Unwanted Blood (Harper) novel Chapter 54

Chapter 54

288 Vouchers

Chapter 54

Ryder’s POV

Colton’s laptop screen glowed with a map of southern Mexico. Red pins marked bank transactions, blue pins marked flight records, and a single yellow pin sat over a small coastal town south of Cancún.

“She’s here,” Colton said, tapping the yellow pin. “Playa del Carmen area. She’s been using a fake name-Martha Estrada-but the bank accounts trace back to the same shell company Westbrook used for Marcus’s warehouse lease. She’s been withdrawing cash from a local branch every two

weeks.”

I leaned over his shoulder, studying the map. The town was small. Tourist-heavy. Easy to disappear into. Hard to track through.

“I’m going,” I said.

Colton’s head snapped up. “No. Too risky. Westbrook has connections all over Mexico. If they know she’s there, and they probably do. They’ll have people watching.”

“She’s been there for months,” I said. “If Westbrook wanted her dead, she’d be dead. She’s alive because Adrian hasn’t ordered a hit. Not yet.”

“That’s a big assumption.”

“It’s the only one we’ve got.”

Colton closed his laptop and stood. “I’m coming with you.”

“No.”

He opened his mouth to argue. I cut him off.

“You stay. Harper has one minute of phone contact a day, relayed through Lily. I need someone here to coordinate, to monitor the estate, to be ready the second she sends a signal. If we both leave, she has no one.”

He stared at me for a long moment. Then he exhaled, sharp and frustrated. “Fine. But you check in every twelve hours. If I don’t hear from you, I’m coming down there with everything we have.”

0.00%

11:36

Chapter 54

“Deal.”

1288 V9 Vers

I packed a go-bag-cash, passport, burner phone, the folding knife I’d given Harper, now back in my possession after she’d slipped it into my palm during a brief moment at the warehouse She’d kept it for three days before finding a way to return it. I didn’t know how. I didn’t ask.

Before I left, I called Lily.

She answered on the first ring, her voice tight. “Ryder. What’s happening?”

“I’m going to Mexico. To find Martha. The housekeeper.”

“Martha? The one who-”

“The same. She might have answers we can’t get from the outside.”

A pause. Then, quietly: “Tell Harper.”

“I need you to pass a message. Next time she calls. Tell her I’m looking for Martha. Tell her to hold on a few more days.”

Lily’s voice cracked. “I will.”

“Take care of her, Lily. Even from a distance.”

“I always do.”

Harper’s POV

The knock came at nine-thirty in the evening.

I was sitting on the edge of the bed, reading one of the corporate documents Adrian had left me- this one about a Westbrook acquisition in 2014, the same year as the port incident-when the door opened from the outside.

Adrian stood in the frame, holding his phone.

“My uncle arrives the day after tomorrow,” he said, without preamble. “He’s agreed to see you. Fifteen minutes.”

I closed the folder and set it on the desk. “Why did he change his mind?”

Adrian stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He leaned against it, arms crossed, his face

37.54%

11:36

Chapter 54

unreadable in the dim light.

788 Vouchers

“Because I told him that if you don’t get answers, your brothers will turn Westbrook’s entire operation upside down.” He paused. “He weighed the options. Decided that seeing you is cheaper than not seeing you.”

I stared at him. “You used my brothers to threaten him.”

“I used facts. Your brothers are investigating. I just made sure he understands that as long as you’ re in this house, they won’t stop.”

I didn’t answer. I was too busy turning it over in my head.

Was Adrian helping me? Or was he using me to keep my brothers at bay-to dangle the possibility of cooperation while buying himself time to consolidate power?

Or was it both?

Both made the most sense. Adrian didn’t do anything for just one reason. And that was exactly why I had to be careful.

“Thank you,” I said finally.

He nodded once. “Don’t thank me yet. My uncle isn’t a generous man. He’ll answer your questions, but only the ones he wants to answer.”

He turned and left. The lock clicked.

I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Two days.

In two days, I’ll meet the man who had sat across from my mother in a hospital room sixteen years

ago.

71.92%

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify