Unwanted Blood (Harper) novel Chapter 48

Chapter 48

The next morning, I took a hot shower after getting up. I had barely finished dressing when the door to my room swung open.

“Miss Wilson, Mr. Westbrook would like you to join him for breakfast,” the butler said politely. He didn’t treat me with contempt simply because I was a member of the Wilson family.

“Of course,” I replied with a nod.

Breakfast was served in the dining room downstairs.

The butler led me over there. It took us a full twenty minutes to get there.

The dining room was enormous. A long table that could seat twenty, set with porcelain and silver. Crystal chandeliers overhead. A wall of windows looking out over the garden.

Adrian was already seated at one end. He gestured to the chair at his right.

“Sit.”

I sat. A staff member, professionally dressed, placed a plate in front of me. Eggs. Toast. Fruit. Coffee.

I picked up my fork and ate without looking at him.

After a minute, he spoke.

“You seem surprisingly comfortable here.”

I looked up at him and swallowed the bite of food in my mouth before answering. “Quite the opposite. I have a lot of questions.”

Leaning forward, he regarded me with curiosity. “Oh? Such as?”

“I want to know what happened to the maid who used to work for my family.”

“Don’t worry, she just retired and moved somewhere else to enjoy her retirement.” He took a bite of his toast and replied calmly.

“Where is she?” I pressed further.

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Chapter 48

“Mexico,” he said.

I set my fork down. “She sent me a package.”

He sipped his coffee. “I know.”

“Why did she send it to me?”

Adrian’s eyes flicked up to meet mine. “Because she learned something she didn’t like.”

“Which is?”

288 Vouchers

“That the people responsible for her husband’s death weren’t exclusively on our side of the equation.” He set his cup down. “Your father’s business partners had their hands in that port project too. The laundering scheme wasn’t just Westbrook. It was a coalition. Your father’s people also took money. When she realized the truth, she decided to take it out on you. But one day, when she came home and saw her daughter covered in bruises from being bullied, guilt began to consume her. She felt that an innocent child shouldn’t have been dragged into all of this. So she decided to make amends. That’s why.”

I stared at him. My mother’s letter had been clear: Westbrook was the villain. They threatened her. They killed her.

But Adrian’s face was calm. Certain. He wasn’t lying-or at least, he believed what he was saying.

“Your mother didn’t know everything,” he added, reading my expression. “She knew what she saw. But she didn’t see the whole board. You’ll understand that eventually, if you stay long enough.”

“Then we’ll see” I picked up my fork again.

–

After breakfast, I was allowed to walk in the garden.

Two men followed at a distance of about thirty feet.

The garden was beautiful in a cold, controlled way. Everything was symmetrical. Every hedge trimmed to the same height. Every path perfectly straight. It felt less like a garden and more like an outdoor version of the study-designed to impress, not to live in.

I walked slowly, my hands in my pockets, letting my eyes take in everything.

And then I saw it. On the east side of the property, past the rose garden, beyond a low stone wall

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Chapter 48

-there was a separate building.

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