Page 118 of Billionaire’s Ruin

Lincoln’s chest rose and fell in sharp, angry breaths.

“You think you can just drag him into whatever shit show this is and expect me to stand here?” He jabbed a finger so close to Dannie’s face it nearly brushed his skin. “You think I’ll just watch him fall apart again?”

“Lincoln—” I tried, but the word stumbled out of my mouth, weak, warped, like my voice wasn’t mine.

Then Dannie spoke, voice low but cutting through the chaos with precision. “I saved his life.”

Lincoln stopped mid-step. Completely.

His expression cracked—shock, disbelief.

“What did you just say?”

“I saved his life,” Dannie repeated. Slower this time, almost taunting, as if offering Lincoln a second chance to listen properly.

“I heard you,” Lincoln snapped, stepping forward again, jaw clenched so tight it looked painful. “I just don’t believe you. People like you don’t save lives. You ruin them.”

“Lincoln Young.”

Her words cut clean through the tension, sharp as a whip. It snapped both men’s attention, echoing off the high ceilings.

For a moment, everything froze.

“He’s my friend,” I muttered, forcing the words out even though they felt thin and fragile.

“That’s right,” Dannie added, stepping closer, his voice steady but his eyes burning with something fierce—too fierce. “I saved my brother when no one else was doing it.”

Brother.

The word hit different.

Heavy.

Personal.

Rooted in blood and in a past that still throbbed beneath my skin.

Xiao Wu was no longer just a childhood ghost.

He was here.

Alive.

Standing in front of me, claiming me—claiming us—with a loyalty that felt both comforting and suffocating.

But there was something else in his eyes too.

Something darker.

Possession.

The rescue came with a price—one that settled heavy inside me.

Lincoln didn’t understand the weight behind the word. Even he sensed the threat. I could see it in the way his shoulders squared, in the way he stepped forward as if a wolf were backing another into a corner.

“Explain yourself,” Lincoln’s shout cracked through the room.

Before Dannie could answer, Lincoln grabbed him by the collar, knuckles white, veins standing out on his arm like they might break through his skin. Lincoln jerked Dannie forward, and I stepped between them so fast the room spun.