The man with her smiled, a hand on her shoulder. “You are well-connected here,” he said, a thick Chinese accent in his voice, and he turned to me. “I am Cheng Shiyi. I work with Helena’s father. What’s your name?”
Ah, shit. Shit, shit. The receptionist was here. I couldn’t tell them the truth. I felt my forehead prickling. “Cassandra,” I said. “It’s a pleasure. An honor. A pleasure and an honor.” What the hell was I saying?
I thought I’d at least get out of sharing my fictional last name, but the woman at the door was intent on helping me ruin my life. “You can go ahead, Mrs. Evans-Pierre. You’re all checked in, and I’ll make sure everyone knows about you and Ms. Adesina.”
“Ah—wonderful. Thank you.” I was pulling this off swimmingly. Swimming right off a cliff. I pushed out an awkward smile at Helena. “Well, enjoy your night, Ms. Warrick.”
I slipped through the door while trying not to look like I was running for my life, and I took a minute on the outside to catch my breath. Absolutely gorgeous rooftop party. Full of people who looked effortlessly cool and like they belonged here. I totally fit in. I’d just go to the bar and… and what, pay forty dollars for a shot of vodka? I’d ruin whatever chance I had here and poor Cassandra’s good name with it if I went and ordered aglass of water just to be thrifty. I went instead to slip through the crowds, my heart going a mile a minute, and I gave people what I hoped were convincing smiles as I slipped across the rooftop and over to the edge, a picture-perfect glass railing with the river below us and the Manhattan skyline across from us. Absolutely gorgeous. I was going to throw up over that railing.
With shaking hands, I texted Kingmaker.
JULIE
the situation is already out of control here, my ‘friend’ Krysten already let them know Cassandra wasn’t coming and apparently I have a husband and this whole group of attendees heard I’m Cassandra, so it’s just fucking great up here
He called me. I grimaced, taking a long breath, rolling my eyes as hard as I could, and I picked up the phone, whisper-shouting down the line. “Kingmaker, I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“Hey. Relax. Easy. Take deep breaths.”
“I’ll relax once I’ve got my hands around your throat.”
“A king finds opponents on the battlefield, Julie. Now’s your chance to learn how to read people.”
“Read people? What the hell are you talking about?”
“You only need one good contact, and then doors open. Stay Cassandra with anyone who heard you. Watch the room, move carefully. Figure out who will make the best contact for the least effort. Go be Julie with them. Make sure your lines don’t cross.”
“Did you know this was going to happen?”
“A kingmaker knows what he’s gotta know, Julie.”
He didn’t know shit. “What am I even supposed todo?Walk up to someone who looks important and sayhi, let’s be friends?”
“Pull off the classic trick. Say you think you met them somewhere else but you can’t remember their name. When you find out you were mistaken and you don’t know them, you’re already in conversation. Once they introduce themselves, pretend you have heard of them.”
“You want me to liemore?Make new lies?”
“It’s not lying if you believe in it enough.”
“I’m pretty sure it is.”
“Peace out, Julie. Good luck up there. I’ll see you on the other side a king.”
“Do not—” I started, but he hung up. I groaned, clutching a fistful of my hair in frustration before I remembered that was an expensive fucking hairstyle, and I smoothed it out, standing back upright, putting the phone in my pocket.
This was stupid. But I had literally no other choice but to go along and pretend it wasn’t. I had to… read people.
I scanned the crowds, looking at the different groups that were gravitating together, and I found my gaze fixing on one person, a Black woman with her hair up in a big round bun, who was standing at a table at the side, alone with a drink after the person she was talking to left. She didn’t seem antsy being alone. That was probably a sign somebody was important enough they knew people would be coming around to talk to them again, right?
None of this would matter soon. No matter how badly I embarrassed myself here, it was all going to be irrelevant after tonight. And if I didn’t do this, I was fucking dead. I smoothed myself off, took a few deep breaths to try to calm my racing heart, and I walked towards the woman, trying to look cool, composed, effortless.
I kicked a chair leg by mistake, and it scraped, people looking. Fuck me. I wasn’t good at this.
I sidled up at the table with the woman, giving her what I hoped was a curious look as I recited off my practiced script, talking a little too quickly. “Hey,” I said. “Sorry, I think I’ve seen you somewhere before, but I can’t remember your name. You were at the studio night the other day, weren’t you?”
She beamed at me. “I’m sorry, darling, You’re thinking of someone else,” she said. “Studio nightdoesn’t sound like my business. I’m just an app developer.”
Okay, she wasn’t self-aggrandizing. That took some of the primal panic out of my gut. “My mistake,” I laughed. “I’m terrible with faces. Can you give me a face to remember instead?”
