The Legend of the Eight: The Twisted (Book 3)

7: Daddy's Girl

SEVEN: DADDY'S GIRL
APRIL 9
PHOEBE DOMINGO

THE ROOM WAS DARK WHEN Phoebe opened her eyes and the time on her phone read two-oh-seven in the morning. Across the room, Wil slept soundly (for once) and the other girls were back in their own rooms doing the same. The night was silent but try as she may, Phoebe could not fall asleep.

She rolled around in her bed, tossing and turning to find a comfortable position. But when she couldn't find one, she stopped suddenly and let out a stiff grunt.

Once she was sure she hadn't woken Wil up, Phoebe slipped out of her bed and tip-toed along the shag carpet in her socks, headed towards the door. Once out of her room, Phoebe continued her creeping upstairs and paused when she stood outside Drew and Liam's bedroom door.

It was open, just a few inches, and Phoebe pushed it enough so that she could slip in. Walking quietly across the floor so she didn't wake Liam, she reached Drew's bed and tapped his strong shoulder. He stirred awake and his olive eyes fluttered open to see her standing above him.

"Fi?" he whispered and his thick brows furrowed in confusion. "What—"

"I can't sleep," she told him quietly, respectful of a sleeping Liam. "Can I stay with you?"

Drew's face softened with a smile and he shifted so he was sitting up. At first, Phoebe thought he might make room for her to climb into bed with him. But instead, he stood up and stepped into his slippers.

"Come on. Let's go for a walk."

"AND THEN WALTER TOLD ME that he died. Just a few weeks before I was born."

Phoebe had just finished recounting to Drew her conversation with Walter Diamond nights ago. She'd kept those details to herself partly out of sadness and partly out of confusion. She told Walter that learning about Alessandro's death didn't affect her but the truth was, she didn't know if she believed it. It was all so overwhelming and she didn't know how to talk about it with anyone—much less her boyfriend who lost his father less than six months ago.

"I'm sorry, darling," Drew sighed, taking her hand in his. They were sitting on a lounger by the pool out back, a knit blanket around them to keep them warm. "I know that's not what you wanted to hear.

Phoebe shrugged while she leaned back into Drew's chest. "If I'm being honest, I don't know what I wanted to hear about him. I think I just wanted to know something. I wanted to know that someone knew him. And Walter told me they used to be friends."

Drew pressed a kiss onto the back of her head and then rested his chin there.

"At least you know now," he said, searching for the silver lining. "Maybe now you can find some closure."

Phoebe nodded against him and let out another breath. As her mind wandered, she chuckled at the ridiculousness of some of her thoughts.

"What?" Drew asked her.

Phoebe almost didn't say anything but when she was with him, it was impossible not to spill everything on her mind.

"It's stupid," she said to him, blushing hard.

"Darling..."

"Okay fine," she agreed reluctantly. "But I don't want to freak you out, okay?"

He planted another kiss on her.

"You could never freak me out."

Forcing herself to trust him, Phoebe groaned before she confessed. "I had this crazy dream that I would find him one day. And when I did, he'd tell me that he never wanted to leave me or that he only did because it was some life-or-death situation and he had no other choice. And then we'd get to know each other and he'd be my dad and everything would be good. He could walk me down the aisle and be a grandfather to my kids one day. I never knew my grandparents. I'd like to change that for my kids, you know?"