Unwanted Blood (Harper) novel Chapter 72

Chapter 72

Harper’s POV

The sky was the colour of thin ash when I pushed through the hedge.

My clothes were covered in dirt and shredded grass. Three shallow cuts ran down my left forearm from branches I’d been too rushed to dodge.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, I finally made it to the circular driveway. The perimeter road was empty. A dark sedan sat at the far end, engine off, headlights dark. Ryder was leaning against the driver’s door. The moment I emerged from the brush, his shoulders dropped, like a wire that had been pulled tight for hours finally slackening.

When I walked to him, he opened the rear door.

I climbed in. He got back behind the wheel and glanced at me in the rear-view mirror. “Hurt?”

I shook my head. “Scratches. Nothing serious.”

I pulled the phone from my pocket and held it up. “I got it. He admitted it. He said he signed the order.”

Ryder nodded. He started the engine, pulled onto the road, “We’ll talk when we’re back.”

The house door was unlocked when we arrived. I pushed it open and stepped into the warm, dim light of the living room.

Colton was at the table, laptop open, surrounded by printouts. Ethan was on the sofa, one ankle resting on the opposite knee, his expression calm but his eyes became bright the moment I walked in. “Lily! Harper’s back. “He cried.

Lily came out of the bedroom before I’d even closed the door behind me. She had a clean jacket in her hands and threw it over my shoulders before I could say anything. Then she saw my arms.

Her face went pale. Her hand flew to her mouth. “Harper, how-”

“I’m fine. It’s just branches. I ran through a hedge.” I tried to sound casual, which made her look at me like I’d just announced I’d been shot.

0.00%

11.41

Chapter 72

288 Vouchers

She pulled me toward the kitchen, sat me on a stool, and started inspecting every cut, every scrape, like she was conducting a full medical examination on me.

“Lily, it’s really just scratches-”

“Hold still.”

I sat there, letting her clean and bandage three marks that barely qualified as injuries. Part of me wanted to laugh. The other part-the part that had been standing in a dark corridor with a dying man’s confession in my pocket-was too tired to do anything but let her.

When she was finally satisfied, I went to the table and set the phone down in the centre.

“I’m going to play it,” I said. “Don’t interrupt until it’s done.” I looked around at everyone, then I pressed play.

The old man’s voice filled the room-rough, thick.

“The Wilson girl… You think you’ve dug deep? Deeper than I expected.”

“So what? You found a piece of paper. I signed it. Yes. I did it. I ordered it.”

“And what are you going to do about it?”

“You can not get out.

The room didn’t move. Nobody breathed. Even the laptop fan seemed to quiet down.

Then the alarm sounded, along with the rapid beat of my footsteps.

I pressed stop.

No one spoke for a long moment.

Ethan was the first to break it. He leaned forward, his brow furrowed.

“It sounds like you were cornered in there. How did you get out?”

I hesitated a moment. “Adrian. He pulled me into a passage. Diverted the guards. Showed me the way out.”

Colton’s eyes narrowed. Ethan’s expression shifted. Ryder’s jaw tightened.

“Adrian?” Ryder repeated.

37.05%

11:41

Chapter 72

“Yeah, he saved me.” I nodded.

288 Vouchers

Ryder stared at me. “Have you considered that everything tonight-the fact that you got in, the fact that you got out, might have been staged? That he and his father could have orchestrated the whole thing?”

I shook my head. “He wouldn’t do that.”

“He’s still his father’s son, Harper.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify