Unwanted Blood (Harper) novel Chapter 56

Chapter 56

“Your mother didn’t die from hemorrhage,” Martha said. Her voice was flat. “Someone injected her. On the delivery table. After the baby was born. The original record noted the IV residue Then the record was replaced. The one you’re holding is a copy I made before the original was swapped.”

I gripped the paper so hard my knuckles went white. “Who replaced it?”

Martha shook her head. “I don’t know. I was a maid. I cleaned floors. I didn’t have access to hospital administration. But the original was changed within forty-eight hours of her death. That kind of speed requires power. Money. Influence.”

She looked at me, and for the first time, her eyes softened-just barely.

“I owed her,” she said quietly. “During all those years in your house, I treated your sister like she was guilty. Like she was the reason my husband died. I was wrong. And this-” She tapped the folder. “This is the only way I can make it right.”

I folded the copy carefully and slipped it into my jacket. “Thank you.”

She turned away. “Tell Harper the truth. That’s all I ask.”

Harper’s POV

Just as I was about to fall asleep, my phone buzzed on the nightstand. A notification from an encrypted messaging app Colton had installed weeks ago-hidden inside a weather widget, disguised as a forecast update.

I opened it.

The message was from Ryder, relayed through Lily’s device.

Found Martha. Mother’s original medical record shows IV residue. Substance unknown. Cause of death was NOT hemorrhage. Record was replaced within 48 hours. Father already died. Can’t ask him anything.

My hands went numb. The room suddenly felt too cold. I pulled my arms around myself and sat on the edge of the bed, my eyes fixed on the screen, the words blurring and sharpening in turns.

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11:37

Chapter 56

She was murdered My mother was murdered on the delivery table

I forced myself to breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Think.

288 Vouchers

Modifying a hospital death record in 2010 required inside cooperation-a doctor, a nurse, an administrator. Or someone with enough power to override the system entirely.

Injecting a woman in a delivery room without anyone noticing required the same thing. Someone the staff wouldn’t question. Someone whose presence was either expected or untouchable.

Twenty years ago, in Vancouver, only one person had both the medical connections and the authority to pull it off without leaving a trace.

The head of the Westbrook family.

Adrian’s father.

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