Page 23 of My Fantasy Daddies

“If that girl is Esme’s sister…” Malcolm trailed off, shaking his head.“We need to clear this up with her as soon as we can.”

“Let’s wait for Ghost to get us a full report on Eloise,” I suggested, just as my phone rang.Hoping Ghost had gotten us something, I picked it up, only to see Trevor’s name on the screen.“What’s up, Pearson?”

“Tell me everything about the girl, Esme, you met at the club last night,” he demanded.

“Fuck off,” I snarled, jealousy bubbling inside me fast and angry.Old friend or not, I was already planning where I’d bury his body after I killed him.

“No, wait!”he yelled when I would have hung up.“I’m not interested in your girl.”

“Then why the fuck would you ask about her?”I gritted out while Parker and Malcolm seethed around me.

He blew out a harsh breath.“Her friend, Lia.I brought her home last night.But I had to leave to handle some shit with my kid, and Lia left.I have nothing to go on.No last name.No birthday.Not even what college she attends.The only way I have of tracking her down is the girl you dickheads were with last night.Please, man.I’ll do whatever you want, but I have to find this girl.She’s it for me, Benson.Lia is my one.”

Esme

Cursing stupid people, I left Papa’s office in a rush.My first thought was to call Amelia as soon as my father had told me what happened, but I’d left my phone in my room after Eloise had tried to confront me again.By then, Astro and Otto had been alerted to our earlier interaction and intercepted her.

While Otto ripped into Peter and Joseph for not being more alert around their charge, Astro escorted me down to Papa’s office.I wasn’t anxious about whatever punishment my parents might hand out for getting violent with Eloise, for the simple reason that they had never once punished either of us for anything.Ever.Their lack of parenting showed in big ways when it came to my elder sister.

No doubt it showed with me as well, but no one had blatantly said so.

I loved Papa andMamandearly.They weren’t bad people, and unlike Amelia’s family, they showed me how much I was loved and wanted.But they sucked as parents.

From the moment I first realized how truly unfit they were to be placed in such an important role of raising children, I’d promised myself if I ever had kids of my own, I would strive to do better.Admittedly, the bar was set incredibly low, but I’d raise my babies to have respect for others and not be spoiled little shits.

With punishment not being a topic I needed to concern myself with when it came to Papa, I’d sat and waited for him to tell me the real reason he wanted to speak with me in his office.He didn’t make me wait long, but I kind of wished he had.

What the fuck was I supposed to do with this knowledge?

How did I break this kind of news to my best friend?

Amelia told me her father had taken her stepsister and stepmother to Paris for the weekend.It was an attempt to make Elsa feel better since the dumb cunt had received yet another rejection letter for college admission.While in Paris, Elsa had gone to a club that got raided, and she’d been caught with coke.

Papa had powerful connections, and Elsa’s biological father had called in a favor in an attempt to help his daughter.But not only had Elsa been arrested, so was Amelia’s father.For selling and distributing drugs.

Now that I had a few more pieces of the puzzle, Jacob Durst being a drug dealer made sense.His mother, Amelia’s grandmother, controlled his finances with an iron fist.Rich their family might be, but Clarissa Durst was a tyrant when it came to their accounts.Her son didn’t have direct access to any of the family funds, but somehow he was able to spend money on his wife and stepchild like he had it to burn.

I wasn’t sure if this situation would help Amelia or cause her more pain.Papa had only told me about it because he cared for my best friend.How anyone could meet Amelia and not love her was mind-boggling to me.Her own family pretended like she didn’t exist, yet even Eloise adored her.

At least my bestie wouldn’t have to deal with her deadbeat dad any longer.He was going to be in a French prison for a few decades, at least.

Astro was waiting when I exited Papa’s office, the fact that I needed my guards more in my family’s home than outside of it more glaringly obvious than ever.Once I left for college, I didn’t want to come back to this place.It wasn’t that my life was hard.Far from it.I knew how privileged I was.But it wasn’t even close to the life I wanted for myself.I’d decided a long time ago that as soon as I got away from it—away from Eloise and everything that came with her—I wouldn’t look back.

“Lia okay?”Astro asked as we walked upstairs.

“I hope so.”

His lips twisted into an unhappy line.“We could make that entire family disappear.”

“Not unless she asks,” I reminded him.I wasn’t going to touch those motherfuckers unless Amelia either asked or she ever had bruises on her.In all our years of friendship, she’d never been physically abused, something I’d been watching for.One little scratch on Amelia was all it would have taken, and I would have sent my guards for Clarissa Durst’s cold heart.

“She’s too sweet to ever consider that an option, and you know it,” he argued.

He was right, but that was what made Amelia so damn special.Only kind, strong souls could withstand the kind of abandonment and heartache she’d been put through from birth without turning into the type of monsters she was surrounded by.

“I’m going to call her.Maybe this is a good thing.She won’t have to deal with Jacob and Elsa now.And without Jacob there, Clarissa sure as hell won’t let her stepmother Sarah through the doors.”I touched Astro’s arm, attempting to reassure him even as my stomach knotted up, knowing Clarissa was the worst of them all.“But one little sniffle from Lia, and the grandmother will be fertilizer forMaman’sroses.”

That seemed to soothe him, and he gave me a nod in acceptance.Outside my bedroom door, Otto stood blocking anyone from entering.As we approached, he opened the door and waited for me to go in before they both followed.

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