After a brief pause, she added quietly, “Clarkson… maybe I should’ve gone with you back then.”
Before the Lundbergs found her, she’d grown up in the countryside. Clarkson had been there through all of it.
Calling them childhood sweethearts wouldn’t be wrong.
He’d liked her for as long as he could remember.
Back then, Kenzie was still young. Her world was school and simple routines. Then, at fifteen, she was taken back to the Lundbergs, and just like that, they lost each other.
Later, Colton filled every corner of her heart.
On her wedding day, Clarkson had pushed his way backstage, his eyes red when he looked at her.
“Kenzie,” he asked softly, “are you sure you’ll be happy marrying him?”
She answered honestly.
“I don’t know if I’ll be happy forever. But right now, I love him.”
The word love made his eyes burn even redder.
He left without causing a scene. But before he did, he gave her a way out.
“Kenzie, I like you,” he said. “But liking someone doesn’t mean keeping them. So I’ll let you go.”
“If one day you realize you don’t love Colton anymore, or if he treats you badly, come find me. I’ll take you away.”
She never imagined those words would come back to her years later.
Clarkson was sharp. He could hear the unfairness in what she wasn’t saying.
“Kenzie,” he said firmly, “wait for me. I’ll come to New York. I’ll take you away.”
“The Kenzie who used to smile like so brightly shouldn’t be living this way.”
She smiled, and this time it didn’t hurt.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll wait.”
After the call ended, she stayed in the conference room for a long time before finally stepping out.
And just her luck, she ran straight into Colton and Kinsey.
When Colton saw her swollen, reddened eyes, concern never crossed his face. His first reaction was suspicion.
“You followed me here?” he said coldly. “Kenzie, this clingy act of yours is getting disgusting.”
The words landed hard.
When she was giving birth, he’d walked away from the operating room. And in the week after, he never showed up once.
If he had cared enough to actually look at her, he would’ve noticed there was no love left in her eyes.
But she didn’t love him anymore. And once that was gone, she stopped caring, too.
Including how much her words might hurt.
Kenzie straightened her back and pointed straight at Kinsey.
“What about her?” she asked flatly.