Take Me Away | ✔️

22. SAFE

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU FIND ME?"

Sean's arms snaked around my waist as mine were around his neck. My heart was beating fast, it felt like seconds later, I was going to have my heart in my mouth while we held each other. "You shouldn't be here, Sean. I left for a good reason. You shouldn't have tried to find me."

"Damn straight I'm going to find you!" His hands were around my face. "You're my twin sister. Fuck, everyone thought you were out of the country but I knew, I could feel you somehow that you didn't leave. You couldn't. When I saw Adriana again, I knew it wasn't a coincidence. Plus," he paused, turning to my best friend with a smirk. "you can't really lie for shit."

Adriana threw her hands up in the air. "Okay, I get it. I can't lie. So, we're going to leave you both here to talk some things over."

"But if you knew how she was lying, how did you—did you follow her here?" My brows knitted together.

He shook his head, sitting down at the end of the couch. "I was packing up mom's stuff over in a box," he paused, taking a look at me before continuing. I didn't give anything away. "and I found these letters that she wrote to me and you. On my letter, the first thing I saw when I opened it was an address of this place. Then, mom went on to say that if ever something bad happened to you, go this place and I thought maybe you were here."

Mom said that we couldn't write it down because of the trails it would leave. And yet, she wrote a letter to my brother, telling her where I was.

"Jesus, Sam, if you were in trouble you could have told me," his voice was getting louder. Oh, he's really pissed at me. "You didn't have to run away. Do you know how much of a wreck we still are when we found out you were gone? I needed you at that funeral, Sam—"

I shook my head. "I know, I—"

"—and yet you still left," he continued on, completely ignoring the fact that I was trying to say something to him. "You should have seen Alex when he found you gone when he woke up. He was yelling and was ready to burn that hospital to the ground just to find you. And Travis kept reaching you on the phone, driving and knocking doors down, asking a lot of people if they've seen you somewhere. The only lead we had was that a guy remembered you buying a wig. That was the only thing we had."

"I'm sorry," was all I could say.

Sean shrugged. "Sorry isn't good enough. I knew that Alex had an idea why you left but he didn't want to say anything. I'm your brother, he's your friend and yet he knows more than I do? Tell me the truth now, Samantha Amelia Alexander."

He really is pissed.

So, I started off with telling him about the threats that I've been getting before Travis and I were pretend dating, not leaving a single ounce of the story out. There were moments that he wanted to interrupt me to yell at me, I could tell by his facial expression, but didn't because he knew that I wouldn't be able to get the full story out.

Soon enough, he was holding me while I talked about that night when I had got ready with mom. The flashback of just having fun with her was painful for the both of us, and then, it was ruined by that dress that Max placed in my closet, letting me know that he could come and go at my home whenever he would please.

When I ended the story at the time where I was escaping Alex but saw Max, I continued with, "I left because I knew that Max would do anything to get me back. I didn't want you to be in danger, to feel like I'm such a burden because all of you always need to protect me. That's why I ran. Trust me, I wanted to join Adri to mom's funeral but I just couldn't. One look at me and you would notice me even if I was in disguise."

We've spent minutes on the couch, talking about a lot of things that has recently happened and all the while, I couldn't help but really take a look at my brother. He looked so tired—the circles under eyes were darker, and he also looked like he needed a few more hours of sleep. My stomach churned for him, for this position I've left him in. We were supposed to be a team, making sure that there were no secrets between the two of us so that we always felt connected to one another and this—mom's funeral—the both of us should be taking care of it, not letting him do it by himself.

It's okay, Sam. You needed to leave. You just couldn't let him be in danger.

Now, he's here and I don't even know what the hell to do.

"Sam, you have to come back," he caught my attention with those words. Before I could even start shaking my head and giving him an endless lecture on why it wasn't the brightest idea, he already opened his mouth. "I get it, okay? You're trying to protect all of us because of Max and believe me, I would do anything for him not to reach you but I'm going to be selfish, Sam. I need you. You're my sister—you're my twin. Remember that promise I gave to you that night you were in the hospital?"

Of course, every detail of that night was still in my head no matter how much I tried to forget it.

Mom had walked away to bring me some water, Alex had gone off to the bathroom outside of my room, and Sean was just there, sitting at the edge of my bed, careful to scooch over and I could tell that he was afraid to hurt me.

"Mom didn't bother to make you tell her why you never told us what was happening, Sam," he stated, his eyes just looked like he was heartbroken in looking at me. "But, I need to know why. God, I'm your brother and we were always so close. You couldn't tell me that Max was treating you like a punching bag?"

I remembered crying as I told him, "He was—he broke me. I'm not the type of person to just take shit from people, you know that, Sean. I just—God, each moment he did it, he would tell me how sorry he is and he would tell me how much he loved me. He needed me and I needed him. Then, just a while ago, I was about to leave him and look how I turned out."

Sean's eyes were watering as he listened and stared at me. "You don't need to be afraid of him anymore. From now on, I'm going to look after you, okay? It's time that you realize that you have someone always going to be there for you."

What he said was comforting and I knew that he was going to keep that promise for the rest of his life but all he got wrong was that I was afraid of Max. I wasn't.

I was terrified of him.

And that was why I said no to him even if it did break my heart.

His brows furrowed in confusion. "Don't you want to see Travis? Don't you want to see Alex? Don't you want to see the guys again?" Then the pièce de résistance of it all. "Don't you at least want to see mom?"

He had me by the rails and he knew it damn well.

"Are you okay waiting for a little while so I could say goodbye to Adri and Catalina?"

He nodded, smiling in victory. "Of course. I'd have to thank them as well for keeping you safe."

The ride back home was silent than ever. We had left instantly by taxi, eager to get back home and catch some sleep at our house rather than wait until sunrise and be bombarded with questions without getting enough sleep.

My thoughts were jumping through one by one randomly throughout the ride. Mom's funeral. Mom's things. Travis getting mad at me. Alex getting furious with me. My father probably happy that I was gone. My father showing up with his secretary at the funeral as what Adriana mentioned. The guys not treating me as their friends anymore. My brother getting overprotective of me.

Eventually, I passed out on my brother's shoulders, his arms just around me to make sure I was somewhat comfortable.