Phantom: Her Ruthless Fiancé: 50 Loving States, Kentucky (Ruthless Triad)

by Theodora Taylor

  Hak-kan talked about Victor all the time. And it felt like, between Skylar and me, we’d managed to tell him every single story about growing up as Glendavers in Kentucky.

  But he’d only brought up his gay brother twice. And both times had been in response to direct questions. Also, he never talked about his parents, other than mentioning once that they were retired.

  “Is it because they’re not Christians?” Skylar asked. “Is he planning to take you home for one of their holidays like—what is that one in February? Chinese New Year?”

  “Lunar New Year,” I corrected. “And I don’t know…probably not.”

  “Probably not?” Skylar gaped at me. “So you’re going to marry him without meeting his people? His people are going to let you marry him without meeting you?”

  I tilted my head with a wince. “I don’t think the word ‘let’ is even in Hak-kan’s vocabulary. And I’m sure he has his reasons for not introducing me to his family.”

  Skylar raised her eyebrows. “I dunno, sis. I know I’m not supposed to comment on racial matters I don’t necessarily understand. But this feels an awful lot like how Dad never took you around to meet Great Grandma at the home before she passed. I just want to make sure you’re not marrying into a family that will make your life harder than it needs to be. At least Garrett’s people were accepting of you from the start.”

  I snorted. And the words, “Sure, so accepting,” slipped out sarcastic and bitter as I started us walking again.

  “What do you mean?” Skylar demanded, almost jogging to keep up with my much longer stride. “Those people were nothing but lovely to you. It’s not the Eastons’ fault that their son couldn’t keep it in his pants.”

  “They’re probably not mad about it either,” I answered Skylar, my tongue franker than usual. “I mean, Leighton is everything they’d want in a daughter-in-law: pretty, blonde, the stepdaughter of a powerful man.”

  I shook my head. “Garrett’s parents were accepting of me because they had to be, and later on, it was in their financial interest to be. But they weren’t ecstatic about it. Parents are never ecstatic about their son bringing someone who looks like me home. That’s just how it is for me—for many black women in America who date outside their race. So no….”

  My heart shrank a little. “Hak-kan is probably not going to introduce me to his family because he doesn’t want to upset them…or me.”

  Skylar’s eyes softened. “Oh, sis…I’m…well, we’re doing a validation series of workshops at church, so I’m just going to say, ‘I can imagine that’s been very hard for you. I mean—sorry for my language—but that sucks.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Thanks. It does kind of suck when I let myself think about it, and actually, that’s the exact right response.”

  “I know!” Skylar replied, widening her eyes. “I tried it with Mama the other day, and she asked me if I’d been replaced by one of those space worms—like in the body-snatching movies. Then she said….”

  Skylar pulled out a dead-on in personation of our mother’s arch southern tones to quote, “If so, keep the worm. I like this version of you much, much better.”

  Skylar and I were just about falling into each other, laughing when we reached Hak-kan and my father, who were saying their goodbyes on the paved sidewalk between the golf course and the gravel parking lot.

  “What’s got you girls all giggly?” Dad asked.

  “Oh, girl stuff, you wouldn’t even begin to understand,” Skylar answered with a dismissive wave. “Phantom, is it already time for you to go? I’m so sorry you can’t join us for lunch at the club.”

  “Sure, me too. Those tiny triangle sandwiches are my favorite.” Hak-kan answered Skylar in his patented style that infused every single word with so much sarcasm that no one could possibly think he meant any of it.

  But he looked pretty sincere when he turned to me and said, “I’m going to miss you, beautiful. But I’ll call you every day.”

  “I’m going to miss you too,” I answered, realizing as I said it that it wasn’t a lie or part of the show we were putting on for my father.

  We kissed. A fleeting press of the lips that didn’t even come close to the ones we shared that morning in bed. Then he was gone with a wave, leaving Skylar and me behind with Dad.

  “Well, I have to scoot off too,” Dad said. “Got a few meetings scheduled before the holiday break. But Livvy, could you come by the house for a squeeze-in tomorrow? Maybe around 2 pm when Muffy won’t be there? She’s still a little sore about what happened at the fox hunt afterparty.”

