His eyes followed the path of his thumb as it mapped the line of my jaw like he was memorizing it.
Heat spread down my neck, raising goose bumps along my arms.
“I was planning a future with one woman while being completely consumed by another.”
I … didn’t know what to say.
“Do you want to know how much you consumed me?” His voice dropped, raw with vulnerability. “I went to your college graduation.”
My breath caught. “What?”
“I told myself I just wanted to be there because Knox couldn’t be. But the minute I saw you in that orange dress, I knew it was a lie.” His thumb traced along my cheek. “I wanted the excuse to see you. I wanted to be there for your big moments, even if you didn’t know I was celebrating them with you, Sunshine.”
The confession hit me like a warm sun on a winter day. My heart cracked wide open, spilling years of unspoken longing. Axel had been there. He’d traveled all those miles just to watch me walk across that stage, to silently celebrate what should have been one of the happiest days of my life. The weight of it stole my breath, knowing he’d wanted to be there for my big moments, that he’d cared enough to show up, even when I couldn’t see him.
“You were there?”
“Back row, baseball cap pulled low. When you walked across that stage …” He swallowed hard. “You looked so proud, so radiant. But then I saw you scan the crowd, and I watched your face change when you remembered Knox was missing it.”
My throat tightened. I remembered that moment. The sharp pang of loss when the reality hit that my brother wasn’t there to see me graduate. But now, knowing Axel had been there, loving me through it, even from the shadows … it rewrote everything. Every lonely moment from that day suddenly felt less empty.
“I wanted to cross that entire auditorium and hold you,” he continued, voice breaking. “Tell you that someone who loved you was there, cheering you on.”
“Axel …” I whispered, my vision starting to blur with tears.
“And those parking tickets you kept getting when you visited Knox? The ones that mysteriously got dismissed?” His eyes never left mine. “That was me. Ryker had connections at the courthouse, and I asked him to help. I couldn’t stand the thought of you getting punished for being a good sister.”
The puzzle pieces were clicking into place, stealing my breath. “The tow truck …”
“Your car broke down after visiting Knox. I was …” He ran a hand through his hair, looking almost embarrassed. “I may have been keeping tabs on your visits. Making sure you were safe.When I saw you stranded there, I called the tow truck and paid for it.”
“And the gardenias,” I breathed, understanding flooding through me. “Every birthday.”
He nodded, that vulnerability in his eyes deepening. “Your favorite flowers. I remembered from that conversation we had years ago when you visited Knox. I just … I needed you to know someone remembered. Someone cared about celebrating you, even if I couldn’t be the one to do it openly.”
Years of secret care. Years of him watching over me from the shadows while I thought he barely tolerated my existence.
“I secretly did something for you too.” The words tumbled out before I could stop them. His eyebrows rose, and I felt heat creep up my neck. “I told myself I was crazy for it at the time, but I hated the way some people would come for you online. Calling you a playboy, making nasty comments about your dating life.”
His expression shifted, surprise flickering across his features.
“Knowing algorithms became my profession, so when someone would start to troll you, I knew exactly how to try and squash it.” Too bad our PR crisis was too big to solve with the same strategy. I couldn’t meet his eyes, focusing instead on the buttons of his shirt. “I had one anonymous alternate account I used for my business, for creative testing and whatnot. Used it to boost positive comments of you by engaging with them early—likes, replies, shares—knowing the algorithm would push them to the top while the negative ones got buried.”
“Dakota …”
“And when there was bad press about your dating life, I’d time my own viral posts to push your negative stories out of the trending cycle. I even created positive content that would rank higher in search results than the nasty articles.” I finally looked up at him, vulnerability written all over my face. “I was consumed by you, too, even if I didn’t want to be. I couldn’tstand watching people tear you apart online when you’d always been there for my family.”
His thumb traced my cheek, and something raw and wondering filled his expression. “You protected me.”
“Like you protected me,” I whispered. “We were both taking care of each other from the shadows, weren’t we?”
He nodded, something fierce and tender crossing his face. “And I was too consumed by you to stay with her.”
My throat felt tight. His thumb moved to trace my lower lip, and I fought not to lean into his touch.
“Staying with her would make me just as bad as my parents. Pretending to love someone, pretending to be happy. Living a lie.”
“So, you ended it.”
