Fuming, the nurse turned and stormed upstairs to call them down.
Kenzie didn’t even have time to react.
Moments later, the three men were already standing at the foot of her bed.
She looked pale. Fragile. Weak enough that even Colton couldn’t ignore it.
For the first time, guilt flickered across his face.
“You weren’t feeling well and ended up hospitalized,” he said stiffly. “Why didn’t you contact us?”
Kenzie glanced at him just once then curled her lips into a cold, mocking smile.
She didn’t answer.
That silence unsettled him.
In his memory, she had always been dependent on him. A tiny cut from cooking would have her eyes red and watery, clinging to him.
On the way down, the nurse had told him her wound had been stitched again: more than twenty stitches.
He’d expected her to cry the second she saw him. Instead, she wouldn’t even bother speaking.
For once, he lowered his head.
“I’m sorry about last night,” he said. “I thought you were faking it. If I’d known it was real, I wouldn’t have left.”
Bullshit.
He’d said the same thing countless times before.
And every single time, when forced to choose between her and Kinsey, Kenzie was the one left behind.
On their wedding day, when the crystal chandelier came crashing down, the person he shielded wasn’t his bride. It was Kinsey.
Once, when both “sisters” had severe allergic reactions and there was only one dose of medication left, he gave it to Kinsey without hesitation.
This time, Kenzie had been bleeding out on the concrete, and because it was Kinsey’s birthday, she’d been abandoned all over again.
From start to finish, Colton had never chosen her.
Whatever. A man who’d already made his choice wasn’t worth clinging to.
Kenzie was done listening. She closed her eyes, cutting them all off at once. “I’m exhausted. I want to rest. You can all leave. It’s not like this is the first time anyway.”
Whenever she needed them, they didn’t give a damn.
Now that she was done with them, they could stop pretending they ever cared.
Colton looked like he wanted to say something, his lips parting slightly, when Kobe let out a cold, mocking snort.
“Oh, cut the act,” he sneered. “If you really didn’t want to see us, why have the nurse drag us down here? We showed up, didn’t we? Learn when to stop pushing your luck. If you piss us off and we walk out, you’ll be the one crying later.”
Even now, they were convinced she couldn’t survive without them.