Madeline POV

My whole body was shaking, and I couldn't make it stop.

I was so scared.

A part of me trusted my brothers and cousins, but that wounded part of me was screaming at me to run away.

"Where are we going to go?" Max asked.

"I bought a cabin in the woods recently." Sam answered. "My parents don’t know about it."

Milo kept running his fingers through my hair.

"Relax, Maddie." he whispered to me. "You are safe. No one will hurt you."

I believed him.

Well, a part of me did. The other part wanted to believe, but it just couldn’t.

"It’s okay, Maddie." Milo mumbled. "We will never let anyone hurt you."

I felt the car stop, and I heard the doors opening.

I tried to get up, but Milo didn’t let me.

I looked up at him, and he gave me a small smile.

"Let me help and take care of you, please." he said softly as he caressed my cheek.

I gulped and nodded.

Milo smiled again and kissed my forehead.

"Come on." he said as he let me get out. "Slowly."

Max took my hand in his and helped me get out. Milo was right behind me. He pulled me to him as soon as we were out of the car.

"Max!" I heard someone scream.

I flinched.

Milo pulled me behind him immediately. I could feel him tense up.

"Fuck, Zack!" Max sighed. "You scared the shit out of us."

Zack? Who was Zack?

"What the hell is going on?" I heard another voice. "You disappeared from school. You don’t answer your phones. What the fuck?"

"Blake..." Milo spoke, but Ryan interrupted him.

"Get rid of them, guys." Ryan said. "We need to go."

Who were they?

I tried to look, but Milo was holding me too tightly.

"Did you find Madeline?" I heard the first boy ask. "Is she okay?"

He knew who I was?

Milo pressed me even closer to him.

"We can’t do this right now, Zack." Max sighed. "We have to go."

"Go where?" Zack asked. "Where is she? I need to know that she is okay."

Why did he care about me?

"Zack, we don’t have time..." Sam spoke, but Zack interrupted him.

"I don’t care." Zack sighed. "Max and Milo weren’t nice to her. I want to know if she is okay."

Milo tensed up.

"Madeline?" Zack called me. "Are you okay?"

"What the fuck is he talking about?" Ryan asked angrily.

"Madeline?" Zack called me.

"Max?" Sam called my brother.

I could hear the anger in his voice.

"We were idiots, okay." Max sighed. "We were mean to her when she came to the school. But we realized soon that she was related to us."

"Madeline?" Zack called me again.

I tried to move away from Milo, and he let me this time.

I heard two gasps.

"What the fuck did you do?!" Zack screamed.

I recognized him as soon as I saw him. He saved me from that girl.

He rushed toward me, but Max stopped him.

"I am going to fucking kill you!" Zack screamed at Max. "Why would you do that?!"

Zack was staring at my face with an angry expression.

"We didn’t do that, you fucker." Milo said angrily as he pulled me to him.

Zack looked at Milo and narrowed his eyes. He tried to get Max to let him go.

"Who did it then?" Zack asked angrily. "I am going to kill them, I swear."

Why did he care so much?

Sam sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Let’s go inside, and we will tell you." Sam said. "We don’t have time for this."

Milo took my hand in his and started pulling me toward the house.

I saw Max letting go of Zack, but he whispered something and gave him a stern look.

The other boy gave me a small smile and followed me and Milo inside.

Sam approached me as soon as Milo and I entered the house.

"Let’s get you checked up, love." Sam said softly. "We will let the boys talk?"

I nodded, and Sam gave me a small smile. He took my hand in his and started pulling me upstairs.

"Where are you taking her?!" Zack exclaimed, panicking a little.

I turned around to look at him. Why did he care so much?

"To check on her and clean up the blood." Sam said as he continued pulling me upstairs.

I kept my eyes on Zack’s until I couldn't see him anymore.

My heart skipped a beat.

Sam led me to the first bathroom. He picked me up and sat me on the counter. He cupped my cheeks and smiled at me.

"Hi, my love." he said softly. "Does your face hurt?"

It did, but I was so used to the pain that I didn’t even notice it.

"No." I lied, making Sam frown a little.

"Let’s get it cleaned up." he mumbled as he let me go and opened the cabinet behind him.

He grabbed the medical kit and turned back toward me.

"Open your mouth a little bit, love." Sam said. "I need to see if he broke your tooth."

I listened to him and opened my mouth. Sam placed his thumb on my chin and pulled down my lip a bit. He looked around and sighed in relief.

"It’s okay." he said as he looked up at me. "Nothing is broken. Your lip is split, but that’s all."

I nodded and watched as he opened the kit.

"This will burn a bit." he said as he put a little bit of alcohol on the pad.

I nodded and flinched a little as he patted the wound on my lip.

"I am sorry, love." he mumbled.

"It’s okay." I said, trying to give him a small smile.

He kissed my forehead and continued to clean me up.

"What?!" I heard a scream coming from downstairs.

"I guess the boys know now." Sam sighed as he took something else out of the kit.

"Who are they?" I asked him.

"Max and Milo’s friends." Sam answered, looking up at me. "You never met them?"

"I did at school." I said. "But I never knew who they were."

Sam nodded as he started wiping the blood from my face. He was very gentle.

When he finished, he put the gauze away and looked at me.

"Please don’t be afraid of us, Maddie." he said softly. "We all love you so much. I took care of you when you were a baby. I think of you as my own child. I would never hurt you."

I gulped and took a deep breath.

"A part of me trusts you so much." I mumbled quietly. "But another part doesn’t, and it is screaming at me to run."

Worry flashed in Sam’s eyes. He pulled me into a hug immediately.

"No, love, you can’t do that." he said, panicking a little. "Please don’t do that."

I sighed and hugged him back.

"I won’t." I mumbled.

Sam kissed my temple and leaned his head on mine.

"I love you, my baby." he mumbled.

I relaxed into his arms and closed my eyes.

I wanted to believe them. A part of me did believe them.

But how could I silence that voice inside my head that kept telling me to run?

_____________________________________________

Hi, guys. 😊

I am going on a work trip tomorrow, and I won't be back until Monday, so there won't be another update until Monday afternoon. It will be the same next weekend. 

Thank you so much for reading, following, and commenting. ❤️

I will see you all again on Monday! 😄

Have a wonderful day. ❤️