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CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

THE WAREHOUSE FELT colder than before. Or maybe that was just me.

Time had stretched thin, each second pulling tighter like a noose around my neck. My wrists burned from the zip ties, my legs numb from being locked in the same position for too damn long.

And Fang?

Fang was enjoying every second of it.

He leaned against the rusted workbench a few feet away, twirling a knife between his fingers, his gaze glued to me.

“Ready for me yet, love?” he asked, voice smooth. Mocking.

I kept my expression blank. Refused to let him see how bad my muscles screamed, how dry my throat was, how much I wanted to collapse.

Fang smirked, pushing off the workbench, stepping closer.

“Thought you’d lose that fight in you by now,” he murmured, crouching just enough so his face was level with mine.

I met his eyes, forcing a smirk. “I’m saving it for when I rip your fucking throat out.”

His grin stretched wide. “God, I love your mouth.” His fingers brushed along my jaw, slow, deliberate. “But you keep talking like that, love, and I might have to find a better use for it.”

I jerked away, breathing hard through my nose. My stomach churned, my pulse hammering.

Fang chuckled. “That’s what I thought.”

The warehouse door groaned open.

Fang turned, annoyed. “What now—”

Then he stopped.

I heard heels clicking against the concrete, and before I could process it—

Crystal strolled in, smirking like she owned the place.

I blinked, my brain short-circuiting. No. No fucking way.

Her dark hair was curled like she’d just walked out of a salon, her makeup perfect, and she was wearing heels like she wasn’t stepping into a goddamn warehouse full of criminals.

I stared, stomach twisting. “What the hell—”

Crystal let out a light, airy laugh. Fake. All of it. “Oh, sweetheart,” she purred. “Did you really think you were goin’ to get my son?”

My throat tightened. “You?”

Fang crossed his arms, leaning back against the workbench, watching. Amused.

Crystal tilted her head, eyes shining with cruel delight. “Did you really think Spinner cared about you? That you were the only one?”

I clenched my teeth, refusing to take the bait.

She smiled wider, too satisfied. “Ashlynn is the woman he was meant to be with.”

Bitch was just trying to get me to react.

I kept my expression blank, but inside, my anger burned.

Ashlynn and this bitch don’t give a shit about Spinner.

Crystal leaned in, too close, too smug. “Did he tell you about her? How much he loved her?”

My jaw locked to keep from spitting at the lying bitch.

She laughed. “Oh, sweetheart, you poor, stupid girl.” She turned to Fang, all warmth and amusement. “She really thought she was special to him.”

Fang just smirked. “She still does.”

Crystal made a soft, pitying sound. “You’re nothin’ but a distraction, honey. Ashlynn has his heart”

I stared at her, my rage boiling over my fear.

“You’re a fucking liar.”

Crystal tsked, stepping back. “Believe what you want.” She smirked at Fang. “Shame. We should show her what true love is, baby.”

Fang’s grin faded.

Crystal didn’t notice. She turned back to me, her lips curling. “I told Fang everythin’ I could find out through Ashlynn. Where you were, what you were doin’, how to get you alone.”

I felt sick.

Spinner’s own mother sold me out—sold him out.

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.

Fang’s smirk returned. “Begging’s not a good look on you, baby.”

Suddenly she quit struggling and he threw her. She hit the floor hard, her body not moving. Fang didn’t look at her. Didn’t even acknowledge her anymore.

He just turned back to me, grinning like he didn’t just kill someone in front of me.

“See what I had to deal with to get you back. Fucking boring pussy too. Now where were we? All this has made me horny as fuck.”

My stomach plummeted.

I was alone with him again and the look in his eyes scared me. He was done waiting.

I prayed Spinner was close.

And when he got here?

Fang was dead.