And I…
Well, I was learning all sorts of things today about the difference between real life and the movies. Treadmill accidents are just horrific—not funny in real life.
And discovering your fiancé cheating?
There were no recriminations. No demands to know why. Not even a “How dare you?”
I just turned and ran. Ran as fast as I could from what I’d just seen.
“Olivia? Olivia? Where are you going?” I heard his mother call out in the distance.
I couldn’t answer. If I did, I knew I would lose it in front of all these high society people in this world where I didn’t belong no matter what last name had been pinned onto me.
I ran and ran—until I slammed into somebody’s chest.
It was so hard that I bounced off like some law of force from a long-forgotten Physics class.
I was wearing heels, and there was no doubt I would have fallen if the person I’d run into hadn’t wrapped two meaty hands around my upper arms, steadying me before I could tumble.
I blinked, realizing two things at once.
One, I was outside now, standing on the stairs in front of the party.
And two, the person I’d run into…it was Dawn’s friend. The criminal who had threatened Garrett after he refused to wash his money. What had he called him? A Dragon.
A new fear joined all the confusion swirling around inside my chest as I silently asked for the second time in the same day, Why is he here?
I mean, what possible reason could he have for showing up at an opera gala?
As if in answer to my unspoken question, he said, “Come with me. Dawn needs your help.”
5
PHANTOM
Phantom had done what he needed to do. Escorted the baby doctor from her uptown party to the hospital to see Dawn after Victor found out his ex had been mugged.
He could have left out after that. He’d already done more than enough for one day—including settling his angry grandma back in her Chinatown apartment, shooting eleven 24Ks in cold blood in retaliation for what their gang had done to the third Silent Triad Dragon, Han, and then fetching the mesmerizing doctor from that swanky AF Upper East Side party.
He’d known as soon as Victor got that call that he’d need somebody he trusted to check over the baby. And Olivia Glendaver was the best baby doctor he knew—granted, she was the only baby doctor he knew. But still, he’d bet his stake in VIP Bai3 that there wasn’t anybody else on staff with a better bedside manner.
So yeah, he’d done his part just by getting her here. He should bounce to the apartment he kept on the Upper West Side and take care of other business until Victor needed him again.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he lingered by the closed door of Dawn’s VIP suite until the doc emerged still wearing her evening gown from the gala—just underneath a white coat some nurse had handed her.
“Oh! You’re still here!” she said when she found Phantom standing there like a mountain who didn’t know what to do with itself.
She didn’t run straight into him this time, but she backed up a few steps as if she had. “Hello again.”
He shifted from wingtip to wingtip, weirded out by all the feelings popping off inside his chest just because she was talking to him. He’d never been shy a day in his life. Or nervous. But Olivia Glendaver had him struggling to get words out.
He finally managed two: “Dawn okay?”
Olivia answered in a reassuring rush, “Yes. I can’t give you any details about the exam, of course. But I will say, don’t worry, both she and the baby are unharmed. Thank goodness…”
Her breath hitched on those last two words, and it sounded suspiciously like she was trying not to cry.
“Anyway, thank you for coming to get me. It was lovely to see Dawn again and just amazing to hear about her chosen career path. I can see now that becoming a doctor wasn’t for her, and it seems like she’s right where she should be.”
Phantom narrowed his eyes. “You okay?”
She gave her head a little shake and plastered on a smile. Phantom wasn’t intuitive or anything close to empathetic, but even he could tell the smile was a terrible patch job. All teeth and it didn’t make it anywhere near her sad eyes.
“It’s been a long day. I’m going to….” The shoddy smile job crumbled off her face. “I’m going to go.”
With that, she turned and got in an elevator like they didn’t have anything left to say.
Which he supposed they didn’t. Their business was done now.
The elevator doors closed, disappearing her—probably forever since Victor would undoubtedly take Dawn with him back to Rhode Island. The NYC doctor’s services would no longer be required, so no need to follow her. No need at all—oh, who was he kidding?