The Marriage Contract(86)

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.