Unwanted Blood (Harper) novel Chapter 53

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Chapter 53

Harper’s POV

Breakfast the next morning was silent.

Adrian sat across from me, his eyes bloodshot, dark circles carved deeper than the day before

I set my fork down

“Last night was loud,” I said, keeping my tone casual. “Does the manor often have nights like that?”

His knife paused mid-cut. He didn’t look up. “You heard?”

“Hard not to. Something hitting a wall. And your voice.” I tilted my head, studying him. “Whoever’s in that building is important to you.”

He set the knife down slowly. His fingers rested on the table, flat and still. When he finally looked at me, his eyes were tired.

“A sick relative.” he said. His voice was flat, “Bad temper. Doesn’t make things easy.”

He didn’t say who. But the tone, there was something in it. A respect that didn’t match the words he was using. The kind of voice you use when you’re talking about an elder above you.

I thought about everything I’d heard. The Westbrook power structure. The rumours that had circulated 3 years ago-Adrian’s father had died of a sudden illness, the family announced, private funeral, no public viewing. Adrian had stepped into his role within a week.

And I remembered something Ryder had muttered during one of his late-night phone calls, when he thought I was asleep on the couch: “Old Westbrook dying right when Adrian needed the throne? Something stinks.”

I put it together slowly, like fitting pieces of a puzzle I wasn’t supposed to see.

The person in the east building probably wasn’t just a sick relative.

It was his father.

He’s still alive, but was hidden. So Adrian could claim the family was leaderless and step in.

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11:36

Chapter 53

But why Why hide him instead of-

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No I stopped myself Too many questions Not enough answers I couldn’t afford to get lost in speculation when the one thing I needed to focus on was right in front of me

I picked up my fork again. “Can I ask you for something”” I said

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