But even Victor didn’t prioritize the party everyone had come here for.
His cousin’s eyes widened when he saw the woman on Phantom’s arm. And he pushed through the crowd to sign, “Why didn’t you tell me who your fiancé was?”
Good question. Phantom tried to think of an answer, any answer but the truth—which was that he didn’t know how long he’d have with Olivia, and he hadn’t wanted to share her with anyone else.
They were fake engaged, but they’d only been dating a month. And Olivia thought the intimate relationship part of it was just for shits and giggles. She had no idea he was playing to win.
Case in point, she stepped in with an obviously prepared explanation before Phantom could.
“Our marriage promise happened so fast, I don’t think he thought about it,” Olivia whispered, signing in ASL along with her words.
Victor stared at her, as did Phantom.
“You speak ASL?” Victor asked for the both of them.
“Just enough to deliver babies,” Olivia admitted with a wince, still signing. “And I don’t know the version you were speaking before. Is it CSL?”
“Yes,” Victor answered her in ASL.
Then, though he’d chastised Phantom at least 100 times about using Chinese sign language in front of Dawn, who also didn’t understand it, Victor switched to CSL to ask Phantom, “Have you taken her to meet Grandmother?”
Phantom tilted his head at Victor.
Three years. He’d dated the woman he thought he might marry for three years, and Victor never once suggested taking her to meet their grandmother.
But here was his cousin asking him about that after just three minutes of talking to Olivia.
“They already met,” Phantom answered, also in CSL.
And Victor lifted his eyebrows with so many questions in his eyes—questions Phantom wouldn’t answer, even in CSL.
Luckily, Dawn called out, “Victor? Victor, where are you?” before his cousin could grill him any further.
Just like always with Dawn, Victor’s attention immediately laser-focused on her. He pulled out his phone and sent a text message to answer her question before motioning for everyone to get in position.
Phantom strung an arm around Olivia’s shoulders and guided her to stand near the front of the crowd with Victor.
“I'm so curious about Phantom’s fiancée,” Dawn, who couldn’t see them yet, said as she waddled down the stairs. “I mean, what kind of woman looks at Phantom and says, ‘yeah, sign me up for a lifetime with that guy. I love nonstop grouchiness. And maybe if I wait a couple of decades, one day I might actually see him smile’….”
Dawn stopped talking when she saw all the people waiting for her at the bottom of the steps—including a glowering Phantom.
“Surprise!” everyone but him yelled.
The party only went downhill from there. Phantom had stuck by Olivia’s side out of solidarity at the shindig in Kentucky. And he did so again at the baby shower in Rhode Island—this time to swat people off her like flies.
Amber kept on slinking over to ask Olivia for help with things. Even though Phantom knew for a fact the suddenly helpless blind mafia wife had single-handedly taken down would-be armed killers with her advanced fighting skills and moguls with her divorce cases.
Eventually, Phantom got sick of it and said, “I can assign one of my men to assist you if you’re really too feeble to do any of this shit yourself.”
Amber turned her face to scowl in his general direction, “Geez Louise, Butch, I’m just trying to catch up with my favorite OB.”
“Go ahead, catch up,” Phantom offered. “I’ll wait.”
Guess that wasn’t an option Amber liked. She walked off, her stick tapping, without another word.
“Wow,” Olivia said after she left. “She’s always been a little edgy, but I’ve never seen her that riled up.”
Phantom shrugged. “She doesn’t like me. Neither does Dawn. Most women don’t.”
“Why not?” Olivia asked, sounding honestly confused.
Instead of answering, Phantom cupped her face and dropped a kiss on that beautiful mouth of hers and let her know, “You’re adorable, O.”
Even more annoying than Amber was that brother of Dawn’s. He came over just as the party was ending to introduce himself to Olivia and say hi to Phantom, with a “Hey man, long time no see.”
He was one of those annoyingly affable types. Friendly, flirty, and with those accessible good looks that women loved. Like a taller, younger half-black, half-Korean, hard of hearing Paul Rudd.
He was also bi. But he made it clear which one of them he was really here to talk to when he turned to Olivia to say, “Dawn was just telling me that you founded a Women with Disabilities clinic and work there as an OB. As a member of the hearing impaired community, I just wanted to come over here and thank you for your service. We need more people like you out there, allying with us.”
Olivia demurred like she always did with compliments.
Phantom had to work to keep his fists down by his sides as he watched them talk. This bitch had asked his heavily pregnant sister about Olivia? And he could just bet Dawn forgot to mention that she belonged to Phantom.
Unfortunately, Luca Ferrarro had to choose that moment to pull him away to get ready for the Bieber-posal.
Ugh!
Honestly, he was beginning to see why Dawn liked that word so much.
Victor was his cousin. And Phantom would be loyal until the day he died. So along with Luca Ferraro, he provided backup dancer moves for Victor’s totally out of character Bieber-posal. Meanwhile, Olivia cheered along with everyone else they’d asked to stick around after the shower was done and the other guests left.
But he had to admit, he felt some kind of way about the fact that Byron was cheering right next to her. And laughing. Like a millennial plotting to steal what was his.
He also didn’t like how great they looked standing next to each other. Tall and sophisticated—like one of Eric’s memes: If Black Excellence Were Two People.
Dawn accepted Victor’s proposal, but Phantom almost felt relieved when her and Byron’s DEA agent father decided to put up a big fuss. That meant Phantom and Victor got to haul him to the front door and kick his ass out.
Victor was all about Dawn after that, but Phantom made a beeline to Byron to tell him it was time for him and his mom to get out of their house too. Sure, they’d both defended Dawn’s decision to marry Victor, but Phantom didn’t mind being petty….
He stopped in the party room’s entrance when he saw that everyone had gathered around Dawn to comfort her about the father they’d just ejected.
Everyone, save for two people.
Olivia was nowhere to be found. And neither was Amber.
Fuck.
16
It was pretty easy to find them. The Rhode Island mansion’s kitchen lay just off the living room, and beyond that, there was a laundry room. Perfect place for an intervention.
Fortunately for him, despite Amber’s status as the wife of the Ferraro family’s Don, she was still a total amateur. Phantom would have turned a dryer on himself, maybe even the washing machine too.
But Amber’s voice floated back to him loud and clear in the otherwise silent room she’d pulled Olivia into to talk.
“We just wanted to help you. How did he get you to agree to marry him? Blackmail? Threats? Oh my God, is Butch holding somebody you love hostage?"
“No,” Olivia answered with a laugh. “He just asked me to marry him. No tricks.”
“And you said yes? Why? You’re way out of his league.”
Phantom had been about to walk in there and break this thing up, but he paused, wanting…needing to hear her reaction to that question. He was curious about the answer himself.
“What do you mean by that?” Olivia asked, her voice suddenly hardening.
“What do you think I mean? You’re wonderful in every way from what I can hear, and he’s a trained pitb
ull—only good for killing and hurting.”
Okay, letting the conversation continue had been a mistake. He should have gone in there as soon as he heard them talking. Phantom knew that now.
Because after Amber said that, all he could do was stand at the door, paralyzed by fear.
He’d worked to keep this part of his life separate from what he had with Olivia. But now Amber was telling her the truth—the whole truth about who he was outside the paradise they’d made in his penthouse.
And Amber kept going, “I’m pretty sure the only reason he gets to be a Dragon is that Victor’s his cousin—”
“I’m going to stop you right there,” Olivia said, her tone disgusted.
Mirroring nausea popped off in Phantom’s own stomach because he’d known this would be how she’d react to the real him.
