Chapter 6

Hailey Maxwell.

Ever since I was born, my life has been difficult, my parents were narcissists who only thought about themselves and thought they were the center of the universe.

I didn't have a nice childhood, and I didn't have any friends because my parents were only interested in my beauty.

At a very young age, I was forced to participate in several fashion shows, and my mother controlled my diet by not letting me eat things that would make me fat.

When I won awards, they spent all their money on luxuries, they traveled a lot and left me at home in the care of a nanny. They never treated me like a human being.

As I got older, they became more and more abusive, and they wanted me to take pictures for adult magazines, which they used to call pornographic magazines. They gave my parents a lot of money but didn't ask my permission.

I began to hate my face, blamed myself for suffering because of my so-called beauty, broke all the mirrors in my room, and tried to slit my wrists to the point that I was rushed to the hospital.

I was sent to the ICU and treated with blood bags. When I recovered I couldn't take it anymore, I stopped eating, I lost weight, the fat in my cheeks disappeared and I became very thin, much to the horror of my parents. I was 15 years old.

I couldn't turn to my grandparents for help, and no one could help me.

Until I met Dominic.

My parents had lost all their money gambling and were having a hard time making ends meet. So, they negotiated an arranged marriage for me with the eldest son of the Maxwell family.

I was ready to cut my own throat, but when I met him for the first time, I changed my mind. I realized there were problems in his family, too, and there was no sparkle of life in his eyes, and he was only 20 years old.

"You know what's funny? Nothing is ever enough for them, no matter how hard we try to be perfect. You know, when you're eighteen we'll get married and we'll be free, we can do anything. Of course, you can ask for a divorce later, but I want you to be happy."

That's what he said to me on our first date, and I jumped at the chance without much thought.

As soon as I turned 18, my parents started planning a wedding with Dominic's parents, I didn't care about anything else I just wanted to get rid of my narcissistic parents.

Dominic's parents gave him shares in their company and today his company was the most famous in the world, he was a great businessman and I admired him a lot.

He gave me time and respected my choices, and during our honeymoon, we just slept and then enjoyed our travel, getting to know the city and each other better.

I was 20 years old before I gave myself to him and accepted my feelings for him. Now, we live happily ever after, and I love him more than anything in this life because he saved me, and I saved him from those people.

We had no contact with our families, and I am very grateful for that.

Dom got me into art school because I've always loved art, so I was very happy to be accepted.

I was very nervous on my first day of class but calmed down quickly.

"This is Hailey Maxwell, your new classmate." The teacher introduced.

"Nice to meet you, I hope we can be friends." I introduced myself calmly.

"You may choose your seat, Ms. Maxwell."

"Thank you, teacher." I thanked her and then looked around the room, trying to find a quiet seat.

My eyes eventually met the gaze of a gorgeous girl with different eye colors: light blue on the left, light green on the right, and a dark black hair color that made her even more beautiful. Her tanned skin was stunning and suited her perfectly.

At that moment, my only thought was, I wanna be friends with this girl.

But she was cold to me, which surprised me a lot, but it also made me feel good about her. I was sure that there must be a fragile girl underneath the armor, because everyone is like that.

Despite my best efforts to befriend her, all I got was her coldness, but that didn't stop me. On the way home, I kept thinking about her.

I told Dom everything. I talked a lot about her, and he thought it was funny, but the day I introduced the two, I realized that he thought she was pretty too.

I was very pleased when we started talking decently in class. Knowing she was young surprised me, but I was still happy when she asked me my age, I thought she would ignore me.

"You still don't want to be my friend?" I asked, really wanting to know.

She was silent and seemed to be in deep thought until I saw tears sliding down her cheeks, which worried me a lot.

"Are you crying?" I asked worriedly.

"What?" She put her hand on her cheek! "I'm not crying!" She hurriedly dried her tears.

"Madison," I tried to get closer to her, but she quickly got up and started packing.

"Madison." I grabbed her arm worriedly, but she let go.

"I'm so sorry, but I can't be your friend." I could see tears in her eyes.

She walked past me, and I couldn't move for a moment.

Did I do something wrong? Did she really not need a friend?

I stood up and ran out of the room, trying to catch up with her. I walked out of the school and into the rain, gasping for air.

She was already gone.

"Damn it!" I cursed angrily.

I ran a hand through my hair, kicking myself for not following her as soon as she left the room. I closed my eyes, remembering her tear-filled eyes, she looked so sad and lost.

"What's wrong with you, Madison?"