.
Character Profiles > Krista Sinclair Majella Davis

Krista Sinclair (aka Kelly Miller) 2023-
Lived: 32 Ramsay Street
Parents: Conrad Sinclair
Siblings: Reece
Children: Hope
Occupation: Part-Owner of Lassiters Hotel, Executive Consultant

Having grown up in the wealthy Sinclair family, Krista Sinclair found herself struggling with an absent mother and a business-obsessed father, with ex-wives and children all over the world. Having returned from spending time in her home country of Australia as a teenager, to find that her dad had remarried and gone, Krista was looked after in London by housekeeper Melanie Mangel, who she grew very close to. As Krista’s struggles began to take the form of a drug problem, Melanie tried to help her and one day followed Krista to a drug deal, hoping to convince the dealers to leave the teenager alone. Unfortunately, the plan ended badly when Melanie was left holding the drugs and arrested, with Krista bailing her out and helping her to flee the UK and return to rebuild her life in Australia.

Krista, meanwhile, continued to hate being a Sinclair and would regularly act out and embarrass her family. When she turned 18, it was suggested that Krista could become a part of the company, like her older sister Reece, but she wanted nothing to do with any of it. After flying out to Australia to escape her problems, Krista turned to Melanie for financial help, not wanting her family to know where she was. Melanie was horrified to see her, having finally managed to move on with her life and forget that she was actually a fugitive. Melanie was preparing to marry Toadie Rebecchi the next day, and told Krista to leave, but Krista didn’t get the message, turning up at the wedding reception the next day and asking for money, explaining that she could then go travelling and wouldn’t bother Mel again. Having managed to get $2000 from the drinks truck she owned, Melanie handed it over and hoped that would be an end to the matter.

Whilst in Erinsborough, Krista met Holly Hoyland and Eden Shaw, another two Aussies who’d also recently arrived from London and were planning to travel. Holly had family in the area, but was avoiding them, so when she bumped into her half-brother Mal, he agreed to keep her secret and to lend her some money for her travels. Eden, meanwhile, was happy to hear Krista’s stories about her wealthy family, feeling that he needed to keep her around and suggesting that the three of them should travel together, starting with a trip to his home town of Robinvale, where his Uncle John had a car for sale. The three of them then spent almost a year travelling around Australia, with an unwitting Holly spending the final few months of the trip working any job she could find, whilst Krista and Eden, claiming to have jobs themselves, were actually hooking up behind her back. As they arrived back in Erinsborough, where Krista was hoping to get more money out of Melanie, Holly found out the truth and angrily ended things with Eden before going to stay with her dad, Karl and stepmum, Susan.

As Krista, back on drugs, tried to persuade Melanie to give her more cash, Eden tried a different tactic and started following Mel around, intimidating her and sabotaging the steps on her drinks truck, leaving her stepson Hugo injured. Becoming increasingly desperate, worried that Toadie would find out and it would ruin both her marriage and his career as a lawyer, Melanie ended up confiding in her friend, and partner in the drinks truck, David Tanaka. It then wasn’t long before David’s father Paul Robinson was involved, but Melanie knew that she had to try and convince Krista to get out of her life, before the truth came out. As they met at the Lassiters rooftop pool, Krista started to turn nasty, threatening to go to the police if Mel didn’t give her money and, as Mel pushed her away, Krista fell into the pool, hitting her head. Melanie dragged her out and, believing she was dead, went to Paul, asking to use his phone to call for help, as hers was in the pool. Paul, however, decided to go to the roof and deal with the matter himself, but found that Krista was no longer there. Eden, however, was waiting for him, claiming that he’d helped by getting rid of the body and wanting half a million dollars to keep his mouth shut.

Though David and Melanie wanted to go to the police, Paul felt that it would be a mistake and Aaron - David’s husband - and Nicolette - the mother of David and Aaron’s daughter, Isla - sided with Paul, as David was already on probation for his involvement in the death of Gareth Bateman, and this would send him back to prison. So everyone agreed to keep quiet, causing a devastated Melanie to walk out on Toadie a couple of weeks later, claiming that she couldn’t cope with being a stepmum. The incident also caused a huge rift between Paul and David and, after a few months, David, Aaron, Nicolette and Isla moved to the country for a fresh start.

