It had been three years since she walked out of his life, and though he never chased her, her name still found its way into the cracks. Sometimes through Trevor—slipped into conversations when he wasn’t careful. The last update wasthat she’d gone back to her college boyfriend, Travis. The same Travis who showed up at Jaxon’s office like a storm begging for answers. The same one who’d thought Jaxon was the reason she’d drifted again.
Jaxon exhaled slowly, eyes scanning the distant outline of Midtown, the buildings stacked like memories. Was she out there somewhere? Laughing? Teaching? Living a life that no longer had anything to do with him?
“Wherever she is,” he murmured to himself, “I hope she’s happy.”
The SUV pulled up. He tossed his bag in the back, climbed behind the wheel, and made his way toward the hotel. Corporate had booked him an executive suite just blocks from the venue hosting his celebration. He didn’t need luxury—but they insisted.
As he rode the elevator up to his floor, a memory hit him before he even reached the room. Denver. That suite. That view. The one he’d shared with her—the last time they were truly them. The décor here was eerily similar, and for a second, it caught him in the chest like a sucker punch. He swallowed it down.
This trip was different.
No extra nights. No wandering the streets looking for what used to be. No ghosts to chase. Just in and out—here to celebrate the new title, the new chapter, the man he became after her.
He lingered in the suite for a bit, then showered, suited up, and stepped back into the elevator. When it stopped on the sixth floor, four women got on—loud, laughing, vibrant. It jolted something in him. A flashback. That same elevator chaos when Claire and her friends had ambushed him years ago at the Atlanta airport. Her voice, her laugh—it echoed in the smallest details.
He smiled, small and unspoken.
“Headed somewhere special?” one of the women asked.
He glanced over. Nodded. “Yeah. Something like that.”
The doors opened on the main floor.
“Y’all have a good night,” he said as he stepped out.
And then he walked through the lobby doors. Head high. Shoulders square.
Not the same man who came to this city for her.
Now he walked with pride where the pain used to live. And for the first time in a long time—
He wasn’t looking back.
51
Full Circle
Jaxonmadehiswayacross Midtown, the sun dipping low behind the skyline as he reached the conference center. The glass building shimmered in the golden hour light, bustling with people in sharp suits and designer dresses—an energy buzzing in the air like something big was about to happen.
He stepped inside and stopped cold.
Rows of banners. Spotlights against velvet curtains. Waitstaff weaving through the crowd with trays of champagne. The entire space was transformed into a gala.
All of this... for him?
It didn’t feel real.
He wandered deeper inside, adjusting the sleeves of his jacket, suddenly hyper-aware of how surreal it all felt. He grabbed a glass of water from a serving station and turned toward the dining hall where the banquet was being held.
Dozens of round tables filled the room, each one labeled with crisp name cards and company logos. Jaxon scanned the room, weaving through clusters of familiar faces offering congratulations. He smiled, nodded, made small talk—but he was searching.
Eventually, he found his name placard. Not just at any table—at the table.
The partners’ table.
He hadn’t even been introduced yet, hadn’t heard his name called—but they’d already put him at the front. As if this had been decided long before he knew it.
Just as he started to lower himself into the seat, a voice cut through the background noise.