  My sister, who stood just outside our dad’s field of vision, dipped her head and snickered silently.

  She was still highly tickled by the memory of Hak-kan and me unexpectedly stealing all of “poor Leighton’s thunder” as Muffy had so angrily put it outside the earshot of the fox hunt party guests. And Skylar’s hidden glee made me have to bite my lip to keep from laughing too.

  But I found myself not quite so amused when I turned my gaze back to my dad. “How about breakfast or lunch?”

  “What?” Dad blinked, much like me, when Hak-kan said something seemingly out of the left field.

  “Skylar and I have been doing it your way with squeeze-ins for years,” I clarified. “I prefer to meet over breakfast or lunch—not outside your house for however long it takes you to tell me my ex just knocked up your stepdaughter. So how about we do it my way this time. Lunch at the club, like I’m a human being worthy of your time.”

  “I tell you, you’d think I’d grown five arms the way Dad was staring at me,” I relayed to Hak-kan on the phone that night. “He’s just not used to a version of me who knows how to stand up for herself.”

  “Badass,” he said. I could hear the smile in his voice even though we were now hundreds of miles apart. “And what did Drew say?”

  I answered in an impression that was almost as good as the one Skylar did of Mom. “Well…well…breakfast it is! I’ll have my assistant make us a reservation at the club.”

  Speaking of Skylar. “Maybe my sister was right. She said you’re a bad influence on me.”

  “I do have a habit of sowing seeds of dissension wherever I go,” Hak-kan agreed with zero remorse. “It’s my superpower.”

  I laughed. “Oh, did you inherit that superpower from your parents?”

  “Nah, I don’t think so,” he answered, his tone a little less amused. “Well, listen, I’m meeting up with Victor tomorrow to drive down to Luca’s in New Jersey for some other business, so I probably won’t be returning any texts. Meetings like those aren’t phone-friendly. But know, I’ll get back to you as soon as I’m done.”

  I couldn’t help but notice how fast he’d changed the subject at the mention of his family.

  “This is my last other business meeting for a while,” he assured me, mistaking the reason for my silence. “After that, it’s all VIP Bai3. Your Dad says he’ll know by Christmas whose deal he’s taking, and I’m not looking to embarrass you or your dad if he decides to go with us.”

  Other business—that was what Hak-kan called his activities outside of VIP Bai3. The criminal kind that I’d decided not to care about from the first night we met.

  “I know…” I assured him.

  Then I asked, “Have you…have you thought about what happens after he decides?”

  Long silence. Then: “I don’t think or talk about futures I don’t have any control over. So I guess we’re going to have to wait and see.”

  Wait and see…

  That felt like the theme of our relationship.

  And I found myself still feeling like I was in a limbo state when I sat down across from dad the next day for lunch.

  It was surprisingly pleasant. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a meal with my dad outside our annual Uganda trips. To be fair, we did spend quite a bit of time going over details for the next one. But then he turned the subject to my personal life.

  “So this Hak-kan Zhang—he�
��s an impressive young man. Undergrad at Brown, managed to squeeze in a part-time MBA from NYU. Very, very hard worker. He told me quite a bit about his personal background, and I was surprised to hear how much you two had in common. I mean, quite a bit more than you and Garrett—have I mentioned how much I disliked that guy? He always lets me win at golf.”

  I shook my head. “I thought you won with Hak-kan too.”

  Dad chuckled. “True, but that was just because your future husband’s pretty bad at golf. He promised to work on his game over the summer and smoke me the next time we met up—smoke me. Ha! I’ll tell you, you don’t see many guys like him around here. It made me feel dope. Like that young man I used to be when I joined the company in the eighties and decided I’d do things my own way without giving a crap about what others thought.”

  Dad’s voice took on a considering note. “You know, Livvy, I was pretty sure I’d be sticking with Easton even after VIP Bai3 submitted their proposal. But I’m sensing an opportunity here—an opportunity to shake things up. I mean, sure, Easton Whiskey agreed to keep me on as a consultant, but when I was playing golf with your beau, I got the feeling he was listening. Really listening to me.”

