Phantom: Her Ruthless Villain (Ruthless Triad 5)

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.