The Marriage Contract (21 page)

“I just wanted to say good-bye.” Callie’s voice slammed him back into reality.

“Good-bye?” Even as he said the word, he knew. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

Her laugh was filled to the brim with hopelessness. “I did it. I killed Brendan. It wasn’t…I didn’t go in there planning to do it, but I was the one who pulled the trigger. This is all my fault. Your brother
died
because of what I did.”

Teague flinched. He might have been willing to lay the blame at the faceless killer’s feet, but the truth was that there was plenty of blame to spread around. “If we’re going to blame you, then let’s heap a load onto the Hallorans because they gave the order, and my older brother because he knew war was a distinct possibility when he and my father agreed to marry me off to you. And, fuck, let’s blame me, too. Because I knew what the danger was and I didn’t get Devlin and the girls out of town.”

“If I hadn’t gone to that strip club, none of this would have happened, and you know it.”

Maybe not, but
she’d
be dead. He knew enough about Brendan to know that. Maybe not right away, but he would have killed Callie at some point. “Come here. We’ll talk about this.”

Her sigh was so faint, he barely heard it. “I can’t. You’ll convince me there’s another way, and I won’t do what needs to be done. I won’t let another person be hurt because I’m too much of a coward to step forward.”

“Where are you? I’ll come get you.”

“No, Teague. I didn’t call for that.” It sounded like a car door opened and background noise whispered through the line as she must have stepped onto the street. “You’ll be okay without me. This was…God, being with you was like being in a dream I never wanted to wake up from. Even though the world’s been falling apart around us, I’ve been happier in the last two weeks than I have in a very long time. Because of you.”

His throat burned, but he swallowed past it. “Callie, don’t do this.”

“You’ll be okay, Teague. I promise. This isn’t the end for you. You’ll survive and your family will be safe. I’m only sorry I didn’t do this a week ago.”

Before Devlin died.

His brother was gone. There was no getting him back. Teague couldn’t lose Callie, too. “Angel, please.”

“Promise me it stops here. Promise me that you and James will sit down and do whatever it takes to make peace.”

He couldn’t do it. If she died, he’d set the world on fire in retaliation. “Callie, goddamn it, it doesn’t have to be this way. We’ll get James here. We’ll figure this shit out. Just give me some fucking
time
to find a way around this.”

“I—” Her voice caught. “I have to go. I love you.” And then she ended the call.

Teague redialed, gripping the phone so tight he was afraid it’d crack as the call rang and rang. It went to voice mail, and he redialed again. This time it didn’t even ring. “Fuck!”

“What’s going on?”

He turned to find that Aiden had paused the security footage with the woman in the middle of the screen. He pointed. “That’s my wife.”

Aiden swung around so fast, it was a wonder he didn’t fall out of his chair. “That’s
Callista Sheridan
?” He shook his head. “Wait,
wife
?”

“I married her last night.” He frowned at the screen. He should have seen this coming. Hadn’t there been bruises on her throat less than twenty-four hours after Brendan was killed? Hadn’t she been reluctant to talk about it time and time again, changing the subject every time he brought it up?
Goddamn it
. He’d thought that it was an ex-boyfriend or that she’d gotten into a rough situation. In what reality would he have connected the dots to guess that
she
was the one to put Brendan out of his misery?

Even now, with her confession ringing in his ears and her grainy image on a tape in front of him, he was still trying to wrap his mind around it. Every cell of his being rejected the idea that she could kill someone in cold blood. He dialed her again, already knowing that it’d go straight to voice mail. Her phone was off. She wasn’t going to give him a chance to talk her out of this.

“I never would have guessed.”

“You and me both.” He stared at the image, half-sure that it’d morph into one less familiar. “She had bruises on her throat the night we announced our engagement. He choked her.”

“I’ve heard that’s how Brendan got his kicks.”

Had he…Fuck, Teague couldn’t think the words. Callie hadn’t acted like a woman hurt in that way. Not that he was an expert. But even taking into account people dealing with that kind of assault in different ways, he didn’t think she’d have let him near her if she’d been hurt like
that
. He released a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding. “What if it was self-defense?”