  I nodded in agreement. “He’s a surprisingly good listener.”

  “I also get the feeling that if I sell this company to Easton, they’ll keep it chugging along. But if I sell it to VIP Bai3, they’ll either run it into the ground or take it to a new level. And you know what? I think I want to do what young Drew would have done while also keeping Glendaver in the family. So I called that fiancé of yours this morning to let him know I’m fixing to accept his offer.”

  My heart thrilled at first for Hak-kan. But then, a pang of new guilt came over me. If Dad was basing his decision on still being able to keep Glendaver in the family, how would he feel when my fake engagement to Hak-kan came to an end?

  “Dad?” I asked, my voice tentative. “What would you do if Hak-kan and I didn’t end up married?”

  Dad raised his eyebrows. “Trouble in paradise? You two seemed really happy at the golf course.”

  I hesitated, torn between my dad and Hak-kan. But then, the story came pouring out of me, with some edits, of course. “The relationship became more” was substituted in for “we added in insanely hot sex.”

  But the rest remained the same. The living together. The liking each other way more than expected. The missing each other when we were apart.

  Dad nodded after I was done. “Well, you know our company was founded when it was illegal to drink. Scottish hillbillies don’t have fancy names for organized crime, but the Glendavers weren’t exactly saints before we decided to become legitimate after the fall of prohibition. Even then, there was a lot of carnage on the way to the top of the bourbon game. Half the reason I won’t ever sell Glendaver Castle is because I’m afraid of what a new owner would find buried in the backyard. So I don’t care about his past. But I’ll tell you this, Livvy….”

  Dad leaned forward like he was imparting a great secret. “Don’t discount like. I learned to love your mom, and I was in lust with Muffy. But I never truly liked them. Never talked about them as highly as you do this guy. I think you owe it to yourself to see where it goes. And you know, getting all the paperwork together and negotiating the deal points for this kind of sale takes a lot longer than me making a decision. I’m not going to sell him our family business unless you’re sure. Take some more time getting to know this guy, then call me when you know either way. I trust you in my gut and in my heart. So I’m going to make this your decision.”

  “Wow, Dad. Thank you for trusting me.” I blinked, unable to believe my CEO dad was putting the final decision in my hands. “And all the things you said about getting to know my fake fiancé and seeing where this leads…that’s really good advice.”

  “Yes, that was a nice fatherly moment, wasn’t it?” Dad asked, visibly preening. But then he grimaced. “I’m not one to give relationship advice, though. I’ll probably be going through my second divorce soon when Muffy finds out I chose you over her daughter. Luckily, I got that iron-clad prenup. That’s my other piece of relationship advice. But I guess that would be more for Hak-kan since he’s got way more assets than you. Hmm...forget I said that. Just sit tight and maybe hope he doesn’t say anything about a prenup if your marriage goes through.”

  All in all, it was an amazing meal, and by the time we were done, Dad declared, “That was way better than a squeeze-in. We’ll have to do it again next Thanksgiving.”

  I was still smiling ear to ear when the valet brought around the car I borrowed from my mom to come out to the club.

  And my heart thrilled when my phone lit up with Hak-kan’s number.

  “Hey, I just had lunch with my Dad. That’s such great news about him agreeing to sell the company to VIP Bai3. But hey, I was thinking—”

  “You need to stay there for a little while longer,” Hak-kan said, cutting me off. “Past Christmas. Maybe to New Year.”

  “What?” I asked. “I can’t stay here that long. I have patients.”

  “Okay, I’ll figure out the arrangements and call you back. Not from this number. So keep a lookout.”

  My blood ran cold at his terse instructions.

  “Hak-kan, what’s going on? I don’t understand. Will you just tell me—”

  He hung up before I could get out the rest of my questions.

  I didn’t hear from Hak-kan for two days. Two days of pacing back and forth with worry, wondering what was going on.

  And when an Unknown Number finally popped up on my phone, I raced to answer the call.