He inwardly cursed himself for accepting that blow job. He should have kept her at his apartment. He should never have brought her to this party. Now she’d probably call things off or insist on living somewhere other than his place—
“I understand you’re an East Coaster through and through,” Olivia said to Amber, interrupting his panicked thoughts. “But in Kentucky, where I’m from, we do not insult future husbands to their fiancée’s face. I could unleash some opinions about your husband, who I was somewhat concerned was keeping you prisoner when we first met. And as cute as that performance was, I’m fairly sure Victor must have done something pretty atrocious to Dawn if his proposal had to be prefaced with a full-out performance of ‘I’m Sorry’ by Justin Bieber.”
“I’m not trying to insult—”
Olivia kept going, running right over Amber’s response. “My fiancé came out to Kentucky and asked me to marry him in front of my family. He’s been nothing but kind and protective and understanding ever since. And as for his Dragon status, I’ve watched him drop everything to help Victor and Han several times in November and December alone. From what I’ve seen, he always shows up when people need him—even people like Dawn, who don’t appreciate him. And no offense to your husband, Luca obviously didn’t practice as hard as he did to make sure the proposal went off without a hitch. Obviously.”
“Now you’re bringing my husband’s dance moves into it?” Amber asked, her voice pitching high with insult. “That fiancé you’re defending threatened to kill anybody who posted his performance on the internet.”
“And?” Olivia retorted. “Are you telling me your saintly husband hasn’t threatened worse?”
“I mean, sure but Butch—”
“But what, Amber? Because I hate to bring up your extreme pretty privilege, but you’re beginning to sound a lot like the catty girls I went to high school with—the ones who made fun of me because I was dark-skinned and acted differently from them. And, you know, I’m fairly sure my ex-boyfriend’s friends thought he was way out of my league too. Maybe they also tried to pull this intervention crap with him.”
Phantom shook his head in amazement. Olivia had said crap. She had to be really pissed.
Amber must have come to the same conclusion as him. Her voice sounded a lot less know-it-all when she said, “I’m not...I wasn’t trying to...”
“Then don’t. Check your privilege and do better,” Olivia answered. “And his name is Phantom. Please have the common decency not to call him by some random name you made up in the future. While I appreciate all the money you and Luca have donated to the clinic, I will not abide that kind of disrespect of my fiancé.”
Loyalty. No questions. That was his policy. He’d even gone to bat for Han to try to talk his woman Jazz out of being pissed at him. But he’d never in a thousand years would have expected anyone to defend him, especially behind his back.
Phantom’s heart softened with appreciation and shock.
Meanwhile, Amber made some sounds that Phantom could only describe as sputtering.
Maybe the lawyer wasn’t done with the conversation, but his doctor was. Olivia came pushing out of the swinging door like a righteous ebony Valkyrie a second later.
But she stopped short when she saw Phantom standing there.
“Hak-kan!” Her face fell. “Did you hear all of that? Don’t be upset. I don’t think Amber meant—”
Now it was his turn to cut her off. With a deep kiss. One he didn’t end, even when Amber followed Olivia out of the room. She looked pretty fucking sheepish as she sticked her way back to the kitchen entrance. But he was too busy kissing the hell out of Olivia to care.
Olivia returned his kiss at first but then pulled away. “Wait, were you serious about having a gay brother you could set Eric up with?”
“Yeah…” Phantom answered carefully. “But I don’t think he’s Eric’s type.”
“Good!” she said. “Because I was talking to Byron while you were gone, and he was just about to give me his number to give to Eric when you came out. I think they’d be perfect for each other. He’s smart and charming, and being a cop who’s buddy-buddy with two different mafia gangs makes him just edgy enough to satisfy Eric’s bad-boy requirement, I believe. And I bet he has a tattoo hidden somewhere we can’t see. Maybe two or three. Plus, Eric loves bi guys—he says he likes to be chosen.”
Phantom lifted his eyebrows….
Then asked both her and himself, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Okay, great, let me just go get his number,” she said, pulling away.
This woman…
Phantom’s heart did something wholly new in his chest as he watched her go hunt down Byron’s number for her best friend.
