Page 138 of Resist

Panic bubbles up.

“I wasn’t sure before . . . but I saw you outside. I watched you, and then it clicked.” His face is covered by the shadows of the darkened hallway.

“I’m sorry. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, come on, Vee.” Adrenaline races through my veins at the mention of that name. “Or is it Vaughn? Which name do you make Ryker call you by?”

“If you’d let me by—”

“Why? So you can go con another man out there into thinking you’re the real deal when you’re obviously on the payroll here?”

Deep breath, Vaughn. You’ve got this.

Without saying anything, I try to get past him, but he grabs my wrist, yanking it so that he pushes me up against the wall at my back. He steps into me, his body against mine and the whiskey on his breath making my stomach churn.

“You can scream, but there’s no one around who’s going to hear you.”

The hallway’s dark. The music outside is loud.

He’s right.

And I know it.

“You see, it was this unique little birthmark right here,” he says, pressing his thumb against the inside of my wrist where the heart-shaped strawberry birthmark resides, “that clued me in. Sure, your features were similar, but without the wig, it was hard to tell. But this birthmark . . . it sealed the deal for me. Same person. Same bitch trying to fool gullible fuckers. Same female threatening me. Same woman making me hard as a rock.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It’s all I’ve got. All I can think.

“I told you I’d get what I wanted from you one way or another . . . and you have a whole lot of things I want.”

My skin crawls as his threat travels over every part of me and lets me know he means it.

I try to find my footing. I attempt to find the sassy woman who doesn’t kowtow to threatening senators who dwarf them in size. But too much alcohol . . . too much fear . . . too much of letting my guard down this weekend and I’m frozen in uncertainty.

The bathroom door opens unexpectedly, and a couple giggles as they step out, what they were doing in there without the light on no mystery.

“Leave me alone!” I say loudly enough to get their attention.

“Hey? You okay?” the guy asks as Senator Carter Preston lets go of me with a muttered curse.

“Lovers’ quarrel,” he says and strides down the hallway and out of reach of the drunk guy’s range.

“You sure you’re okay?” the woman slurs.

“Yes.” No.

And where I was just terrified of how dark the hallway was, now I’m grateful because they won’t know it’s me standing here.

They won’t be able to recognize me in the shadows. The woman they all came to see who has caught Ryker Lockhart’s eye.

The girl giggles as the guy palms her ass, and I breathe easier when they start walking back toward the party so I can have a second to myself.

What the hell is Carter doing here?

And even worse, he knows who I am.

He can make the connection.

He can ruin me.