Shit, this wasn’t good. Ihadto be in there, because some of those regular folks were on my guest list and just didn’t know it yet. Linda from HR. Joe from Finance. Phil’s executive assistant, Jessica. Which meant I needed to convince Stella to stay.
“Don’t try to make this about me,” I said. “We both know it’s about you letting Maddie run you out of here.”
Stella shook her head. “I can’t see her again. I don’t trust myself around her.”
“Then trust me. You won’t have to say a thing. Just give me a few minutes to get her out of here. That’s all it will take.” I bent down to look directly into her eyes. “And then in a few days, she’ll get an invitation she can’t refuse.”
“The next game night is that soon?” Stella said.
I nodded. “Just think, if it goes well, you might never have to see me again.”
Her brows pinched the slightest bit, enough to tell me she didn’t know how to feel about that. Which shouldn’t have made a swell of hope rise inside me. After I executed my plans, Stella wouldn’t be torn; she’d go back to wanting to kill me.
I bumped my forehead against hers. “No one deserves me as their own personal demon more than Maddie does. I’m even willing to split her debt with you so you can recoup some of the money you’ve spent helping Runa.”
“What do you mean? Shouldn’t it all go towardmydebt?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m sure it’ll only take one party to clear it, which means I can be generous with whatever Maddie racks up.”
Stella pulled back, her eyes searching mine. “Why would you do that?”
“Because it wasn’t your responsibility to pay. It washers,” I snarled.
Her eyes widened, and I straightened to my full height and wiped a hand over my face, trying to fight back my fury. Ihadto get in there, and Stella needed to be at my side, because what reason did I have to be here without her?
“As much as I’d love to unleash you upon Maddie, it’s a bad idea,” Stella said. “If she landed in debt, she might run straight to her parents to make it go away, just like she did after the accident. And they’re even worse than she is. They didn’t just pay their lawyers to defend her, they paid them to destroy me. They’re the type of people who would burn the entire city down to find you, and they’d make sure everyone who ever worked with you, ever even metyou, would suffer, too.”
I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt, antagonism and stubbornness vying for dominance inside me. Nothing Stella said made me any less determined to go after Maddie; if anything, it only raised the stakes. Because Maddie was who I thought Stella was. Maddie was everything that was wrong with the wealthy, and it was time she finally paid for her crimes. It was time they all did.
“Her parents won’t come after me,” I said.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because Runa isn’t Maddie’s only victim, and if they fight me, I’ll threaten to leak what I know. So, yes, theywillpay me. And then I’ll leak it anyway, because fuck them.”
Stella’s teeth clicked shut, and I knew I had her.
“What’s Maddie wearing tonight?” I asked, taking a backward step toward the doors.
“Wait, we should talk about this more.”
I pivoted on a heel and strode inside. As far as I was concerned, there was nothing left to talk about.
Stella hurried to catch up with me. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m sure I’ll think of something,” I said. “But if you could put together a list of her greatest fears, that’d be helpful. I’m not above filling her purse with spiders.”
“That’s horrifying.” A pause. “Make it bees. She’s allergic to them.”
I chuckled and wrapped my arm around Stella’s waist. Goddamn it, she really did use humor as a crutch. At first, it annoyed me, but now I feared I might miss it when this was all over.
“Take a right,” she said. “I saw her heading into the Jurassic period.”
I snagged two glasses of champagne from a passing server, handing one to Stella because she liked having something to do with her hands at these events. It cut down on her urge to flip people off. “Why was she even invited?”
“She wasn’t,” Stella said. “She came as someone else’s guest.”
“It’s another setup.”