A year after the incident at the pool, Krista’s older sister Reece arrived in Erinsborough, secretly looking for her missing sibling. With a postcard from Lassiters the last contact the family had with her, Conrad had bought into the hotel when the opportunity arose, with Reece being sent to find Krista, but to avoid arousing any suspicion, to prevent another Sinclair family scandal. Reece started to piece the story together, eventually letting boyfriend, and Lassiters hotel porter, Nicolette’s brother Byron, in on the secret. They eventually found evidence at a hostel in Robinvale, a photograph that showed Krista with Holly and Eden, and headed back to Erinsborough, where Melanie, David, Aaron and Nicolette had already returned, and the whole sorry story had been revealed. As they spoke to the police, both Paul and Holly were stunned to learn that Krista was a member of the Sinclair family, and it was left to Holly to break the news to Reece that her sister had died.

With the police out looking for Eden, Melanie was put on remand and Paul and his family also waited to find out whether they would be charged. With so many lives ruined, Holly and her friends, Haz and Mackenzie, decided to help Reece and Byron to track down Eden, and Holly remembered that, when they would run out of money, he would find empty houses through executor’s auctions. With half a dozen properties nearby, they decided to go and take a look, and when Holly spotted Eden’s van parked outside one of the houses, she went running over, as Haz called the police. Eden was then stunned to see Holly standing at the door and he attempted to do a runner, with Haz blocking the driveway with his car, then he and Holly stopped Eden from getting out of his van, as the police arrived and arrested him. As they spoke to the police, Holly spotted a cardigan in Eden’s van, that she remembered was one of Krista’s favourites. Suddenly realising that she might still be alive, Holly ran back into the house and there she found a drowsy and confused Krista sleeping on a mattress in the basement.

Though everyone was relived to learn that Krista was still alive, they were horrified to realise the extent Eden had gone to, lying to her and later drugging her, and keeping her away from Erinsborough in order to keep blackmailing Melanie and Paul for more money. At the hospital, Krista was diagnosed with pneumonia and learnt the full story about everything that had happened. Though everyone told her that she was a victim of conman Eden, she felt stupid for ever believing that he had loved her, remembering how his behaviour had changed when they ran out of money and when she once again refused to contact her wealthy family. Having initially refused to see her, Krista agreed to speak to Reece, having learnt that she had been in Erinsborough for months trying to find her.

When word came through that Conrad had suffered a massive stroke, Reece realised that she was going to have to return to the US, not only to be with him, but to take control of the business as she had power of attorney. Though Krista wanted to go with her, Reece insisted that she wasn’t well enough, arranging for her to go to a rehab clinic. After learning that she’d have to be in rehab for at least thirty days, Krista refused, asking Byron to help her to get a room at Lassiters instead. She explained that she wanted to get well so that she could go and see her dad, and thirty days was too long to wait. Byron agreed to help her, and kept an eye on her, worried a few days later when she didn’t answer the door and the food was left outside, untouched.

To complicate matters further, word had just come through from Reece that Conrad had died, but she wanted this to be kept from Krista for as long as possible, concerned that it could set back her recovery. In an attempt to help Krista, David, a former doctor, was contacted and he agreed to speak to Krista. After explaining that she needed to take the antibiotics for her pneumonia, or she could end up making herself even more unwell, Krista let him into her room and he helped her to start taking her medication and to eat something. Unfortunately, just as David was making progress, he went to speak to a former colleague who was a specialist in drug withdrawals, and once alone, Krista received a visit from Holly, who had just heard the news about Conrad and unwittingly ended up being the one to break it to his daughter. When Krista then disappeared, David eventually found her in the Lassiters car park, having scored some drugs but not used them yet. He managed to make her see that everyone had a past and everyone had made mistakes - then he opened up about the medical manslaughter charge that had led to him being deregistered as a doctor. Feeling more hopeful, Krista finally agreed to go to rehab in the hope that she might be well enough to return to the US for her father's funeral. She also asked David if, when she came out of rehab, he would be her sober companion, and, having felt like he was helping someone for the first time in years, he accepted the position.

