CHAPTER 461: OVERESTIMATED

The woman’s body stiffened instantly.

"Luke, what are you talking about? Of course I’m Selina."

She let out an awkward laugh, and where neither of them could see, her eyes darkened with venom. "Maybe Snowball didn’t sleep well and got upset with me. That must be it. Maybe... maybe next time—"

"That’s fine."

Logan cut her off calmly, casting a meaningful glance at Luke before nodding slowly. "Maybe Snowball’s just tired. Let’s have him taken to rest."

Luke looked like he had something to say but shut his mouth.

The woman breathed a quiet sigh of relief, her eyes flickering. "Luke, I was just—"

"Relax, I was kidding," Luke waved it off with his usual carefree tone. "How could you not be Selina? I was just joking. Maybe Snowball had a rough night. Anyway, you’re not riding today. Hey, there’s a match over there—let’s go watch."

Only then did the woman seem to ease.

But the moment she was out of sight, Luke’s expression turned grim.

He kept glancing at Logan, trying to find a moment to speak, but couldn’t.

It was driving him crazy. What the hell was going on with this "Selina"?

...

At Jacob’s villa.

Jacob chuckled lightly. "They went to the stables today. Aren’t you curious, Miss Clark?"

Selina didn’t even glance his way. "Not at all."

Jacob smiled again and brought up another subject. "My father’s seventieth birthday is coming up. I’ll be taking you to the party. The invitation’s already been sent to Logan. I imagine, for old times’ sake, he’ll show up."

Selina raised an eyebrow, her tone sharp with meaning. "And what if I say something I shouldn’t at the party? Not worried about that, Mr. Carter?"

Jacob shook his head. "Even if you do, no one will believe you. Like I said—there’s no place for you by Logan’s side anymore. If you show up now, without status or backing, people will just assume you’re the fake."

Selina scoffed. "And under what identity are you bringing me in?"

Old Mr. Carter’s birthday bash wasn’t some open event. It wasn’t a place just anyone could attend.

So how did Jacob plan to explain showing up with a woman who looked exactly like "Mrs. Reid"?

Jacob already had it planned. "You don’t need to worry about that, Miss Clark. I wouldn’t put you in harm’s way."

But that wasn’t the point. What he really wanted was for her to see the truth.

Selina turned her face away. "Get lost."

She wasn’t that concerned. Jacob might not realize it, but she did.

This afternoon, at the stables, the imposter was bound to slip up. Exposing whoever was behind the fake Selina was part of the plan—and having the imposter make mistakes helped that.

Like Jacob said, people only believe what they see with their own eyes.

But if the fake messed up badly enough that people began to doubt—before Selina even returned?

Because she knew, without a doubt, Snowball would only let her near.

The imposter might look identical—but the horse wouldn’t go near her.

And people would start to wonder.

...

Back at the stables.

The woman had steered the conversation away from Snowball. She casually commented, "I didn’t expect Young Master Perez to win first place."

Sure enough, Luke looked at her in surprise. "You remembered his last name was Perez? I thought you’d totally forgotten."

The woman smiled gently. "Of course I remember. You once told me people always looked down on him, but what they didn’t realize was that his real talent wasn’t in business—it was in equestrian."

Though Luke was smiling, a shadow passed over his eyes.

Young Master Perez was a friend of his—part of the "rich but useless" second-gen crowd—and he had once introduced Perez to Selina.

It was true: no one in high society really paid attention to the youngest Perez sibling. His older sister was a genius, already set to inherit the Perez family fortune, so no one cared much about the youngest son.

Selina knew about him only because he was Luke’s friend.

But that’s exactly where the problem lay.

When Luke introduced him, he had only said: "He’s a friend of mine."

He never mentioned his last name was Perez, never said he was the youngest son of the Perez family.

Luke’s gut was twisting with unease. He made up an excuse and quickly went to find Logan.

Logan saw him rushing over and gave a subtle nod. "You caught it?"

"Caught what? Not Selina—wait..." Luke stopped mid-sentence as the meaning of Logan’s words clicked. He swallowed hard.

"Wait, are you saying...?"

Logan answered flatly, "Exactly what you’re thinking."

Luke froze in horror. A chill ran down his spine.

"She’s... she’s not Selina?!"

The thought had been circling in his head for a while—but it was so absurd, he kept dismissing it. After all, the woman looked exactly like Selina.

But she had cursed at Snowball. Snowball clearly disliked her. And more than once, she’d acted in ways that felt off to him.

Then, when she clearly stated "Young Master Perez," Luke finally realized something was wrong.

Still, he hadn’t thought it could be this bad.

"So... where’s the real Selina?"

Logan looked at him seriously.

"She’s okay, but..."

But I still haven’t found her.

Even Luke couldn’t miss the gravity of the situation now.

"So this imposter—she’s trying to take Selina’s place?"

"I get it now. No wonder she agreed to come to the stables. She wasn’t afraid of slipping up—because as far as everyone knows, there’s only one Selina. Even if she acts a little strange, no one would jump to ’impostor.’"

Luke gritted his teeth.

"And now it makes sense why she said Perez. She must’ve done her homework. She knew I’d mentioned that guy to Selina. But what she didn’t know is, I never told Selina his last name! She brought it up just to show me she ’remembered,’ but it backfired. That was her slip-up."

—The imposter had tried to prevent Luke’s suspicion by referencing a shared memory.

But what she didn’t realize was that Luke had never given Selina the guy’s full name.

That was her mistake.

Logan nodded. "You’re getting smarter."

"I’ve always been smart!" Luke shot back, before frowning again. "Have you gotten in contact with Selina? Can we find her?"

Logan took a deep breath, then turned and shared the secret message Selina had sent him.

The reason he hadn’t told Luke at first, and instead had him spend time around the imposter, was to see how far the impersonation could go—whether Luke would notice or not.

Clearly, he had overestimated the imposter.