Unwanted Blood (Harper) novel Chapter 87

Chapter 87

The statement lasted nearly forty minutes.

Adrian faced the lens in the tone I’d come to know well-calm, distant, as if he were reading someone else’s life. He started with the transfer receipt. Talked about how his father had him sign the “medical injectable procurement” form. About how the delivery room nurse was reassigned. About how Dylan had routed a payment to the doctor’s personal account three days after his mother died. About how he’d later found the altered medical record copy while going through his

father’s files.

He said all of it without a shift in tone. Flat. Detached. But I noticed his left hand never left the table-pressed flat, like it was holding something up.

Near the end, he paused for about five seconds.

Then. “Everything I’ve stated above is true. If any part of it is false, I am willing to bear the corresponding legal responsibility.”

When he finished, the red recording light went off. The technicians started packing up. Normal room noise returned.

But Adrian didn’t move. He was still sitting there, his hand still pressed against the table.

I watched him for a couple of seconds. Then I walked over, took the glass of cold water in front of him, and replaced it with a warm coffee.

He looked up. There was a flicker of disorientation in his eyes. Then he reached for the glass. “Thanks,” he said. His voice was rougher than usual.

I sat down beside him. Didn’t say anything.

After a while, he finished the water, stood, and went to find Colton to confirm the next steps.

I stayed in my seat. Looked down. My fingers had clenched the edge of my shirt without me realising it.

At lunch, I noticed Adrian was quieter than usual.

He sat at the corner of the table, eating slowly with his right hand, his left hand resting on his knee, barely moving. Colton and Ethan were discussing the submission process for the materials.

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Chapter 87

Ryder chimed in occasionally. Lily listened from the side.

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I picked up a piece of food with my chopsticks and placed it at the edge of Adrian’s bowl Adrian paused Looked up at me. The faintest trace of a smile crossed his face-there and gone in a second-then he looked down and ate it.

I pulled my chopsticks back and kept eating.

But Ryder, sitting across from us, clearly saw it. His chewing stopped for a beat. Then he dropped his gaze back to his soup and said nothing.

Colton saw it too. He just shifted his eyes away and turned back to Ethan, continuing the discussion.

After lunch, Colton encrypted the video footage and sent it to the investigative division.

From there, it was a waiting game-for the formal filing response.

I sat by the window with a cup of coffee, watching the street outside. Adrian came down the hallway and stopped beside me. He didn’t sit. Didn’t look at me. Just stood there, looking out the window with me, sharing the silence.

After a while, he spoke. “When this is over, what’s the first thing you want to do?”

I blinked, and turned to look at him. “Sleep properly. Teach the kids in my community how to draw. Take a walk on the beach.” I paused. “You?”

He looked at me. “Same as you.” I gave him a confused look.

He turned toward me and smiled. “I mean, I want to do those things with you.”

My face went hot instantly. I kept my voice level. “Don’t forget, we’re enemies. We can’t really be friends.”

“What if I’m willing to stand on your side, for good?” he countered.

I hadn’t expected that.

“We’ll see. “I muttered, then quickly turned away before he could catch the nervous expression on my face.

As I walked back toward the living room, the sounds of the house caught me. Lily and Ethan bickering. Colton’s keyboard clicking. Ryder on the phone, his voice muffled in the hallway.

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Chapter 87

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