After less than two weeks in rehab, Krista got in touch with David to say that she would be returning to Erinsborough the following day. Surprised that she'd given it so little time, and worried that she was rushing the process so that she could go to her father's funeral, David was shocked when a glamorous Krista walked into the Waterhole, then announced that she was taking over Reece's old role as the Sinclair family's representative overseeing Lassiters Hotel. It quickly became clear that things weren't quite right with Krista, however, when she was sick and suffered a dizzy spell. Though Aaron and Leo were concerned that she might still be taking drugs, it soon became apparent that there was another reason for her health issues. With Leo showing Krista the ropes at Lassiters, so that she could take on her new role as Executive Consultant, she started to feel unwell again. When Leo then offered to call David for help, Krista stopped him and explained that she already knew why she'd been feeling nauseous - she was pregnant. She told him that she'd found out whilst in rehab and that it had given her clarity for the first time in her life - she wanted to raise her baby, away from her family, and protect it from all the things that had left her so messed up as an adult.

With Leo and Krista growing closer, David became worried, warning them both that it would be a terrible idea for Krista to begin a new relationship in the first year of her recovery. Krista agreed with David, deciding to focus her efforts on her work, planning a New Year's Eve party at the Waterhole. Despite Paul's best efforts to get her to fail, Krista was excelling in her new role at the hotel, and hoped that the latest party would be another success. Unfortunately, the evening took a shocking turn when Krista began to feel unwell, with Paul suspecting that she'd been taking drugs to celebrate, after learning that she and Melanie weren't going to be extradited to the UK over the drugs charges. Krista insisted that she hadn't taken anything, and after opioids were found in her system at the hospital, she insisted that her drink must have been spiked.

Though both David and, briefly, Leo, doubted her, they eventually realised that she was telling the truth, and that she wouldn't have endangered her unborn baby. With no way of proving that she'd been spiked, Krista came out of hospital hoping for a fresh start, though Paul quickly made it clear that he didn't trust her, believing that she had taken drugs at the party. Leo, meanwhile, did his best to support Krista, but when Sadie Rodwell, who Leo employed as nanny to his young daughter, Abigail, had to rush off, she left Abi with Krista, believing that Leo would be fine with it. Unfortunately, Krista later walked into the Waterhole and overheard an angry Leo telling Sadie not to leave his daughter with Krista, as she was emotionally unstable and couldn't be trusted to look after a child. When Leo met up with Krista later and realised that she'd overheard everything, he apologised, explaining that although he believed that Krista's drink had been spiked, he still felt that she wasn't stable enough to look after his daughter yet. He told her about Britney, Abi's mother who had died, and how he was very protective of his daughter because of it. When Leo then accidentally referred to Krista as Britney, and Paul visited Krista and warned her that Leo was seeing her as an opportunity to make up for the mistakes he made with Britney, she was left confused. Not quite sure what to do, Krista ended up contacting Remi Varga-Murphy, her doctor when she'd been in hospital, and one of the few people in Erinsborough who she felt that she could trust. Krista opened up about her problems with Leo, and her struggles to eat or drink anything, worried that it would be spiked again.

After she then also told David about what had happened, Krista received a visit from Leo, who insisted that he didn't see her as a replacement for Britney or a chance to make up for past mistakes, and, moved by his words, Krista kissed him. After checking that this was what she really wanted, Leo kissed her back and they ended up in bed. Krista was relieved when Leo then told her that this wasn't a one-off in his mind, and that he wanted them to make a go of things. As David gave them his blessing, and Krista also seemed to be winning over Paul - who was warned by David that he'd contact Reece if he didn't give Krista a chance - it looked like things might finally be turning a corner.