She’d cheered him on and only talked to another guy to get his number for her best friend. Plus, she’d out-argued the toughest lawyer he’d ever met. For him.
She’d spoken so highly of his Loyalty No Questions policy. And he had to admit, it hadn’t always been easy. He’d had opinions—a whole lot of them—as he watched Victor and Han do crazy shit to keep their women.
But now….
Now he understood why.
And he wondered—yeah, he had to wonder just how obsessed he’d get before this was all said and done.
17
OLIVIA
A few days after our shower debut, Hak-kan and I found ourselves back in Kentucky at the Glendaver Country Club, playing a round of golf with Dad and Skylar. (The only thing my father loved more than squeeze-ins were visits centered around his favorite past-time at his favorite golf course.)
Skylar had warned us that it was in the 30s and spitting down freezing rain right before we got on the plane. But ever since we’d arrived, the weather had been on a warmish streak, giving us low sixties in the days leading up to Christmas.
Typical Kentucky weather. As any local would tell you, we could have all four seasons in the same week. But in this case, I couldn’t help but think what Eric called “The Universe” was looking out for us.
It being warm enough to golf gave Hak-kan the perfect opportunity to get in some FaceTime with Dad.
And as it turned out, I had more of my mom’s and Skylar’s Wives Who Lunch instincts than I thought.
When Dad started peppering Hak-kan with follow-up questions about the prospectus VIP Bai3 had submitted in their bid to buy Glendaver, I took my sister by the arm and asked her to “remind me” about a few strokes. And we managed to lag behind them for the rest of the game.
“Well, it’s going better than I expected—at least from afar,” Skylar observed as we trailed our father and Hak-kan to the last three holes. “I didn’t know how Dad would take your new fiancé’s lack of manners—but then, I suppose Great Granddaddy was a little rough around the edges too.”
“Hak-kan’s not at all like him,” I insisted to Skylar. “Your great grandfather was a flaming racist who spat tobacco and cussed up a storm and, by all accounts, would be spinning in his grave if he could see us right now.”
I didn’t wait for Skylar to confirm or deny, just pressed on with, “I mean, we all know he’d die of a heart attack all over again if he
’d lived to see his grandson not only adopt an African orphan but also entertain the notion of selling the family company to a bunch of squint-eyes—that’s how he referred to Asians by the way. I read that memoir he had commissioned from front to back, even if Dad won’t let it see the light of day.”
“Okay, okay, I get it. Your fiancé isn’t anything like Great Granddaddy,” Skylar cast me an irritated look. “But I swear, he must be wearing off on you. You’re as prickly as a pincushion these days.”
I opened my mouth to point out the many differences between prickly and not wanting my fiancé compared to a virulent racist.
But before I could, Skylar asked, “Is Phantom’s whole family so ah…direct?”
I paused, a bit of the self-righteous steam deflating out of me as I admitted, “I don’t know.”
“Wait,” Skylar said, grabbing my arm and stopping our forward progress. “Y’all are planning to get married, and you still haven’t met his family?”
I shifted the one golf club I’d decided to carry from hand to hand. I’d never been a fan of lying. I didn’t even allow myself any of Minerva’s special potions for my little high school crushes because it felt too much like cheating.
But I hadn’t exactly explained to my sister that I was only pretending to be engaged to Hak-kan so that his company could buy Dad’s instead of Eastons.
So, it was challenging to walk the fine line between fact and fiction as I answered, “Well, there’s that one cousin of his—I met him back in November, and we went to a baby shower at his house about a week ago. And, as we told you back at Thanksgiving, I helped his grandmother get situated after her fall. But other than that, no.”
Skylar shook her head. “So, he’s met your family twice, and he’s going back early to be with his own family for the holidays, but he didn’t invite you—even though they live in New York?”
“No,” I’d admitted, feeling a little weird now about the situation myself.
Phantom: Her Ruthless Fiancé: 50 Loving States, Kentucky (Ruthless Triad) Page 12