Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 92734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“Call him.”
She jerked back. “Excuse me?”
“Call him. See him again. Get this fucking thing moving. The faster you’re married, the faster we can sweep this whole clusterfuck under the rug.”
And the faster the cage door would close behind her. She took a deep breath. “Aiden—”
“You’re being deliberately dense. That wasn’t a request, Carrigan. It was a fucking order.”
Glaring, she fished her cell phone out of her clutch and scrolled through her most recent calls. “This is bullshit.”
“You don’t get to play righteous fury right now. Stop stalling and call him.”
She was stalling, and for what? If it was two weeks or two days, her time had nearly run out. With a sigh, she called Dmitri, hoping he’d let it go to voice mail.
“Hello, Carrigan.”
Damn it. She’d had such shitty luck today, and apparently it wasn’t going to change now. “Dmitri.” She held Aiden’s gaze while she spoke, part of her surprised that her voice was so even despite the inner turmoil she could barely breathe past. “I’d like to see you again.”
“Excellent. Are you free Tuesday? I had to make a trip back to New York to take care of some business, but I should have returned to Boston by then.”
She didn’t ask what business he had to take care of personally. She didn’t want to know. “That would be wonderful. Dinner this time?”
“Of course. I’ll send my driver to pick you up at seven.”
High-handed. She gritted her teeth and bit out the next words. “I look forward to seeing you.” She hung up and turned to Aiden. “Are you happy now?”
“Not even close. Don’t fuck this up, Carrigan. You have no idea what’s at stake.”
She would if he talked to her instead of stepping up like he was their father and she was his little minion. But that was how Seamus operated, so why would Aiden do anything differently? “You’re just like our father.” The words came out poisonous and low, and she instantly wanted to take them back.
He just stepped aside with a short nod. “I do what I have to in order to keep our family safe. You’d do well to remember that.” He turned on his heel and walked up the stairs and into the town house, leaving her staring after him.
She was doing what was best for the family. She hadn’t run like she’d considered. She hadn’t fought her father’s ridiculous list. The only thing she’d taken for herself in all these years was the occasional night of freedom.
And James.
She pushed the thought away. She didn’t know what she was going to do about him, but her brother was right—there was no future there. Even if by some miracle he fell in love with her and she… Well, it was impossible. Her family would never give their blessing. His family wanted her dead. That wasn’t the material that happily ever after was made of.
Maybe it really would be best to cut things off now. It seemed like every hour she spent with him attached more strings to her heart. Too many more and he’d rip it out of her chest when he walked away.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Cillian didn’t have a destination in mind when he set out. All he wanted to do was escape the monster in his head. Seeing his sister touching a Halloran had sent him back to that dark street, to the sound of gunshots, to Devlin dying on the street. It was a Halloran who gave the order that resulted in their little brother’s death, and she was kissing one.
He couldn’t even stand to look at her right now.
The band around his chest that never quite seemed to go away tightened until black dots danced across his vision. He’d thought Carrigan understood, but how could she? She hadn’t been there on that street so strikingly similar to this one, hadn’t seen the headlights cut through the darkness—the only warning they got before things went tits up. And she sure as fuck hadn’t been there on her knees, helplessly watching Devlin bleed out.
They’d both lost a brother, but he was only now starting to realize that the demons inside him that rose that night weren’t ones easily exorcised.
Lights broke up the relative darkness of the street and he glanced up, not even a little surprised to find himself outside Jameson’s. His feet always seemed to take him here when he wasn’t paying attention, as if he could somehow change the events of that night if he walked through it enough times.
He almost turned around and left. There was nothing for him here and he damn well knew it. But the siren call of the last happy night he’d shared with his brothers was too much to resist. Maybe if he went inside, he could actually manage to draw a full breath again. He pushed through the door, the heat of the room making him realize just how cold he’d been.