Unfortunately, it wasn't long before things started to go downhill, as Paul found out, not only about Leo and Krista's secret relationship, but also about her pregnancy. He quickly started to turn on her, using Abigail's nanny, Sadie Rodwell, to spy on Leo and Krista in return for paying for her course to train as a make-up artist. When that failed to uncover anything that might break them up, Paul tried again, this time meeting with Eden, who had been released on parole and was interested to learn that Krista was pregnant with his baby, and that she'd gone to a holiday home in the bush with Leo, David, Aaron and Nicolette. Unaware of the danger, Leo and Krista went out for a walk, but soon found themselves confronted by Eden. Confused by how he'd found them, and by how he knew about the pregnancy, Krista resisted as Eden tried to get her to leave with him, and soon, a fight had broken out between Leo and Eden. As Eden reached for a rock to hit Leo, David raced to help his twin, causing him and Eden to fall down an embankment. As Krista drove a badly-injured Eden to hospital, Leo and Aaron returned to find that David - who had claimed he was ok, causing them to prioritise Eden - had died.

Back in Erinsborough, Paul was overwhelmed with guilt over inadvertently causing his own son's death, and took his anger out on Krista. Paul also managed to persuade David's grieving widower, Aaron, that Krista was to blame and that she shouldn't be allowed to attend the funeral, with Leo forced to try to keep the peace and break the news to her. Krista accepted what Leo was telling her, but it left her feeling more alone than ever, and when Byron found her sitting alone, making calls to try and find a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, he invited her back to the sharehouse at 32 Ramsay Street. Krista was touched as he, along with Mackenzie and Haz, made her feel welcome, and the next day, she said her own private goodbye to David, writing notes to him and making them into paper cranes to float on the lake. She was happy when Leo then sent her a message asking if she wanted to come to the wake, but Paul immediately pounced on her as she arrived, telling her that she should be ashamed of herself. As she watched, Sadie Rodwell finally snapped and blurted out the truth - she had seen Eden at Lassiters the night before David's death and knew that he'd met with Paul. Everyone was horrified to learn that Paul had been trying to split up Krista and Leo, and his actions in using Eden and informing him of Krista's pregnancy, had inadvertently caused David's death.

With Paul being ostracised by almost everyone around him, including Leo who had taken Abigail and moved out of the penthouse, Krista was forgiven, but was still struggling with the loss of David's support in her life. When Haz noticed her sitting alone in the cafe until closing, then mentioned it to Mackenzie and Byron, Mack came up with the idea of offering Krista the spare room at no. 32 - an offer that Krista happily accepted. Focusing on work again, Krista then started planning Lassiters Longest Lie-In, a publicity event that David had suggested and had been helping her to plan before his death. Hopeful that it could still go ahead as a tribute to David, she approached Paul for some extra funding, but hit a brick wall in the form of Chelsea Murphy, a gold-digger who'd managed to worm her way into his life, using his grief to convince him that she should move in with him, then attempting to involve herself in the running of the hotel.

Though Chelsea did her best to get it cancelled, the Longest Lie-In event went ahead and was a complete success, congratulating Krista on her efforts. When Krista then tried to come up with ideas for future events, Chelsea tried to spoil the mood by pointing out the problems with them, but Krista saw through her and went to Paul instead. As Paul gave Krista more and more responsibility, sidelining Chelsea in the process, she became jealous and tried to sabotage a presentation Krista was due to give to the Lassiters senior executives about rolling out the Longest Lie-In event worldwide. After attempting to just delete the files from Krista's laptop, a plan which failed, Chelsea then decided to send Krista to the sauna, where they'd had complaints from guests. With the hotel also experiencing widespread technical issues, Krista soon found herself trapped in the changing room, with steam pouring out of the sauna. With nobody hearing her cries for help, Krista passed out, eventually found over an hour later by Paul, who raised the alarm and she was rushed to hospital. With Leo unable to be tracked down, Paul stayed by Krista's side as Remi gave her the devastating news that they couldn't find her baby's heartbeat. As Krista struggled to deal with what was happening to her, she was then induced and gave birth to a stillborn baby, who she named Hope.

