Phantom: Her Ruthless Villain (Ruthless Triad 5)

Meanwhile, Garrett was still shaking his head and sputtering. He was obviously having trouble comprehending his father’s sudden appearance.

So Phantom generously caught him up. “Your dad’s a bit of a gambler too. He thought it was too good to be true when I bought all of his and your brother’s shares at market price and guaranteed that I’d sell them back for a dollar if you agreed to give me that NDA. He was sure you’d relent after I threatened him and your moms. And I figured you’d just say no. Turns out we were both overestimating you. I wasn’t expecting the whole murder reverse blackmail thing—nice plot twist, bro.”

“Do you know how much your utter disloyalty just cost us?” his father shouted.

Phantom couldn’t tell if he was more upset about the loss of his company or his son’s plan to off his whole family so that he could have all the Easton money to himself.

And just in case Garrett wasn’t clear on how bad he’d shit the bed, Phantom let him know, “I should tell you, the Russians also took my deal. So it looks like Glendaver will still be staying in the family—because now I’m the majority shareholder for Easton Whiskey.”

“What?” Garrett asked, his voice so high, it sounded like a shriek.

“I’ll never forgive you for this!” Gerald shouted at his son. His face was so red with anger, it looked like he was about to explode.

“I was only kidding! I can fix this. I can fix this, Dad.” Garrett promised his father.

Then he turned his whole body to glare at Phantom.

Phantom just rolled his eyes.

“Aw man, here it comes,” he said with a wry chuckle. “The part where you try to blackmail me again.”

Phantom’s prediction took some of the wind out of Garrett’s sails. And he sounded a lot less confident than he had before when he sputtered, “Well, I will give those files to the feds. If you don’t give my father back his stock, that’s what I’ll do.”

Phantom heaved another sigh. “Olivia and me already had this conversation, but okay, let’s roll the recap. Money laundering happens on a global, billions of dollars scale, but when’s the last time the money guy was the star witness in a federal case?”

Garrett looked to the side, trying and failing to remember and therefore proving Phantom’s point.

But then, he reset and said, “It doesn’t matter. I can be the exception!”

“Can you?” Phantom asked.

Garrett shifted from foot to foot. “Yes…yes, I can?”

But his voice was uncertain now, and his answer came out sounding like a question.

“You sure about that?” Phantom asked, lifting both brows. “Like, if you went upstairs to your computer and looked for that file marked ‘Open in Case of My Death,’ would it still be there? Or did somebody with a lot more evil minions at his disposal than you have it remote-deleted? Also, are you super sure that the hard drive you gave to Leighton is still at her place? I mean, she was pretty bitter when she found out you were planning to marry my woman and keep her as a mistress. I’m not sure she was the right person to trust with that particular assignment.”

Garrett looked from side to side, his expression filling with panic. “You’re bluffing….”

Phantom grinned and patted his chest with genuine appreciation. “Wow, Garrett, man, thank you. You’re setting me up for all the good lines. Okay, here goes….”

Phantom cleared his throat and declared, “If I was bluffing, would I hand you over to the Bratva guys whose money you failed to double?”

To punctuate his point, the Russian thugs who came in with Gerald stepped forward and grabbed Garrett by the arms.

“Pro-tip for next lifetime,” Phantom advised Garrett. “Criminals only look like they don’t abide by rules. Nobody likes a washer who’s willing to rat. And if you threaten one of us, you threaten all of us. Nyet?”

Only the two Russians laughed at his observation.

Gerald Easton shook his head bitterly. And Garrett proceeded to freak the hell out. “No! No! You can’t do this!”

He turned his desperate eyes to his father like the entitled brat he still was, no matter how much hair gel and designer clothes he’d used to cover it up. “Dad! Do something!”

Phantom flicked his cold, ruthless gaze over to the older Easton.

“You good?” he asked. He was more than willing to disappear the guy who barely raised this insufferable bitch too. But new leaf—he was trying to give people choices these days.

Gerald tightened his jaw and carefully averted his eyes. “Please, wait a few hours and make it look like a fall. I don’t want my wife to know just how low he sank after I made her stop giving him money. Unlike me, she’ll blame herself.”

“You got it,” Phantom agreed. “But let me do one thing first….”