With a helpless sigh, he finally uttered, "Yes."
At that moment, the last fragile thread in Hailey's heart snapped an invisible break that felt deafening in its finality.
She bore the weight of scornful gazes and biting condemnation before being taken into custody, her dignity crushed beneath their judgment.
Three days of detention.
In the cold, suffocating jail cell, she shrank under the piercing stares of hardened criminals. Fear stole her voice, rendering her too afraid to utter even a whisper.
But then, salvation came, Jasmine.
This normally unshakable woman clutched her, tears streaming down her face like fragile petals battered by rain. "Why didn’t you call me? Do you have any idea how scared I was?" Her voice trembled with raw emotion.
In this bleak world, Jasmine was the only one who cared.
She was a small ray of light in an otherwise endless night.
On the way home, Hailey noticed a lively commotion; the family celebrated Allison’s birthday. Just as she neared, she stumbled upon a few guests stepping outside for fresh air, their laughter starkly contrasting to the suffocating silence that had engulfed her for days.
They were Allison’s friends.
One of them curled her lips into a sneer, her voice laced with mockery.
“Well, well! Look who decided to show her face, the murderer herself!”
“You hurt our Hailey, yet you still have the audacity to show up here? Shameless!”
Once again, insults rained down on Hailey; cruel words hurled like stones. The flashing cameras of eager reporters only fueled the spectacle. But she stood there, unmoved, indifferent to their judgment.
Until a sound drifted from the bedroom.
"Enzo, do you love me?"
The man didn’t hesitate.
"I do."
Hailey’s hand, just inches from knocking, froze midair.
A moment later, she withdrew it. Instead, she reached for her phone and dialed Kaia.
In a quiet voice, she said, “Transfer the money. I’ll leave now.”
On the other end, Kaia smiled as if she had anticipated this exact moment. Without missing a beat, she booked Hailey a flight to the capital.
“Good. I knew you’d make the right choice. I’ll have the remaining forty million transferred to your account.”
"Leave tonight."
Meanwhile, in the bedroom next door, Enzo and Allison laughed together, lost in their own world.
Hailey packed her bags alone.
By the time the first light of dawn touched the sky, she lifted her suitcase and walked out without looking back.
What she didn’t know was that the moment she left, her phone lit up with countless missed calls, each one from Enzo.
As she boarded the plane, a wave of relief washed over her, light, unshackled, free.
For the first time in forever, she was leaving behind that gloomy, paranoid, insecure version of herself.
High above the endless stretch of clouds, Hailey slept soundly, her first real rest in what felt like an eternity.
By the time she landed, two days had slipped by.
That night, pulling her suitcase through the crisp autumn air, she muttered under her breath, "Why is the capital’s weather so damn cold?"
And Maddox? Where was he? Had he really not bothered to come pick her up?
How boring.
Just as she was about to grumble again, a familiar figure appeared in front of her.
Leaning lazily against a sleek red Ferrari, a smirk played on his lips.
"Were you just cursing me in your head?"
Hailey let out an amused scoff, feigning innocence.
"I was not."
He chuckled, tilting his head toward the car. "How about this? A Ferrari, grand enough for you?"
It had been a long, long time since she had seen Maddox.
She had been the orphan taken in by the Campbell family and raised by him for over a decade, only to later discover her real parents.
She had once yearned for the warmth of a real family.
But to her parents, she had never been more than an afterthought.
Allison was their precious jewel, their pride, their priority.
And her? Just an existence they barely acknowledged.
But Maddox was the only one who had ever treated her like she was something precious.
Three years had passed since she last saw him.
Hailey studied the man beside her, taking in every detail.
Now in his early thirties, he carried himself with quiet confidence, his scent subtle yet intoxicating.
Sharp brows framed his face, his jawline strong and defined. And those fox-like eyes, mirth dancing in their depths, held a charm that had only deepened with time.
