Abandoned

Chapter 40

Samuel POV

"Where is Ryan?" Max asked as he and Milo walked into the kitchen.

"He is on the phone with the police." I said as I handed a cup of coffee to Zack.

"Is Maddie okay?" Milo asked worriedly, looking from me to Zack.

"She is." Zack said. "She just got a little bit scared. Ryan calmed her down."

Milo sighed and sat down on one of the bar stools.

"It will take her some time to get used to the fact that she won’t be punished for stuff like that." Max mumbled.

"It will." I agreed. "We need to show her that she is loved. We need to show her that we would never do what they did."

"I really want to kill them all." Max said quietly.

I looked at him and took a deep breath. I wanted that too.

"Get in line." I heard my brother’s voice, and I looked toward the door.

Ryan walked in with a pissed-off look on his face. I've never seen him this angry before.

"What happened?" I asked immediately. "What did the police say?"

Ryan kept clenching his fists. I could tell that he was gritting his teeth.

"Ryan?" Milo called him.

Ryan looked at him, and I saw tears fall on his cheeks.

What the fuck happened?!

I moved and approached my brother as quickly as I could. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a hug.

"What happened?" I asked as my heart raced.

Ryan took a deep breath and pulled away from me. I let him go, keeping my hands on his shoulders.

"My friend from the police told me that her foster parents are in jail." Ryan mumbled. "Addie won’t have to testify because they found evidence of the abuse."

I furrowed my eyebrows.

Wasn’t that a good thing? My baby won’t have to see the fuckers ever again.

"What evidence?" Max asked, his voice trembling.

Ryan looked at the kitchen door. "Is she still asleep?"

"Yes." Milo said. "We just checked up on her."

Ryan sighed and walked to the kitchen island. He sat down on the bar stool next to Milo. He ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath.

My nervousness increased by the second.

What the fuck did the police find?

"They found pictures and videos." Ryan mumbled, making me freeze.

The room was completely silent.

"Pictures and videos of what?" Max asked after a few moments of silence.

His voice was trembling.

Ryan looked at him and tightened his jaw.

"Of each and every time the fucker hurt her." Ryan said.

The anger exploded inside of me.

He took pictures?! He filmed it?!

"What?" Zack asked angrily. "Repeat that."

Ryan looked at Zack and took a deep breath.

"They found pictures and videos." Ryan repeated. "The fucker recorded every injury. The police watched only a part of it. My friend said that they couldn't watch it all."

My heart was going to break my rib cage.

I looked at Max and Milo. I couldn't tell which emotion was dominating. I could tell that they were shocked. I could tell that hey were pissed as fuck. I could tell that they were in pain.

"Tell me that you are kidding." Max mumbled. "Please tell me it’s not true."

Ryan wrapped an arm around Max’s shoulders and pulled him into a hug.

"Does Maddie know?" Zack mumbled.

He was staring in front of himself. His eyes were filled with tears.

"I don’t know." Ryan mumbled. "We won’t mention it to her. Not unless she says something about it. It would be better if she didn’t know."

I completely agreed with that.

I approached Milo and wrapped my arms around him. I kissed his temple. His body was so tense that I felt like I was hugging a statue.

"Our parents and grandfather disappeared." Ryan said, making me look at him with a shocked expression on my face.

"What?" Max asked angrily.

Ryan let go of Max and sighed.

"The police couldn't find them." Ryan sighed. "They asked us if we had an idea where they could have gone."

I tightened my jaw and narrowed my eyes.

"Bastards." I mumbled angrily.

I tried to think of a place where they could have gone, but I couldn't come up with anything. The fuckers had money. They could have gone anywhere.

"I can’t think of anything." Milo sighed.

"Me neither." Ryan said. "Just think about it and let me know if you remember anything."

I nodded and tightened my arms around Milo.

I heard quiet footsteps approaching the kitchen. I turned around just in time to see Maddie walking in. She had a frightened look on her face.

"Hey, love." Milo said as he got out of my arms and ran to her.

He wrapped his arms around her and took a deep breath.

"Good morning, baby." I said, trying to sound calm. "Are you hungry?"

Milo let her go, and she looked at me. I could tell that she wasn’t sure if she should say yes.

"Of course she is." Max said softly as he approached Milo and Maddie. "How about pancakes, Mads?"

Max wrapped an arm around her shoulders and smiled at her.

She looked up at him and gave him a small nod.

"Pancakes it is!" I exclaimed as I walked to the fridge to get the ingredients I needed.

"Did you sleep well, Addie?" Ryan asked her softly.

"I did." Maddie said. "Thank you for last night."

"Oh, love, no need to thank me." Ryan said.

I put the eggs on the counter and watched as Ryan approached Maddie. He cupped her cheeks and kissed her forehead.

"There is no need to be scared, Addie." Ryan said. "We will never be angry at you for something like that. We will never hurt you."

"I once broke a whole window, Maddie." Milo said, making her look up at him wide-eyed.

"Really?" she mumbled.

"Yes, but that’s nothing." Milo chuckled. "Max crashed a car."

"Hey, I only crashed it because I was talking on the prone with your annoying ass." Max sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Why did you even answer the phone?" Zack asked, chuckling.

"Because he is my brother." Max defended himself. "It could have been an emergency."

"It wasn’t, but you made it an emergency." Milo laughed.

I looked at my baby, and my heart swelled. She had a small smile on her lips as she watched her brothers and Zack bicker with each other.

No one would ever take that smile away from her again. I would make sure of it.