
Four Hot CEOs Are Obsessed With My Face
Chapter 3
Amari Wilson hesitated at the mention of the Diaz family, then shot an uneasy glance at the resolute man in front of him. “If you don’t want to attend, I can turn them down on your behalf and tell them you’re swamped.”
He stopped mid-step, the room holding its breath around him. Frowning in thought, he pulled out his phone—it had been buzzing nonstop.
An unknown number had been blowing up his phone from the start of the meeting to the end.
“Hello.”
His voice came through the phone low and detached, straight into Makenzie Bell’s ear.
She was sitting on a busy city street, the noise around her making her soft voice sound hesitant. “Hello? Mr. Mason? It’s Makenzie Bell. I wanted to ask if what you mentioned before still stands?”
She’d called four times between ten and two, and slowly, a memory surfaced. Theo Mason remembered her eyes—how strikingly they resembled Lila Roberts’s.
His lips pressed into a thin line. When he finally spoke, his voice was cool and indifferent. “Send me the address. Someone will come get you.”
When the call ended, Amari Wilson—still trailing behind him—held his breath and waited for instructions.
Theo turned slightly, his sharp jaw tight. “No need to cancel the schedule. Just send someone to pick up Makenzie Bell.”
A second later, an address popped up on Amari’s tablet. He arched a brow. “Makenzie Bell? The Bell family’s supposed daughter?”
The notorious imposter daughter who kept landing in headlines for all the wrong reasons? Amari remembered how Theo had personally bailed her out of the police station after the Bells cut her off—a rare move for him.
The reason was obvious: she looked strikingly like Lila Roberts, even though Lila had married another man. Theo’s intentions were clear.
Amari nodded. “Where should we take her?”
Theo paused for a beat. “Sunrise Court.”
“Got it.”
Makenzie was sitting on the sidewalk, savoring spicy mac and cheese, when a notification from System 66 popped up—a deposit and a progress update.
“Deposit: ten thousand dollars. Theo Mason’s favorability increased by one percent.”
The spice made her cough, tears stinging her eyes, while curious bystanders discreetly filmed her on their phones.
Sniffling, Makenzie checked her phone and saw several thousand dollars had landed in her bank account. Her voice wavered. “Is this ten thousand in my original world’s currency? Why’d it just show up?”
System 66 replied, “Your call with Theo Mason advanced the plot. You earned a bonus.”
Makenzie paused for a second, then happily dug back into her mac and cheese.
Finally, a real opportunity had shown up.
A sleek Mercedes executive car eased to a stop in front of her. The driver scanned the street until his gaze landed on the woman eating mac and cheese at the bus stop. He hesitated for a moment, then spoke into his phone. “I found Miss Bell, but there’s a slight delay.”
Amari asked automatically, “What’s the holdup?”
“It’s not hesitation. She’s just finishing her mac and cheese. She looks starved.”
Inside the car, tension crackled. Amari’s surprised expression was impossible to miss. He glanced at Theo, who was reviewing documents in the backseat. After a beat, Theo said calmly, “Send a chef over.”
Even Theo hadn’t expected the Bell family to be so harsh—leaving their adopted daughter to eat mac and cheese in public and forcing her to come to him for help.
Oblivious to her sudden fame, Makenzie was just relieved to finally eat. When she noticed the car waiting, she got up and tossed her mac and cheese cup. The driver stepped forward. “Miss Bell? Mr. Mason sent me to pick you up.”
So it really was for her. With a bashful smile, she climbed in.
To help her get better acquainted with Theo Mason, System 66 spent the drive filling her in on his background.
At twenty-eight, Theo Mason was CEO of Mason Financial Group, overseeing investments across finance, securities, pharmaceuticals, and entertainment—a formidable presence in the financial district and a powerhouse across the region.
But his current success hadn’t always been guaranteed.
At twenty-six, Theo was merely the heir to a fledgling venture capital firm. His potential marriage to Lila Roberts seemed like a smart match—until his father’s business collapsed, throwing the company into immediate financial chaos and ending the engagement.
Lila loved Theo, but she had no control over the situation. She ended up marrying Kelvin Diaz, the Diaz family’s eldest son. No one expected Theo to resurrect the company within two years and emerge as a force to be reckoned with.
Even when he collaborated with the Diaz family on projects, Theo’s motives seemed tangled up with his lingering feelings for Lila. To Makenzie, his discreet aid to the Diaz family looked like misplaced devotion.
The situation was further complicated by Kelvin’s deteriorating health. At twenty-eight, he wasn’t expected to survive past thirty. That meant Makenzie only had to convincingly stand in for Lila for two years, earn Theo’s favor, and make her exit once Lila became a widow.
“Sounds doable—as long as I don’t go looking for trouble,” Makenzie muttered to herself.
“Does he have the usual CEO ailments?” she mused aloud. “You know—out of ten CEOs, five are limping, three have fake scars, two have ulcers, and one has night blindness. If he’s got that whole no-touch rule with the heroine, that’s tricky.”
System 66 chuckled. “You’re pretty observant. But since your first assignment is crucial, I promise I’ve picked very refined male leads for this chaotic world. Theo has a severe ulcer that flares up under stress. He manages it alone.”
Makenzie nodded and searched for photos of Theo online. Her memory of his face was blurry.
Seeing the disciplined lines of his body and the noticeable maturity in his features in the photos made her blink. Instinctively, she asked, “Can I sleep with him? Stand-in roles usually come with that, right?”
System 66 hesitated. “Technically, yes—but you can’t. Their physical scenes are reserved for the heroine, usually for the reconciliation finale.”
“Well, then.”
While she kept chatting with System 66, the luxury minivan pulled up to Sunrise Court.
It was the most opulent neighborhood around, full of standalone villas with million-dollar price tags. Theo used the place to house his treasured possessions in lavish comfort.
From what Makenzie remembered, the night Theo bailed her out of the precinct and handed her his business card, he’d left her with one parting remark.
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