Unwanted Blood (Harper) novel Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Ryder’s POV

Five days.

Five days of Harper’s voice on the phone, relayed through Lily, saying the same three things in the same calm tone:

“I’m fine.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Tell Ryder not to do anything stupid.”

I’d heard “don’t do anything stupid” three times now. It was becoming a theme.

Colton had Harper’s phone signal pinned to the Westbrook estate-GPS confirmed it was inside the property lines, somewhere in the main house. But he couldn’t narrow it down further. The building’s walls were too thick, the interference too strong. We knew she was alive. We knew nothing else.

“We wait,” Colton said, pacing the hotel room with his laptop balanced on one knee. “One more week. My contact inside Westbrook’s logistics division says there’s a shift change coming up- new security contractors, new protocols. During the transition, there’ll be gaps. We exploit the gaps.”

“Harper is in that house right now,” I said. “She’s not a ‘gap’ to exploit.”

“She’s also the best intelligence asset we have,” Colton shot back, his voice sharp enough to cut “If we rush in blind, we lose her. We lose the case. We lose everything.”

I turned away from him and stared out the window. The hotel overlooked the city-grey buildings, grey sky, grey everything. I couldn’t see the estate from here. I couldn’t see anything.

My phone buzzed. Logan.

The surviving engineer from the port project is willing to testify. He’s in Toronto. But he needs safe passage out of Canada. Westbrook has people at the border.

I typed back: I’ll send Grayson. He’ll handle it.

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11:35

Chapter 50

284 Vouchers

Today evening, the door to my room opened at seven. Adrian stood there, wearing the same dark sweater from breakfast, his expression unreadable.

“My study,” he said. “Now.”

I followed him down the hallway, past the gallery of oil paintings, past the grand staircase, into the room I’d been held in on my first night. The fireplace was lit this time. Warm light danced across the bookshelves and cast long, shifting shadows on the walls.

A document sat on the desk.

Adrian walked around to his chair and sat down. He didn’t gesture for me to sit. I stayed standing.

“Your brothers are busy,” he said, his tone conversational. “Ryder has been watching this estate from the hill every night for five days. Colton has planted two informants in my logistics division. Logan is trying to smuggle a witness out of Toronto. And Grayson-” He paused, a faint smile touching his lips. “Grayson is the most interesting one. He’s good. Better than the others. But not good enough.”

I kept my face neutral. Inside, my chest was tight. They were out there. Trying to get to me.

And Adrian knew everything.

“I could crush them,” he continued. “I could have your brothers arrested by morning-obstruction, harassment, corporate espionage. The charges would stick. They’d spend months in legal proceedings while Westbrook’s lawyers buried them in paperwork.”

He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk. “But I haven’t. And I won’t.”

I met his eyes. “What do you want?”

He pushed the document toward me.

“Cooperation,” he said. “You help me understand what your brothers have-what evidence they’ve collected, who they’re talking to, what they’re planning. In return, I give you everything I have on your mother’s death. The full picture. Every name. Every payment. Every decision that led to that delivery room.”

He leaned back, his gaze steady.

“Or you refuse. And you stay in this room. Indefinitely.”

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