Chapter 2

Olivia was worried and her heart aching for her best friend. Although she had always said that Anabelle didn’t look like any of her family members and maybe she wasn’t part of the family, she never expected that she would be true.

If it was her, she would be so hurt and run away and then come back after calming down but when she heard how the old woman kept on claiming that Annabelle was dead, she knew that if Anabelle hadn’t met her parents now, she would never find them as she didn’t know where they lived or who were they.

With all these in her mind, she hurriedly followed her friend into the house.

The house was full of wailing, screams, laughter, and talking thus they didn’t realize when someone walked in.

“There is no need to keep crying here. As I said, your child is dead. I have to thank you for taking care of my family’s child all these years. Even now, I will have to ask you to go back with her as my great-granddaughter isn’t used to the countryside life,” the old woman said in between laughter causing the men in the house to look at her gloomily.

“No! You have to give my child back today! Also, don’t think that I will take this child away with me,” Amanda said coldly as she wiped her tears telling herself that her child wasn’t dead and she should be strong enough.

“Mom, Leilani will go back to us,” a soft yet cold voice sounded in the room causing Anabelle to stand still and look at the young boy.

“Octavius, what are you saying? She took your sister’s place. Everything she enjoyed was supposed to be your sister’s!” Antonio said angrily as he couldn’t believe his son.

Leilani had a smile when she heard that and knew that the time spent with Octavius since was a child wasn’t wasted as he still chose her instead of her dead sister.

Anabelle on the other hand was hurt when she heard that the boy was her brother. She had thought that she had gotten a great family that loved her unconditionally from the way they were behaving and saying but she never thought her brother was so indifferent to the fact the girl she grew up with wasn’t her sister while his biological sister was dead.

He had always thought that his son was wise enough but upon hearing his words, he shook his head in disappointment.

Octavius’ mouth switched when he heard that and looked at his family’s faces, he understood that they had misunderstood him.

“Dad, you misunderstood me! Since she took my sister’s place and has enjoyed everything let her pay for them now. Also, didn’t her great-grandmother say that my sister starved to death? I can only imagine the suffering that she endured when she was in this place. Let their child go back to us and we let her go through what my sister went through,” he said coldly shocking everyone.

They never expected that such a kid could be so heartless at a young age.

Anabelle was also shocked, she had always thought that she was the only young person who could be so cold and indifferent but never expected that even her brother was like that. She found herself smiling at how the blood relationship worked.

“Brother,” Leilani said in shock and as she squeezed tears out of her eyes.

“Don’t call me your brother! Your family killed my twin!” Octavius said coldly causing the little girl to stagger and nearly fall.

“I would have regarded you as my sister if my sister was still and was been taken good care of and loved the same way we loved you but what happened? How can I, Octavius Hamilton associate myself with you, a child from such a despicable family? Their blood runs through your veins, am afraid that you are just like them although you grew up in our family,” the little boy continued saying not caring who was in the room or whether his words were hurting the little girl.

“Brother, how could you say such a thing? So what if I have their blood running in my veins, can’t I just draw the blood and get a transfusion from our family? That way, I will still be your little sister, your Leilani,” Leilani said in between cries.

“No! How can I share my blood with you? You want to draw your family’s blood but have you forgotten that you bore some similarities with them? You aren’t my sister! Your family killed my sister!” the little bore said coldly but choked on his words upon uttering the last words.

“Brother…” Leilani said as she tried to hold Octavius but she was thrown to the ground.

Leilani was so frightened that she curled herself on the floor as she cried waiting for ‘her family’ to sympathise with her.

She had always known that Octavius was always cold but he had never treated her that the way he did. She felt wronged and hated her biological family for what they did. She wondered how a sample of her mother’s hair could be found when she was still in prison.

‘That woman is just a fool. Can’t she be on guards all the time or does she think that that place is her home that she can be so carefree?’ she asked herself as her eyes darkened and filled with hatred.

She blamed Marie without knowing how the latter was coping in prison or why did the Andersons got the sample so smoothly.

The old woman felt conflicted when she watched the scene and blamed herself for whatever was happening in front of him. She regretted saying that Anabelle was dead. If she knew that Leilani would still get the chance to go back with the family, she would have been so precautious and tried to curry favor with them while narrating how well she had taken care of Anabelle.

Anabelle watched the scene in front of her coldly and caught the guilty look on the old woman. She mocked herself as she couldn’t believe that the old woman loved her great-granddaughter so much that she regretted what she had done. Never had she seen the love, worry, and guilt in the old woman when she was with her.

Seeing her about to open her mouth to speak, Anabelle’s face darkened as she already knew what the latter wanted to say and she couldn’t believe that there was such a shameless person in the universe.

“Grandma, who are these people?” she said softly as she knew that she had to show her weak appearance to her parents if she wanted things to go her way.