As Krista attempted to deal with the tragedy, it brought her closer to Paul, who had proved to be a great support and vowed to find out exactly how Krista had become trapped in the sauna changing room like that. A memorial was arranged for baby Hope, and Paul offered to be the one who spoke as a small group of Krista's friends gathered at the botanical gardens. Following the moving ceremony, Krista found herself struggling more than ever with the urge to turn back to drugs after finding some old medication in the cupboard at no. 32.

When she then returned to work, Krista was surprised to meet Jeffrey Swan, a software technician who'd been asked by Paul to look into the sauna incident. Chelsea was quick to say that Jeffrey's investigation had been inconclusive, before dragging him away, but when Krista then saw Jeffrey coming out of Chelsea's hotel room, she became suspicious. Chelsea explained it all away, saying that she'd been speaking to Jeffrey about triple-checking the details of the sauna accident, but he'd then been trying to upsell her with software for the hotel and she'd taken him back to her room because she had a charger for his laptop. Though Krista accepted this, Chelsea feared that she was getting too close to the truth - that Chelsea had been responsible for the whole thing by remotely locking the sauna door, and had seduced Jeffrey in return for his silence - so she realised that she needed to act. After overhearing Krista talking to Leo about her temptation to take drugs after Hope's memorial, she came up with a plan and took some prescription drugs into the office. She told Krista that they'd been left behind by a guest and she had to go to a meeting, but would deal with them later. As Krista sat in the office alone, with a reminders of Hope on her phone, she gave in and took the drugs. Chelsea later found her at home, asleep on the sofa after taking the drugs and agreed to cover for her. Krista admitted that everything had just become too much for her, but that it was a one-off, and Chelsea took the opportunity to make her believe that she should forget about what happened in the sauna, as she'd probably never get the answers that she wanted.

Although Krista did decide to try and put it all behind her, the incident caused her to start taking drugs again, and matters only became worse when she found Aaron alone in the Waterhole one night. Aaron had been struggling to go home after working at the bar, finding it difficult to adapt to a life without husband, David, and Krista had spotted that the lights were still on. She ended up supporting him by having a drink with him, again claiming that it would just be a one-off, and then tracked him down the next day to his and David's old home in the country which was up for rent. The pair found each other to be a great support, but unfortunately Aaron deciding to join her in taking drugs and drinking, only served to enable her addiction.

Though Krista then assured Aaron that it was all just a blip and she was back on the wagon, she later met up with her dealer again. The pressure was becoming too much after she caught Jeffrey in Chelsea's hotel room and, now convinced that they were having an affair, she threatened to tell Paul. Chelsea replied that, if she did, then she would tell everyone about Krista's recent drugtaking, putting her job, relationship and friendships at risk. Unsure what to do, and with Leo asking questions to Aaron about her recent behaviour, Krista decided to end the relationship, claiming that it wasn't working for her and she was thinking about going travelling again. With Leo completely blindsided by this, Krista closed off but after seeing Paul talking to fired employee Penny outside the hotel, she found out that Penny had been a suspect in the sauna incident. Penny strongly denied doing anything, saying that she had been trying to steal from the hotel, but Chelsea had caught her and thrown her out. Confused by what was going on, and with bad memories being dredged up, Krista returned to using drugs, with Aaron once again joining her, but she then had the sudden realisation that Chelsea was the link between everything that had happened that day in the sauna.

