Page 104 of Billionaire’s Ruin

Just a scare.

A lesson.

A punishment for being disobedient.

No.

A setup.

Deliberate. Thought-out. Manipulative in a way only an evil person could manage.

“And Auntie Five?” I asked, though part of me already knew I wouldn’t like the answer.

“She’s alive,” he said quietly. His gaze dropped to the floor. “But not really living.”

A frigid silence wrapped around us. Heavy. Suffocating.

I studied him then—really studied him.

This was Xiao Wu.

My sworn brother.

The kid who chased fireflies with me under humid summer skies, who scraped his knees climbing the neighbor’s fence, who cried when his schoolbook tore.

That child was gone.

Burned away. Replaced by a man carved from something brutal and unyielding.

His shoulders were broader, posture sharper, eyes carved out in places I didn’t know could empty. Even his presence felt… dangerous.

“So what happens now?” I asked, trying to keep my tone steady.

“It’s up to you.”

My brows pulled together. “Meaning?”

He leaned back slightly, gaze molding into something unreadable. “I’ll let you deal with your mother and your little fiancée.”

A jolt shot through my chest.

“What happened to them? Are they hurt?”

The words tore out of me too quickly. Too instinctively.

Guilt hit me a second later—deep, burning guilt.

After everything she’d done—drugging me, trapping me, destroying every shred of trust—I still asked about her first.

And I wanted her safe anyway.

Part of me still wanted to protect the woman who’d destroyed me.

“No,” Dannie said with a faint shrug. “Not really. Minor scrapes, maybe—but nothing serious.”

He tried to smirk, some attempt at humor, but instead a harsh choke ripped through him, folding him forward. The sound was raw and wet, like something inside him was tearing.

I stepped forward without thinking—but he held up a shaking hand.