Page 120 of Spinner's Luck

Crystal’s smile widened. “Guess blood really isn’t thicker than water, huh?”

I stared at her. At the woman who had given birth to the man I loved.

The woman who had help hand me over to a monster.

“You’re pathetic,” I whispered.

Crystal’s eyes flashed. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” I forced a slow breath, steadying myself. “You sold out your own son. And for what? A sick fuck who doesn’t give a shit about you?”

Crystal’s face twisted, rage flashing in her eyes. Without warning, her hand cracked across my cheek—sharp, burning. The slap echoed in the room, ringing in my ears.

She spun toward Fang, voice laced with venom. “Why the hell is she still breathin’, baby? We had an agreement.”

Her words cut sharper than the slap, vicious, like she wanted me gone and didn’t care how.

Fang’s smirk was gone.

Crystal faltered, glancing at him. “Fang?”

His jaw tightened as his fingers flexed, tension rippling through him like a storm barely contained. Crystal faltered, uncertainty flickering across her face. “What?” she asked, voice losing some of its edge.

Fang’s reply came low and lethal, words wrapped in quiet danger. “You talk too much.”

Her eyes widened, disbelief flashing as she blinked. “Excuse me?”

I sensed it before I fully registered it, the shift in the air, thick with something electric. Fang’s posture changed, his body straightening with purpose, fingers twitching like he was reaching for something just out of sight, something dangerous.

Crystal’s confidence wavered. “Fang—”

He moved fast.

A blur of motion—one second, she was standing. The next, she was against the wall, Fang’s hand around her throat.

She choked, clawing at his grip.

“Fang!”

He leaned in, voice low, calm. “You really thought I wanted you? Showin’ up here like you own me? Touchin’ what belongs to me?”

Crystal’s eyes went wide.

Fang squeezed, and her hands flew up, trying to pry his fingers away.

“You were a means to an end,” he murmured. “And now, bitch?”

His grip tightened.

Crystal let out a garbled, desperate noise.

“You’re just a liability.”

My heart pounded. I didn’t like the bitch, but I didn’t want her to die.

Crystal kicked, struggled, her face turning red.

“Please,” she wheezed.

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