Kenzie clutched her abdomen as pain ripped through her, her body shaking uncontrollably before she collapsed onto the cold ground.
“C-Colton!” she gasped, struggling to breathe. “My wound… It tore open. It hurts… Please… take me to the hospital.”
Inside the car, Colton didn’t even bother getting out.
He rolled the window down halfway, irritation etched across his face.
“Oh, come on, Kenzie. What are you pretending this time?”
“My car barely touched you,” he scoffed. “And you’re acting like you can’t even stand up?”
“Today’s Kinsey’s birthday,” he snapped. “Just because you don’t want us celebrating with her, you’ll make up any bullshit now?”
“Hah. I’m not falling for it this time.”
From the passenger seat, Kinsey chimed in impatiently. “Colton, it’s the weekend. There are people everywhere. If we keep wasting time here, we won’t even get a table.”
Without another glance, he rolled the window back up and turned the wheel.
Panic and despair hit Kenzie all at once, tears blurring her vision.
“Colton!” she cried out. “I’m telling the truth! Please! Save me…”
But he didn’t hesitate for even a second.
The only thing he left behind was the cold blast of exhaust as the car sped away.
Kenzie curled in on herself on the concrete, her body folding inward as pain tore through her.
Warm blood kept flooding from her wound, no matter how hard she tried to stop it.
She knew then that if this kept going, she wasn't making it out alive.
As her consciousness began to slip, memories flooded in; it was the promises Colton had once sworn to her.
“Kenzie, marry me. I’ll protect you for the rest of your life.”
“Kenzie, I like you. Just trust me one more time.”
“Kenzie, let’s have a child. We’ll be a happy family of three.”
As her consciousness started to slip away, every promise Colton had ever made came rushing back into her mind.
“Marry me, Kenzie. I’ll protect you for the rest of your life.”
“I like you, Kenzie. Just trust me one more time.”
“Let’s have a child, Kenzie. We’ll be a happy family of three.”
They flashed through her head, slipping away before she could hold onto any of them.
At that moment, she regretted ever loving Colton.
She regretted giving him chance after chance to hurt her.
‘Colton,’ she thought bitterly, ‘if I survive this, then between us, this won’t end until one of us is destroyed!’
When Kenzie regained her consciousness, it was already noon the next day.