When Krista then went to Chelsea's hotel room to confront her, a tussle broke out between the two women, and Chelsea pushed Krista, who hit her head and was knocked unconscious. When Krista then woke up in hospital, she had no memory of why she'd been in Chelsea's hotel room in the first place, and she was also forced to admit that she and Aaron had been using drugs and drinking together. As she was released from hospital, Krista and Aaron agreed to keep talking to each other but stop with the drugs, both deleting the phone number of dealer Shannon from their phones. It was only when Chelsea was talking to Krista and told her that she'd 'got her back' that Krista suddenly remembered why she'd been in Chelsea's hotel room, and her suspicions that she was responsible for the sauna incident. Realising that she needed proof, Krista contacted Penny, suspecting that she was being made a scapegoat by Chelsea, but wanting to know why she'd left the country so suddenly. Penny explained that Chelsea had paid for the whole trip, supposedly as an apology from Lassiters for her firing, and all of the pieces then fell into place for Krista. She contacted Jeffrey, telling him about Chelsea's engagement to Paul and the party they were throwing to celebrate, and Jeffrey realised that he'd been used. He helped Krista to get hold of the original IT report, which showed Chelsea's guilt, and they confronted her in front of Paul and the other guests at the party. Unable to deny her guilt, Chelsea found herself rejected by Paul, who took back his engagement ring and told her to get out of his life.

Hopeful that she could still get justice for Hope, Krista was disappointed to realise that Chelsea had vanished and, even if she was found, it was unlikely that she'd face criminal prosecution for her actions. When Leo also rejected her, telling her that David had warned him about an addict getting into a relationship within a year of getting clean, Krista found herself wondering if things were ever going to get better.

As Shannon began to pop up, trying to persuade one of her best customers to start using again, Leo threatened to call the police, but this only served to upset Krista. She told Leo that she didn't need him to swoop in and save her, pointing out that they were no longer a couple and could barely be described as friends. It wasn't until Shannon made a final attempt to talk to Krista, and was threatened with the Sinclair thugs if she didn't go away, that Leo and Krista were pushed back together. As Shannon walked away, she dropped a bag of opioids which was later found by young Abigail who thought they were lollies and ate one. As Leo realised what had happened, he rushed her to hospital and, as they passed Krista, she insisted on joining them. At the hospital, Krista explained where the bag of drugs must have come from, sparing Abigail from having to get her stomach pumped, and leaving Leo very grateful as Abi made a full recovery after treatment. Leo then asked Krista to contact Shannon and arrange a meeting, where he turned up, warning the dealer that he'd handed her drugs and the baggie, which had her fingerprints on it, to the police. As a furious Shannon warned him that he'd regret his actions, Leo returned to Krista and they had a heart to heart. She was touched as he thanked her for her help, but told him not to be nice to her as it just made it more difficult to stay away from him. Leo then suggested that they didn't really need to stay away from each other, and they restarted their relationship with a kiss.

With things going well with Leo, Krista found that things at work were also improving, with Paul trusting her to help choose a temporary hotel manager, when he decided to take an extended break to New York, following the death of his Aunt Rosemary. Krista approved Paul's choice, Brett Heade, but it quickly proved to be a bad decision, as he appeared to be spending more time at the golf course than the hotel. With Brett making constant mistakes, he ended up booking in two large groups at the same time and with no space for everyone, Krista was left to fix the mess and decided to fire Brett. As chaos was unfolding in reception, Krista was shocked when Tess Carmichael, her late father, and now Reece's, 2IC. Tess explained that she was now the Head of SinCast's Asia Pacific investments and was in Melbourne for a few weeks. Whilst pretending to have Krista's best interests at heart, Tess made mysterious phone calls, telling someone that Krista was close to breaking and that the Sinclair family had no idea what was coming.

As Tess plotted to sabotage the deals Krista was making for the hotel, then supported Krista to her face, she was joined by her 2IC, and secret lover, Heath Royce. It soon became clear that the pair had been embezzling millions of dollars from the Sinclairs in order to escape the family's clutches, and making Krista look inept whilst taking money from the hotel was part of the plan. Unfortunately for Tess, Heath was a little too reckless, and, as well as sleeping with hotel receptionist Holly, he also went to lawyer Toadie Rebecchi in order to discuss the conveyance of a property in Hawaii that he wanted to buy. When Heath gave his real name - Heath Silversen - and then Toadie's co-worker Mackenzie found out from Holly that he was calling himself Heath Royce at work, she did some research. She soon found out that Heath Silversen had been convicted of fraud and went to Krista to warn her. Tess acted horrified when Krista came to her with this information, then she and Heath scrambled to fix the problem before it jeopardised their entire plan. As Heath claimed that he'd been dragged into something by his uncle a couple of years earlier and had changed his name to try and move on, Krista was still unsure, but Tess insisted that she trusted him and that it was SinCast business rather than anything to do with Lassiters. To drive the point home, Tess then reminded Krista that she'd had several second chances of her own, so perhaps she should remember that before she acted further.

