Page 6

Chapter 2

Christina

Christina Hilford wished she could will things into working out. She’d

come all the way from New York just over three weeks ago. She’d been so

excited to get to Austin at first. She thought being headhunted was proof of

her personal success. Of course, her dad wasn’t in agreement, but when was

something she’d ever done anything that was good enough for him?

Right. That would be never.

As a head of a big company, success seemed to follow him around.

It was slightly depressing how everything he touched almost literally turned

to gold. The press loved her father. Christina’s two brothers worshipped the

man. She’d always wanted to make her dad proud of her, but apparently

moving to Austin to join the new branch of a decidedly up— and coming

new company wasn’t exactly the route to fatherly acceptance.

Christina had been doing the same kind of work in New York, with

an even larger, more established venture capitalist group. She’d given up

everything to make the move. Her apartment in New York, her friends, her

family— although they had never been close anyway. She really, really

wanted it to work out.

Christina closed her eyes in the middle of organizing a stack of files in

her office. Everyone got an office here. The place was classy. No cubicles

for the Stellar Fund Venture Capitalist Group.

She laid out a stack of new proposals. They were all good. She’d

interviewed ea

ch and every single applicant herself. Now came the hard

part— going through and deciding who to pass up the ladder for funding

and making the harder call on who would get denied.

She didn’t like crushing people’s dreams. That wasn’t why she’d made

the move to Austin. She had loved her old job. She had loved living in New

York. She enjoyed the fast-paced lifestyle, the way the city never seemed