“Do you really think Victor Halloran cares? His son is dead, and it sounds like she’s responsible.”

Victor might not care but Teague cared. He looked at his brother. Aiden had aged years in the last few days. The hard exterior he presented the world was cracked and flawed, and the exhaustion was starting to leak through. If Teague had half a brain in his head, he’d go to the FBI and throw both himself and Callie on their mercy.

But they hadn’t done shit to help him before now, and he couldn’t trust her life in their hands.

He never thought he’d trust Aiden again—not after what he’d done to put them all in danger—but desperate times called for desperate measures, and twenty-seven years of looking up to his older brother weren’t something he could shake off in the space of two weeks. “I need your help.”

Aiden didn’t hesitate. “Anything.”

C
allie walked into the pub even though all she wanted to do was throw herself into the SUV and drive to Teague’s house. She picked up her pace, ignoring the stares of the men scattered around the tables despite the early hour. The bartender was a big man who didn’t look particularly happy to see her. He coughed. “You’ve got the wrong place, ma’am.”

Ma’am.
The irony of being addressed so politely when she was here to turn herself in wasn’t lost on her. She didn’t bother to attempt a smile. “I’m Callista Sheridan. I’m here to speak with James Halloran. Is there some way you could convey that to him?”

He stared at her so long, it was an effort not to shift. She could hear chairs being shoved back as the men rose behind her, sharks scenting blood in the water. The bartender finally propped his meaty forearms on the faded wood. “This isn’t the place for you.”

God, would people please stop trying to give her an out? She was teetering on the edge of fleeing as it was. She took a deep breath, smelling stale beer and other things that she didn’t want to name. “Be that as it may, I need to speak to him.”

The bartender nodded as if she’d said more than she had. He narrowed his eyes at something over her shoulder. “You boys don’t want to be crossing James, now do you?”

Someone cursed. Another said, “Fuck, Tommy, we was just lookin’.”

“Sit your asses down before you do something that we’ll both regret.” He waited a long moment and motioned to a booth situated in the back corner. “Take a seat. You might have a long wait.”

“Thank you.” She didn’t look back as she made her way over and slid into the booth. There was no telling how close those men had been, or what was truly on their minds. It seemed foolish to be grateful the bartender had warned them off when she was walking willingly into her probable death, but she was grateful all the same.

As it turned out, she didn’t have to wait long.

Ten minutes later, a man who could only be James Halloran walked in through the back door. He was almost as big as Brendan had been, but where his older brother’s blond hair was shorn short, James had let his grow to his shoulders and had a short beard. But the similarity was there in the breadth of his shoulders and the blue eyes that turned her way. He wasted no time walking over and taking the seat across the table. “I already told Teague the terms. He’s an idiot if he thinks a pretty face will sway me.”

Callie flinched. “Before we go any further, I’ll need assurances. You told Teague that turning over Brendan’s killer would be enough to let Carrigan O’Malley go.”

His blue eyes gave away nothing. “That’s the deal.”

Not exactly the most comforting.
It doesn’t matter. I have a contingency plan in place. It will be okay
. God, she was such a liar. But she was also stuck between a rock and a hard place. She could get up and walk out of here and back to safety, but that was guaranteed to get Carrigan killed. Turning herself in and trusting James to keep his word was a risk, but it was one she’d have to take.

Teague trusts him. That has to be enough
.

Callie took a deep breath. It was now or never. “I did it.”

“It was your idea? Does he even know you’re here?”

God, she didn’t want to say the words—what she really wanted was to go back two weeks and never set foot in Tit for Tat. But that wasn’t an option and it was time to take responsibility for her actions. She cleared her throat. “I killed Brendan.”

The shock on his face would have been comical under any other circumstances. “You’re fucking with me.”

“I’m not.”

“How—” He shook his head. “I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish here, but lying isn’t going to help anyone. Do you know what my father will do to you?”

He was trying to make her change her mind. Despite everything he and his family had done, apparently there was a little shred of honor left inside James Halloran. It was almost a shame that she was going to reward it with a truth that would crush them both. “I’m not lying. I went to Tit for Tat to talk to Brendan—to corner him, really, since he’d been resistant to speaking to me. He mistook me for one of the working girls and…” She hesitated, and then forced herself to continue. “He wouldn’t take no for an answer. And so I shot him.”

