Unwanted Blood (Harper) novel Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

My breath hitched.

Below the text was an attachment. It was a snapshot of Lily smiling and waving at the Granville Island market this afternoon. The camera angle as so close that whoever took it had to be standing less than two meters away from her, blending into the crowd while she laughed at Ethan’s

clumsiness.

My stomach clenched violently, a cold sweat breaking out across my neck.

Before I could even process the image, the screen buzzed again. A second message appeared.

She looks so beautiful when she smiles. Do you think it would look better if I made her cry?

A gasp escaped my throat, and I practically threw the phone onto the bed. It bounced off the mattress and hit the floor with a dull click.

“Harper?” Lily’s voice called out from the kitchen. Her head poked around the doorframe, a mug of tea in her hand. “What was that? What’s wrong?”

I forced my hands into my pockets so she wouldn’t see them shaking. I took a deep, shuddering breath, smoothing out the panic in my voice. “It’s okay. Nothing. My phone just slipped out of my hand.”

Lily eyed me for a second, her brows drawing together, but the exhaustion finally won. She nodded vaguely. “Goodnight. Don’t stay up too late.”

“I won’t,” I lied. “Goodnight.”

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Chapter 21

I waited until her door clicked shut. Then I sat there in the dark for a long time, phone pressed flat against the mattress under my hand.

She had taken a whole bus ride to get here for me. She had rented an apartment the same afternoon she unpacked her suitcase. She had come because she thought it would keep me safer.

And now she was his next target.

At 1:00 a.m., the apartment was completely dark. Lily had fallen asleep tiptoed out of my room, my bare feet making no sound on the cool hardwood floor of the living room.

The lamp above the kitchen counter was still on, casting a low yellow light across the room.

Ethan hadn’t left. He was lying flat on his back, one arm thrown over his eyes, but the moment my shadow crossed the hallway, his arm dropped. He wasn’t asleep.

He sat up quickly, his boots clicking against the floorboards. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“No.”I shook my head, walking over to the couch. I sat down on the other end of the couch, pulling my knees up. “You stayed.”

“Yes. It’s safer if I stay.” He shifted to sit up properly, rubbing the back of his neck. “What’s wrong?”

“Ethan,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “Do you know… someone who can look into things? Someone outside the legal system?”

He paused, his eyes narrowing as he tried to read my face through the gloom. “What do you mean?”

“I want to look up someone,” I said, looking him straight in the eye. “It’s

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Chapter 21

not Marcus. I want to know about the person behind Marcus. The Westbrooks.”

Ethan’s eyes were pinned on me. “Why?”

I looked at the dark window across the room.

“Because hiding doesn’t work. I can’t just hide in this apartment,” I continued, my jaw tightening. “He’ll hurt you. He’ll hurt Lily, and… everyone else. I have to know what he really wants, and I need to find whatever it is he thinks I have before he loses his patience.”

Ethan stayed silent for a long time.

The only sound was the distant hum of traffic from the bridge outside.

Finally, he let out a slow breath and nodded. “I have a cousin. He works as a private investigator out in Calgary, freelance mostly, but he has connections across the provinces. He’s good. He doesn’t ask many questions if the money is right.”

“Can you reach him tomorrow?”

“Yes. I can get in touch with him tomorrow.

”

“Thank you,” I breathed, as the tension in my shoulders released a bit.

Ethan looked at me, a strange, softened expression passing over his face. He reached out and roughly ruffled my damp hair, like an older brother trying to help a panicked little sister, that it made my throat ache.

“Don’t mention it,” he said, his voice dropping into a low rumble. “Besides, if anything happens to you on my watch, Lily will actually wring my neck. I’m just protecting myself.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips, but it faded before it could

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