Still under the impression that Tess was finally showing some respect for her, Krista was in for a shock when Paul returned and confided that Tess had offered to help him buy SinCast out of the hotel. With her family connection the only reason she was being employed at Lassiters, Krista felt betrayed, worrying that Reece was also involved and plotting behind her back. Paul, however, made it clear that he was on Krista's side and was going to find out exactly why Tess and Heath had come to Erinsborough. As Paul looked into Tess's finances and tried to find out what she was up to, Krista finally decided to contact Reece, worried that her sister was in on it and had been plotting with Tess to get her out of Lassiters. Krista was then surprised to learn that Reece knew nothing about the planned sale of SinCast's half of the hotel. When Heath then disappeared to the outback property of Warrawee Cattle Station, taking Holly with him, and Tess also appeared to be doing a runner, Toadie and Melanie then also vanished, having accidentally stumbled upon evidence of Heath and Tess's criminal activities. When Reece sent over some paperwork, Krista and Leo realised that Warrawee was owned by SinCast and that Tess and Heath were skimming $2 million off the sale of the property, and had been taking smaller amounts of money from other properties, including Lassiters, to the tune of over $9 million.

With Toadie and Melanie tied up in a cottage at Warrawee, and Haz and Mackenzie then flying out there to check on Holly, events spiralled out of control as Heath revealed that he was only interested in the money and not Tess. As Toadie and Melanie were freed by Holly, Toadie ended up wandering alone in the outback, while Heath went after Holly and Mel with a gun, ending in a confrontation in which Holly pushed Heath into a creek where he was attacked and killed by a crocodile. With a stray bullet hitting Mackenzie in the shoulder and Toadie eventually being found after a night lost in the outback, they were all flown back to Melbourne, where Paul and Krista were horrified to learn the full extent of Tess and Heath's embezzling. With Tess being questioned by the police before being charged and held on remand, Krista was given the opportunity to speak to her. Tess explained that, after working for Conrad for 18 years, she'd felt pushed out of SinCast when Reece took over and had cooked up the scheme with Heath to get her revenge. As Tess spoke about Heath and how she'd mistakenly believed that he loved her, Krista admitted that this was the most human she'd ever seen Tess, telling her that the best thing she could do now was to own up and take her punishment. Admitting to her friends that she had some sympathy for Tess, as another victim of the Sinclair family, chewing her up and spitting her out, Krista was in for a shock when Reece got in touch and revealed that she was signing the Sinclair's half of the hotel over to her. Though Krista was delighted to be trusted with the business, it appeared that Paul was less pleased with the development.

Krista quickly found herself clashing with Paul and was surprised by his new attitude, as they'd been getting along well for months. After turning to Terese for advice, Krista found out that Paul enjoyed butting heads with people and that she'd have to learn to stand up to him if they were going to work as equals. When Krista hired Sadie Rodwell to work at the hotel's day spa, Paul was furious, but Krista stuck to her guns and he later apologised, admitting that Sadie was a good hire for the job. Krista decided to continue with the big decisions, buying the lease for Harolds Cafe when Haz decided to sell up as he and Mackenzie were moving to Paris. To mark their new working arrangement, Krista had two offices renovated for her and Paul, so they could be next to each other but still have their own space. Though unimpressed, it was Krista's next decision that pushed Paul over the edge, when she announced that a planned charity fundraiser for the police youth outreach was going to be a male revue. Aware that Paul saw the idea as tacky, Krista forged ahead with her plan and so, when Paul overheard Krista complaining about Byron's sister, Nicolette - who'd moved into the share house's spare room after falling out with her family across the street - he decided to offer her the job of manager at Harolds.