Chapter 1
The final bell rang at exactly noon.
The corridors of the elite boarding school were already buzzing — laughter, footsteps, and the sound of suitcase wheels rolling across marble floors. Students hugged, shouted goodbyes, and raced toward waiting cars. Summer had officially begun.
Maximilian didn’t rush. He never did.
His uniform was immaculate: navy blazer, crisp white shirt, tailored trousers, shoes polished to a mirror shine. He moved with quiet precision, dragging his suitcase with one hand and holding his phone in the other — even though no one had texted.
“Max! Enjoy the summer, man!” someone called from across the courtyard. A guy from his history class — he didn’t even remember his name.
Maximilian smiled politely, nodding once before heading toward the gate.
A sleek black Mercedes was already waiting by the front entrance. His family’s driver, Henrik, stood outside the vehicle in a dark suit, hands folded behind his back.
“Good afternoon, Herr Maximilian,” he greeted with a small nod, taking the suitcase without another word.
“Hi, Henrik,” Maximilian replied, his voice quiet but steady. He slid into the backseat without looking around.
Inside the car, the noise of the school faded away. The tinted windows turned the world into shadows, and the soft hum of the engine replaced the chaos outside.
No parents. No hugs. No welcome home.
Not that he’d expected anything else.
He looked out the window as the school gates disappeared behind him. A place that had never really felt like home — but still more familiar than the cold villa waiting in Munich.
He hated the silence most. Not Henrik’s — the driver never talked unless spoken to — but the kind of silence that followed him into every room at home. The kind that clung to the marble floors and echoed in the high ceilings of the house his parents called "perfect." Perfect like their son. Smart. Polite. Controlled.
They didn’t know. They didn’t know he liked boys. They didn’t know how lonely he was. They didn’t know that sometimes, he dreamed of disappearing into a new life entirely — not as Maximilian von Bergheim, heir to a pharmaceutical empire, but just… Max.
Next year would change everything. His exchange year was officially approved. In two months, he’d be in America. A new school. A new country. A new version of himself.
And maybe there, he wouldn’t feel so… fake.
Max leaned his head against the window, letting the vibration of the road blur his thoughts. He didn’t know what exactly he hoped to find abroad — freedom, maybe. Or something closer to the truth.
Whatever it was, it had to be better than this.