Disbelief slowly turned to something else. James sat back. “You’re serious.”

“I wish I wasn’t. God, you have no idea how much I wish I wasn’t. I didn’t want to kill him, but I’m the one who pulled the trigger. Carrigan shouldn’t suffer for my sins.”

The expression slowly left his face, leaving him as cold as ice. “You’re going to have to come with me.”

“I assumed as much.”

She rose and turned for the front door, but he caught her arm. “No, this way.”

She didn’t understand the change until she saw the faces of the scattered men around. They’d obviously either heard or gathered enough information to connect the dots. All wore the same look, as if they were all too happy to fall on her and rip her limb from limb. It was enough to make Callie shrink back against James, even though he was no better.

What had she gotten herself into?

She shoved the thought away. This wasn’t a surprise. It didn’t matter what happened to her, because this would put a stop to the war. She just had to remember that and hold fast. She folded her shaking hands, doing a really horrible job of convincing herself that she wouldn’t break down and beg for mercy. Even the most highly trained soldiers broke under torture eventually.

She was hardly on their level.

James held the car door open for her, and his courtesy in the midst of their situation made her laugh softly. She ignored his sharp look and slid into the seat, also ignoring the presence of her phone in her purse. She’d turned it off when it’d become clear Teague wasn’t going to stop calling. Not that Callie could blame him. If their situations were reversed….Well, she’d move heaven and earth to keep him safe.

Which was part of the reason she was in her current situation.

The ride passed quickly, but not nearly quickly enough for her tastes. James’s anger seemed to soak into the air between them, his agitation growing the closer they got to their destination. He took a corner too fast and slammed on the brakes hard enough to throw her forward against her seat belt. She glanced at him, and froze.

All that anger was gone as if it’d never existed. There was nothing on his face or in his body language to indicate anything other than an icy control that raised the small hairs on the back of her neck. He turned those cold blue eyes on her. “Get out.”

She scrambled to obey. Whatever had brought about this change, she didn’t want him touching her again when he looked like
that
.

Like Brendan.

She followed him to the front door, her heart inching closer to her throat with each step. The house had been built sometime in the last ten years, and took up four times as much space as the others on the street. If she didn’t miss her guess, they’d demolished half the block to put this in, as well as planting large trees around the perimeter. The pale blue exterior was actually quite nice, and wasn’t remotely what she’d expected of the Halloran home. Her mistake.

She barely got through the door when James’s hand closed around her upper arm. He jerked her forward hard enough that she stumbled. If she expected him to parade her around his family or throw her to the wolves immediately, she was sorely mistaken. Instead, he dragged her upstairs and practically threw her into a room. She shoved her hair out of her face and gasped when she saw Carrigan cuffed to a bed. Callie spun to face him. “You have me. Let her go.”

“No.”

It took a full five seconds for the word to penetrate. “That was the deal. You
said
that was the deal—you have Brendan’s killer, and you’ll let her go.”

“I lied.” James slammed the door shut, and the sound of the lock clicking into place filled the room.

Callie stared at the closed door. He’d…lied. All her careful planning and he’d
lied
. Frustration built up, clawing its way through her stomach and throat, tearing past her lips in a scream that shook her very being. It felt so damn good that she screamed again, grabbing the closest thing to hand—a heavy lamp—and flinging it at the heavy wood. It hit with a meaty thump and fell to the floor with a clang.

“Been there, done that. It won’t change anything.”

She turned to find Carrigan watching her. The hopelessness that had been threatening since she walked into that pub got stronger, eating away at the edges of her vision.
No. I am Callista Sheridan, and I will not give up without a fight
. She smoothed her hair back.
This is why contingency plans exist.
Though with the way things were playing out right now, she wasn’t willing to trust
that
, either.

So be it.

She’d just come up with a contingency plan for her contingency plan. “Then we’ll just have to find another way.”

James walked down the stairs like a man on his way to the hangman’s noose. Goddamn Callista motherfucking Sheridan. It was bad enough when he thought the woman who’d pulled the trigger that ended Brendan’s life was some poor, defenseless girl pushed beyond her limit. Bringing so-called justice to someone who was just another victim would taint his soul almost beyond repair.

