Abandoned

Chapter 17

Sam POV

My heart was pounding in my chest.

If that really was my little girl up there…

No.

It was impossible.

She was dead. She was gone. My Flower was gone.

The day she died was the worst day of my life. I remembered it like it was yesterday. I remembered the pain, the anger, and the sadness. I remembered it all.

The girl upstairs couldn’t be my little girl. It couldn’t.

So it just didn’t make sense for me to be this angry over the fact that someone left that girl on the side of the road when she was a baby. It was horrible, it really was, but it wasn’t something that should concern me.

I tightened my jaw and took a deep breath.

“That is terrible.” I said, trying to remain calm. “But it doesn’t mean that you should have brought her here. Her foster parents or the social services could be looking for her.”

Anger flashed in Max’s eyes.

“They will take her from me over my dead body.” Milo said, making me look at him.

I started to worry.

How would they accept that the girl upstairs wasn’t their sister? Was this a coping mechanism? Did they find a girl who was similar to them and convinced themselves that she was their Madeline? How did they even remember her? We all kept it from them because we didn’t want to hurt them.

Looking at their angry expressions had me thinking that keeping it from them maybe wasn’t a bad idea after all.

They would be broken once they got the DNA results back.

My phone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket.

It was my brother.

I took a deep breath and answered the call.

“Did you find them?” Ryan asked immediately.

“Yes.” I answered. “They are home.”

Ryan was silent for a second.

“Why?” Ryan asked. “Did you ask them what the fuck was that DNA test about?”

I could tell that Ryan was in his car.

Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have him here once the results came back. I will need his help to comfort the boys. I will need his help to take the girl back to her foster parents or wherever she lived before they brought her here.

“Sam?” Ryan asked worriedly when I didn’t respond.

I took a deep breath and looked at the boys. They still had pissed-off expressions on their faces.

“Maybe you should come here, Ryan.” I said.

Milo rolled his eyes, and Max scoffed.

“What happened?” Ryan asked worriedly.

I wasn’t going to tell him anything over the phone. I wasn’t even sure how to tell him that our cousins had a girl in their home who they were convinced was their dead sister.

I wasn’t even sure how I was going to tell him when he got here. Ryan adored Maddie. She was his treasure. He never got over her death.

I didn’t even tell him what the DNA test was about. I couldn’t break him like that. I just couldn’t.

But I would have to tell him. He needed to know. I needed his help.

“Just get here.” I sighed and hung up the phone.

“We aren’t letting you see her.” Max said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.

“I don’t want to see her.” I said. “I want to be here for you when you get the DNA results back.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to see your face when that guy calls.” Milo smirked.

I looked at him worriedly.

How would he react when he found out that girl upstairs wasn’t his sister?

Max stood up, making me look at him.

“Where are you going?” I asked him.

“To check on Maddie.” he said as he started walking away. “She has a fever.”

She was sick?

I looked after him until I couldn’t see him anymore.

I looked back at Milo. He was glaring at me.

“What’s wrong with the girl?” I asked him.

“She is sick.” Milo said, tightening his jaw. “She has a fever and it won’t go down.”

My heart skipped a beat. Why was she sick? I needed to go examine her.

I was just about to tell Milo that they needed to let me see her when the front door burst open and Ryan came inside.

“What the fuck happened, Sam?” he asked, glancing from me to Milo.

“Sit down, Ryan.” I said, pointing at the armchair.

Ryan narrowed his eyes and looked at Milo.

“Where is Max?” Ryan asked.

“Sit down, please.” I said, not wanting Milo to tell Ryan about the girl upstairs.

I needed to be the one to tell him.

Ryan listened to me and sat down in the armchair.

“You are freaking me out, Sam.” he said. “What the fuck is going on?”

I took a deep breath and ran my hand over my face.

“Max and Milo met a girl in school who they say looks a lot like them.” I said, making Ryan narrow his eyes at me. “They think that she is related to them, so they did a DNA test.”

Ryan clenched his fists and tightened his jaw.

“We don’t think.” Milo sighed, rolling his eyes. “We know that she is our sister.”

Ryan looked at Milo, and I saw tears in his eyes.

“I told them that Maddie was gone.” I said quietly.

Ryan looked back at me, and tears fell on his cheeks. He leaned his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands.

“Why would you think that this girl is your sister?” Ryan mumbled.

“Because she is.” Milo said, looking at Ryan with a concerned look on his face. “She has the same birthmark as Max and I. She is 17 years old. She looks like us.”

“And her name is Madeline.” I heard Max’s voice.

Ryan looked up and turned around abruptly.

“Where is she?!” Ryan asked as he stood up. “Let me see her!”

“Fuck no.” Max said, crossing his arms over his chest. “She is sleeping.”

“It’s not her, Ryan.” I said softly, making my brother look back at me. “Our little girl is gone.”

“I want to see her, Sam.” Ryan said, clenching his fists. “If what Milo said is true, then she could be my Addie.”

Ryan was the only one who called her Addie. It was because she kept saying her name like that when she was little. She couldn’t pronounce the ‘M’.

“Addie?” Milo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s what he used to call her.” I explained, keeping my eyes on my brother.

Ryan wanted to say something, but he was interrupted when Max’s phone rang.

He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at it, and smirked.

“Ready to be proven wrong, Sam?” Max asked as he answered the phone call.

I took a deep breath.

Maybe telling Ryan wasn’t the best idea. I would now have three people to look after. Well, four. I would have to take care of the girl upstairs as well.

Max put the phone on speaker and looked ar me.

“Mr. Adams?” I heard the man on the phone say.

“Yes?” Max said as he approached Milo and sat down next to him.

Max took Milo’s hand in his. Milo leaned his head on Max’s shoulder.

This was it. I would have to watch their hearts break in just a few short seconds.

“I’m calling about the DNA result.” the man on the phone said. “It’s positive. The girl is your biological sister. I will send the result to your email address in a few minutes.”

My heart stopped beating.