’ve fallen and can’t get up” kept echoing through Nicole’s head even as she literally dragged herself across the living room floor until she could grasp the side of the sofa. She tried to pull herself up but failed. All but completely drenched in sweat from her effort, Nicole paused, panting hard and trying to regroup as she desperately searched for a second wave of strength.
“Okay, Nic, you can do this,” she said through clenched teeth, urging herself on even as another sharp wave of pain sliced right through her. “You raised three boys on your own, started your own business. You can certainly get up off the floor on your own.”
It wasn’t easy.
Several pain-filled minutes later, Nicole finally managed to get herself up to her knees at the sofa cushion. But rather than stand up, she could only get herself into a half-lying position and then roll painfully over, all the while biting her lip to keep the cries from emerging and echoing throughout her large house.
Breathing hard, Nicole finally managed to get into a sitting position. When she did, she was all but panting from the exertion.
“Okay, I lied,” she said, her face dripping with perspiration. “I can’t do this.”
Instead of going away, the pain multiplied by leaps and bounds, bordering on unbearable. Although she hated the thought, she had to admit that she had definitely broken something. Moreover, she resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to call someone and ask for help. Something that went against absolutely every fiber of her being.
But there was no way around it.
Nicole was sweating profusely now. Admitting to weakness was just not in her makeup. She was the one who went out of her way to hold everything together, the one who worked nonstop and still had time to cheer on her sons—her biological son, Aaron, and Aaron’s two half brothers, whom she had taken in when they were barely seven and eight—in their endeavors.
They were her ex-husband’s sons she had opted to care for when their mother died and her ex decided they were dragging him down. She treated them like her own and made certain that these “endeavors” they undertook were of their choosing and not hers.
Her catering business was a success. Things were finally going so well—and now this, she thought as a new wave of disgust washed over her.
Her head began to spin. The pain got much worse.
Okay, time to get someone here to help her, as much as she hated the idea. Thank heavens she usually kept her cell phone with her. That had more to do with her catering business than anything else, but right now, Nicole was truly grateful that she had slipped her phone into her pocket this morning.
Taking a breath to steady herself and to keep the pain at bay long enough to make the call, she pressed the keys that would connect her to Aaron’s phone.
She definitely wasn’t looking forward to this conversation.
Her oldest son ran a gym and she quite honestly didn’t expect him to even hear his phone, much less answer it. But to her surprise, Aaron picked up after the fifth ring.
Just by chance, Aaron Colton was about to make a call when he felt the phone vibrate in his hand. When he saw the name on the screen, he had a really bad feeling about what he was about to hear.
His mother never called him when she knew he was working.
Turning away from the boxing ring, Aaron blocked out all the other noises in the gym as he answered the call.
“Mom? What’s wrong?”
More than anything in the world, Nicole Colton hated admitting to weakness. But the pain was making it really difficult to even breathe now.
Still, she protested, “What...makes...you...think...anything...is...wrong?”
If he hadn’t thought there was anything wrong before, he did now. The pain he heard in his mother’s voice unnerved him.
He signaled to his assistant to take over as he quickly made his way to the door. “Tell me where you are, Mom. I’m coming to get you,” he promised.
