Page 23 of Last Resort

She gripped the glass of champagne she wasn’t drinking tighter. This was a mistake. She’d never considered herself a good actress even when she wasn’t distracted, so why had she thought she could do this? Mingling with the elite, with their designer clothing and bejeweled shoes. Even dressed to the nines in Stella’s clothes, she felt separate from everyone else. It wasn’t her world and it never would be.

The urge to run, to admit her mistake and leave the room—and the case—to the professionals had her looking for the nearest exit.

“Relax, Mace,” Chance told her, his voice tinny through the comm in her ear. “You look like you’re going to bolt.”

“I almost think it would be preferable to all of this,” she mumbled into her glass.

The huff of Chance’s laughter was a balm to her nerves, as was the reminder that he and the others were close by. They wouldn’t let her fail, and despite the potential danger being Stella attracted, Maci couldn’t help but feel safe with Chance nearby.

“Who pays this much to get in then basically ignores the art?” she murmured as Rich turned to talk to someone a few feet away.

The price tag to get in the door had been over a thousand dollars per person. San Antonio Security hadn’t had to pay that, of course, but still, the thought that everyone else here had done so and then were hardly paying attention to the art...

“People who are willing to spend thousands of dollars for a single social media post,” Chance answered. “Or the opportunity to network. To be seen somewhere important.”

She barely refrained from rolling her eyes. The money people paid to get in here tonight could’ve been used for much better causes.

An arm wrapped around her waist, and lips pressed against her hair. “There you are, Stella darling.”

Even knowing it was Rich and that he was supposed to do this, she had to force herself not to stiffen.

She heard Chance growl and struggled not to smile. They may have all been on the same team in trying to catch the stalker, but Chance didn’t like Rich at all.

Rich was on LeBlanc’s payroll even though he didn’t need the money, and even Chance had admitted the man made a great secret weapon. He’d grown up in the same elite society as Stella, so it wasn’t an issue for him to show up to the same events as her best friend, making him the perfect incognito bodyguard.

Or at least Maci assumed he was. She’d never actually seen him in bodyguard action, only in flirt mode. He flirted with anything that moved, including Maci. With golden hair and a tall, lean-muscled body to match, it was no surprise that his charming behavior caused people to write him off as nothing more than a playboy.

Still, Maci wished he wouldn’t touch her quite so much.

Rich dipped his head, letting his breath warm Maci’s hair. “You look uncomfortable. Is everything okay?”

“Fine, just needed a second. It’s all an adjustment,” Maci said honestly, taking a half step back to give herself some breathing room.

“You’re doing great.” He stopped, his arm slipping around her waist as he plastered her body to his side. “Incoming. Amy and Angelina Kendrick. Twin influencers on YouTube. They’re a couple of Stella’s biggest competitors. Definite frenemies.”

Maci nodded, giving him a flash of Stella’s signature smile, one that had taken her hours of practice in the mirror. It felt wrong on her face, but she knew she’d gotten it right when Rich winked. “You’re sure they won’t recognize me as not being Stella?”

“Nah. They’ll want to move on quickly, get ahead of Stella in terms of photo ops and talking to important names. I can sell this.”

Maci nodded.

“Ladies, so lovely to see you again,” Rich said, kissing the sisters’ hands and leading the conversation like he was born for it. He kept their focus on him and away from the Stella imposter at his side.

She kept her shoulders back, chin up and bored smile on her face. “Maybe you two would like to have lunch with us sometime,” Angelina said. “We could talk shop.”

“I’ll have to check my schedule.” Maci kept everything about herself loose, adopting the pretentious, distant air Stella perpetually seemed to have in public in all the footage Maci had studied.

The twins’ eyes narrowed for a moment and nerves made Maci’s stomach pitch and roil. Had she messed up? Said something wrong? She wanted to look to Rich, but knew it would be a giveaway. Stella didn’t look to others when making decisions, she simply made them and left everyone else to deal with the consequences.

“I’m going to get a drink. I need something much stronger than this champagne.” She turned without looking at the two women and left, praying it was the right thing to do.

Rich caught up with her at the bar. “That was great! I would’ve sworn you were Stella if I didn’t know better.”

“I agree, Maci,” Chance said in her ear. “You handled that like a champ.”

Too bad her stomach didn’t think so. It twisted and ached as Rich turned to get her a drink.

“Whoa, you okay?” He slid a drink toward her. “You really did do great. That will help sell you as Stella.”

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