Just like always with Dawn, Victor’s attention immediately laser-focused on her. He pulled out his phone and sent a text message to answer her question before motioning for everyone to get in position.
Phantom strung an arm around Olivia’s shoulders and guided her to stand near the front of the crowd with Victor.
“I'm so curious about Phantom’s fiancée,” Dawn, who couldn’t see them yet, said as she waddled down the stairs. “I mean, what kind of woman looks at Phantom and says, ‘yeah, sign me up for a lifetime with that guy. I love nonstop grouchiness. And maybe if I wait a couple of decades, one day I might actually see him smile’….”
Dawn stopped talking when she saw all the people waiting for her at the bottom of the steps—including a glowering Phantom.
“Surprise!” everyone but him yelled.
The party only went downhill from there. Phantom had stuck by Olivia’s side out of solidarity at the shindig in Kentucky. And he did so again at the baby shower in Rhode Island—this time to swat people off her like flies.
Amber kept on slinking over to ask Olivia for help with things. Even though Phantom knew for a fact the suddenly helpless blind mafia wife had single-handedly taken down would-be armed killers with her advanced fighting skills and moguls with her divorce cases.
Eventually, Phantom got sick of it and said, “I can assign one of my men to assist you if you’re really too feeble to do any of this shit yourself.”
Amber turned her face to scowl in his general direction, “Geez Louise, Butch, I’m just trying to catch up with my favorite OB.”
“Go ahead, catch up,” Phantom offered. “I’ll wait.”
Guess that wasn’t an option Amber liked. She walked off, her stick tapping, without another word.
“Wow,” Olivia said after she left. “She’s always been a little edgy, but I’ve never seen her that riled up.”
Phantom shrugged. “She doesn’t like me. Neither does Dawn. Most women don’t.”
“Why not?” Olivia asked, sounding honestly confused.
Instead of answering, Phantom cupped her face and dropped a kiss on that beautiful mouth of hers and let her know, “You’re adorable, O.”
Even more annoying than Amber was that brother of Dawn’s. He came over just as the party was ending to introduce himself to Olivia and say hi to Phantom, with a “Hey man, long time no see.”
He was one of those annoyingly affable types. Friendly, flirty, and with those accessible good looks that women loved. Like a taller, younger half-black, half-Korean, hard of hearing Paul Rudd.
He was also bi. But he made it clear which one of them he was really here to talk to when he turned to Olivia to say, “Dawn was just telling me that you founded a Women with Disabilities clinic and work there as an OB. As a member of the hearing impaired community, I just wanted to come over here and thank you for your service. We need more people like you out there, allying with us.”
Olivia demurred like she always did with compliments.
Phantom had to work to keep his fists down by his sides as he watched them talk. This bitch had asked his heavily pregnant sister about Olivia? And he could just bet Dawn forgot to mention that she belonged to Phantom.
Unfortunately, Luca Ferrarro had to choose that moment to pull him away to get ready for the Bieber-posal.
Ugh!
Honestly, he was beginning to see why Dawn liked that word so much.
Victor was his cousin. And Phantom would be loyal until the day he died. So along with Luca Ferraro, he provided backup dancer moves for Victor’s totally out of character Bieber-posal. Meanwhile, Olivia cheered along with everyone else they’d asked to stick around after the shower was done and the other guests left.
But he had to admit, he felt some kind of way about the fact that Byron was cheering right next to her. And laughing. Like a millennial plotting to steal what was his.
He also didn’t like how great they looked standing next to each other. Tall and sophisticated—like one of Eric’s memes: If Black Excellence Were Two People.
Dawn accepted Victor’s proposal, but Phantom almost felt relieved when her and Byron’s DEA agent father decided to put up a big fuss. That meant Phantom and Victor got to haul him to the front door and kick his ass out.
Victor was all about Dawn after that, but Phantom made a beeline to Byron to tell him it was time for him and his mom to get out of their house too. Sure, they’d both defended Dawn’s decision to marry Victor, but Phantom didn’t mind being petty….
He stopped in the party room’s entrance when he saw that everyone had gathered around Dawn to comfort her about the father they’d just ejected.
Everyone, save for two people.
Olivia was nowhere to be found. And neither was Amber.
Fuck.
16
It was pretty easy to find them. The Rhode Island mansion’s kitchen lay just off the living room, and beyond that, there was a laundry room. Perfect place for an intervention.
