Hailey's POV
I stood frozen, my heart hammering so violently I thought it might crack through my ribs. Tears streamed down my face, hot and unstoppable, but I couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't force my brain to process what he'd just said.
I'm in love with you.
Maxwell watched me, hope and fear battling in his eyes, his chest rising and falling with shallow breaths as he waited for me to say something. Anything.
But my throat had closed completely. The words I needed, the words he deserved, were locked somewhere inside me, trapped behind years of fear and old wounds that had never properly healed.
"Say something." His voice came out rough. "Please, Hailey. Say anything."
"I..." My voice cracked. "I don't..."
"Of course." The words came out flat. "Of course you can't."
"Maxwe
