Garrett opened his mouth to argue. Closed it. “You’re right again. And please believe me that I’m sorry for how things turned out—that I left you hurt and vulnerable. That’s why I so urgently needed to talk to you. There are some things you should know about the man you’re now engaged to.”
A ping of guilt went off in the back of my head. Just like something had kept me from picking up the phone for weeks to tell my father that Phantom and I had broken up, I couldn’t bring myself to let Garrett know that my so-called fiancé and I were no longer together.
“Things like what?” I asked him as opposed to fessing up about getting dumped.
“First of all, he’s dangerous and violent. He had quite the reputation among those who knew him before this current businessman incarnation that he used to woo you.”
I couldn’t begin to say why, but that need to defend Phantom came right on back as it’d never left. “And how do you know all of this?”
“I told you, he asked me to wash his money.”
“And you also mentioned that he said you owed him money because you refused. That doesn’t sound like something he would do. Or logical even.”
Garrett stopped walking and looked from side to side. “Okay, I wasn’t completely forthcoming with you. I have a problem with gambling. A problem that led me down some dark roads after my parents cut me off. I did wash money. For The Silent Triad, the 24K, and a few other outfits. But then I lost big, and I asked a few of my clients for personal loans….”
“What?” I asked, unable to believe he’d kept all of this from me while we were together. “How are you still alive?”
Garrett bristled. “Of course, I offered to pay them back. And I’m doing that. It helps that The Silent Triad cleared me of my debt—thanks to you.”
I shook my head, finding these new secrets hard to process. But most of all, I wondered, “Why are you telling me all of this now?”
A guilty look replaced the defensive one on Garret’s face. “You’re right yet again. I should have told you earlier, explained everything, and why I was so stressed out. Instead, I began making poor decisions—like the loans and Leighton. I realized that almost as soon as I saw you walk into that party with Phantom.”
He grasped my arm, his eyes pleading with me as he said, “I couldn’t believe you’d fallen into his grips because of what I’d done. And I knew then that I had to warn you about him. But you didn’t return any of my texts or calls. And whenever I tried to visit you in person, those Chinese thugs he posted outside your clinic turned me away.”
A bitter cast came over his face. “But I kept on trying. I knew he couldn’t stop me from seeing you forever. And I have to make this right.”
I let out a shaky breath. Somehow it hadn’t occurred to me that the guards were also responsible for keeping Garrett away from me.
But I also had to remind him, “There is no making this right. You lied. You’ve been lying to me about the state of your finances the entire time we’ve been dating. And then you cheated on top of that.”
His lips twisted in an ugly sneer. “Do you think he’s any better? He obviously would have said anything, done anything to get what he wanted. I was just doing little jobs for the Russians when he approached me ten years ago. He’s the one who introduced me to all the Triads I’m now in trouble with—he said that he knew I needed money, and he didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“Wait a minute, he mentioned me?” I asked. “Ten years ago?”
Garrett jerked his head back. “You didn’t know that our connection was through you? When he swooped in right after our break up, I assumed he was an ex who never got over you….”
Garrett considered me with a new light in his eyes. “But maybe this was his plan all along. He and his partners had already acquired VIP Bai3 by then. I supposed he could have plotted to build a legitimate alcohol business and use you to pluck up Glendaver. And now…”
“He’s gotten exactly what he wanted,” I finished for Garrett. My stomach rolled, and several events began to click into place—including him dumping me as soon as my father agreed to the sale.
After all, Phantom didn’t know that I’d confessed everything to Dad and that he’d given me the final decision.
“My father called to tell me that your father had decided to take VIP Bai3’s offer,” Garrett said as if he were reading my mind. “That he’d chosen you over Leighton.”
“It wasn’t a choice between Leighton and me,” I insisted.
