Phantom: Her Ruthless Villain (Ruthless Triad 5)

She slid the iPad over to him. “Here’s everything fully executed. Glendaver is now officially an Easton Whiskey acquisition.”

Garrett’s eyes lit up, and he snatched the iPad from Olivia’s hands.

“Well, why didn’t either of us think of that in the first place?” he asked Olivia. As if this situation was just a simple failure on both their parts to scheme outside the box. “I don’t have to marry you. You don’t have to marry me. Win-win.”

“Yeah,” Phantom agreed. “I’m going to need you to win-win me an iron-clad NDA that you won’t testify against me or provide any information to the feds.”

Garrett considered his words, and you could just about see the calculations being made underneath all that Christian Bale ala American Psycho hair.

So Phantom was about zero percent surprised when he asked, “Why would I do that? You’re acting civilized now, but what’s to guarantee you won’t try to seek revenge if I grant your request?”

“I’m not like that anymore,” Phantom answered, his voice flat. “I don’t kill. I’m keeping on the straight and narrow. I just want my woman back.”

“Then, by all means, have her,” he answered, waving a magnanimous hand toward Olivia. “I’ll keep what I have on you close to guarantee my safety and ensure that you’ll be of service should I ever need monetary assistance again.”

Phantom frowned. “Monetary assistance?”

Garrett shrugged. “I gave most of my Easton Whiskey shares to the Russians, so I’ll barely be making anything from this sale. If marrying Olivia without a prenup is off the table, then I’ll need some kind of guarantee that you’ll cover me monetarily if I get in trouble again.”

Phantom expelled a long sigh. He’d forgotten how hard it was not to just pull out a gun and blast an irritating bitch in the face.

“Listen, man. I get that you want to make a deal, but I’m not negotiating with you on this. You can either give me the NDA or lose your parents. Because I might have turned over a new leaf, but my partners are another story. They’re not as legit as me, and when they find out that you’ve got something you’re trying to hang over my head, they’ll kill them to send you a message. And they’ll make it bad—probably send you some video so you’ll stay haunted at night even if you can get WITSEC to disappear you if you decide to rat.”

Now that threat got a visible reaction from Garrett.

“You’d—you’d kill my parents?” he asked, his voice shaking.

“Not me,” Phantom clarified. “Forces beyond my control if I don’t get that NDA, along with any and all files you’ve got on me.”

Garret shook his head, his eyes filled with utter shock. But then he smiled and said, “Yes, that’s a brilliant idea. Why didn’t I think of that?”

Phantom squinted, and Olivia seemed to be asking for both of them when she said, “What?”

“You can kill my parents—I want you to kill them in exchange for what I have on you,” Garrett answered Phantom, ignoring Olivia’s shocked look. “And my two older brothers too. They’ll all be together in the Hamptons next month for my Dad’s birthday. We always take a big sailing trip. If something happened to the boat, everyone would think it was tragic, but no one would be the wiser. I’ll pretend to be too sick to come up for the weekend, and then I’ll inherit everything.”

Olivia stared at her ex, her face completely aghast, but Phantom just nodded and gave Garrett an impressed look. “Greed is good. Okay, Michael Douglas, I see you. You just sealed the real deal.”

Garrett smiled broadly. “A pleasure doing business with the both of you.”

He scooted back from the table and made a move to get up but paused when Phantom asked, “Did you get that?”

“Did I get what?” Garrett asked.

“Wasn’t talking to you pencil-dick,” Phantom answered, at the same time a voice said, “Garrett, how could you?”

They all looked up to see Gerald Easton come in from the dining room’s kitchen entrance…along with two big white guys.

Garrett paled. “Dad? What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing?” his father demanded. “You’ve ruined everything!”

Phantom caught Olivia’s eye, reminding her with a gentle look that they’d agreed that she wouldn’t stick around for this next part.

He held his breath as he waited to see if she’d comply. Olivia was more responsible than most—that was pretty much why the situation with Garrett had escalated this far.

Beautiful heart like hers, he knew she could decide to advocate for her prick ex at the last moment. And Phantom wasn’t sure how he’d respond if she did.

But she stood up like she promised and left the room without looking back.

Good woman…he couldn’t wait to make her his wife tomorrow in the ceremony that was originally planned for her and Garrett.