  “Hak-kan?” I asked, assuming it could only be him.

  “You can come back,” his voice was gruff with undertones of weariness. “I’m sending you a ticket, and two of my guys will pick you up at the airport and escort you to work for a couple of weeks. Don’t say what. Don’t ask me any questions. Just do this, O.”

  I have to say, I’ve never met anyone who wielded authority the way Hak-kan did, but I had to go against his command and ask him one question. “Are you…are you okay?”

  Silence. It stretched on so long that I checked to see if we were still connected.

  We were. So I said, “Hak-kan, can you talk to me? Just talk to me? Prove we’re not that couple like you said.”

  “I can’t do this with you,” he answered, his voice abrupt. “I know I said I would, and I’ll buy your dad’s company or whatever. But the rest…just get onto the plane.”

  My heart stopped, and my knees threatened to buckle.

  “Are you…?” The question hurt so bad, but I had to ask it out loud. “Are you breaking up with me?”

  Another silence. But this time, it only stretched over a moment. Not long at all.

  “There’s nothing to break up,” he answered. “We were only pretending from the start.”

  18

  So that was how we ended. With a late-night phone call and an emailed plane ticket for the next day.

  I…I didn’t know what to do. So I did as he told me.

  The flight back to New York was like one of those bad dreams….you know it’s a nightmare while you’re having it, but you still can’t figure out how to wake yourself up.

  The last embers of hope that I’d misunderstood him again, that he hadn’t seriously dumped me over the phone after getting what he wanted—well, that hope died when I saw Wayne waiting for me at the baggage claim.

  I knew then that this situation was real life, not a dream. If we were still a thing, he never would have sent someone else to come get me.

  Wayne and I walked out to the curb together, where another Silent Triad member was waiting for us behind the wheel of one of their fleet Audi’s.

  No more Upper Westside penthouse for me. They delivered me back to the Central Park East brownstone I hadn’t stepped foot in since November. And inside, I found all the suitcases his men had used to haul my things over to Hak-kan’s place. They sat in a neat row by the front stai
rs with matching Ugandan flag stickers attached to each of them—lest I imagined, even for a moment, that they belonged to someone other than me.

  “This neighborhood’s too nice for us to hang out on the stoop all night, so we’re going to take inside shifts downstairs,” the guard who’d introduced himself as Tom informed me after both him and Wayne followed me inside. “But if you need anything, text me,”

  “All I need are answers,” I told him. Fear and sadness whirred inside my chest. “How long will you be here? Following me around? Is Hak-kan planning to call or visit and explain any of this to me?”

  “Hak-kan?” Tom asked, furrowing his forehead.

  “That’s Phantom’s Chinese name,” Wayne explained. “Nobody uses it but her, though.”

  “Oh!” Tom answered. “Uh, well, Phantom’s in Hawaii right now, so we don’t know when he’ll be back. And as for how long we’ll be staying—only a week or two. This is just a standard phase-out now that you and Phantom aren’t together anymore.”

  …aren’t together anymore.

  The last three words hit me like scalpels nicking arteries. Their triad had a phase-out security protocol for all the women they dumped?

  It made me feel delusional. Like everything I had experienced with Hak-kan had merely been in my head—no, not Hak-kan, Phantom.

  I needed to start referring to him as Phantom because apparently, I wasn’t as special to him as I’d thought.

  “I’m sorry. We’re not trying to upset you or anything,” Tom told me. “We’re just following orders.”

  The same as me.

  Phantom had ordered me back to the original version of my life, so that was what I did.

  I threw myself into my work and pretended that I didn’t have one or two guards living in my downstairs bedroom and shadowing me everywhere I went.

  Hours became days, and I ended up joining Eric and Byron on for their first official date—along with about forty to fifty other people. We all came out for the fake December 30th “New Year’s Eve” party Eric throws for his friends every year since most medical professionals he knew well had shifts or procedures scheduled on actual New Year’s Eve—especially us OBs. Moms loved to schedule C-sections for the last and first days of the year. And quite a few of them ended up in surprise labor on New Year’s Eve after too much celebration.