But he could have lived with it if it meant the O’Malleys and Sheridans were no longer gunning for him and his.

Now…now he was in an impossible situation. To bring justice to Brendan’s killer meant taking out Sheridan’s heir. He’d heard the traces of fear in her voice when she’d confessed. She was no assassin, sneaking into that club to cold-bloodedly kill his brother. Brendan had mistaken her for a stripper, and knowing the way he treated the strippers… A traitorous part of James’s mind didn’t blame her for defending herself.

Why the fuck had she gone there in the first place?

Because that was lose-lose no matter how he spun it. Either things ended the way they did—with his brother dead and her running off—or Brendan would have done irreparable harm to her and they’d be in the same fucking spot they were now.

If Callista Sheridan died, it would bring all the might and righteous fury of both the O’Malleys and the Sheridans down on their heads. He’d seen the look on Teague’s face when he mentioned her. The man was out of his damn mind for the woman, and he wasn’t going to take this lying down, no matter how much he wanted his own people safe. And removing Sheridan’s heir would also remove the last thing holding Colm Sheridan back from going out in a blaze of glory and taking them all with him.

This shit was well and truly fucked.

He strode into his father’s office, flinching at the heat from the roaring fireplace. It didn’t matter if today was particularly hot and sticky. The old man had a chill in his bones that he never quite shook. The rest of them just lived with it. His gaze landed on his little brother sitting next to his father. What the fuck was going on here?

Victor raised gnarled hands. “I hear you’ve found the little bitch who killed your brother.”

James narrowed his gaze at his brother. Someone from the pub must have called Ricky. His idiot brother just smirked like he’d done something smart. It was enough to have James’s fists clenching. He hated that Ricky saw the movement and paled before setting his jaw and raising his chin.

He had to approach this right. There would only be one chance to keep this from going completely tits up, so he couldn’t fuck this up. He straightened. “Things are more complicated than we expected.”

“I don’t see the complication. We’ll skin the little—”

“It’s Callista Sheridan.”

Victor frowned. “Sheridan’s daughter?”

He took a deep breath. “It was an accident.” Lie. “She was meeting Brendan, and there was some confusion and the gun went off.” Lie. “She’s been too afraid to come forward.” That, at least, he suspected was partly true.

“Hmmm.”

Before James could relax—his father was actually considering changing his course—Ricky bolted upright. “You can’t be thinking of letting that bitch go.”

“Sit down, and shut your fucking mouth.”

Ricky ignored him and turned to their father. “She shot Brendan. She
killed
him. That’s unforgivable. Or am I the only one who cares that he’s dead?”

James saw the exactly moment his brother’s words tipped their father over the edge and into a madness that would get them all killed. Victor pushed to his feet, his whole body seeming to rattle with his shakes. “Your brother’s right.”

“But—”

“Justice must be served, James. Unless you think your brother’s killer should walk free because the little bitch has some connections?”

There was only one right answer to that question. To do anything else would get him thrown into the same boat as the women upstairs. He gritted his teeth. “No. Of course not.”

“We do it tomorrow. The boys deserve a spectacle.”

Jesus Christ
. “Yes, sir.” He turned, but his old man’s words stopped him the second his hand touched the door. “The O’Malley whore, too. Make examples of both of them.”

Well, fuck. This situation had just gone from bad to catastrophic.

It took an hour for Teague to convince his mother to take Sloan and Keira to their house in Connecticut. An hour wasted, but he couldn’t move on the Hallorans with his family vulnerable. It would be horrible to come home victorious only to find out that they’d lost two more.

He refused to let another member of his family be hurt—or worse.

He ducked into a side room and pulled out his phone. There was one person who could put a stop to this before any more blood was shed, but it was a long shot. Teague dialed from memory, and impatiently waited for the call to connect.

“Well, well, well,” Finch drawled. “I was wondering if I’d hear from you today.” He sounded far too pleased with himself. It set Teague’s teeth on edge.

“I’m assuming you’re up to date on the current clusterfuck? The Hallorans have my sister and my wife.”