“Really, there’s more than enough blame to go around. No matter which way you swing it, this started before you pulled the trigger. If Brendan’s death hadn’t been enough to start a war, then something else would have happened and that would have been an inciting incident.”
Callie opened her mouth to argue, but stopped. The more she thought about it, the more Carrigan’s argument solidified in her mind. She tried to come up with a scenario that didn’t end in war…and came up short. She frowned. “You’re wasted as a pawn in marriage.”
Carrigan laughed. “Try telling that to my father.”
It was a crying shame for such a calculating mind to be relegated to such an archaic role. Callie might have agreed to an arranged marriage, but it had ultimately been her choice. Carrigan didn’t even have that. “I’m sorry.”
“You have a nasty habit of apologizing for things that you have no control of.”
“That doesn’t make me any less sorry. You deserve better than that.” She didn’t have to like the woman to recognize that. But it put Carrigan’s actions in a completely new light. Callie compared herself to a caged bird when she was feeling melodramatic, but she had a lot of freedom. And, one day, she would run the Sheridan empire.
Carrigan truly was caged. If her father was really forcing her to marry a man of his choice—and Callie had no reason to believe otherwise—then she couldn’t blame the woman for escaping every chance she got. Speaking of… “Where did you go the other night? I mean, I assume something went wrong because you ended up here.” She motioned to the room they were currently locked in.
“I went out for a bit of air, and that jackass James grabbed me.”
Callie started to ask about the man the bartender had seen her with, but changed her mind at the last minute. Carrigan was entitled to her secrets. She glanced at the window. “I think it’s dark enough.”
“Thank God.” She stood and walked to the door. “Just give me a minute to change and I’ll have us out of here.”
She pressed her ear to the door as Carrigan changed into the sweats—she had to roll them four times and knot the drawstring to keep them from falling off— and crouched next to the keyhole, holding her breath. If they were found out now, there was nothing stopping James or whoever caught them from killing them on the spot. They’d been promised death, after all. There was nothing but silence on the other side of the door.
She closed her eyes, listening harder. Was that a rustle? Was there someone standing right on the other side, listening just as hard as she was, knowing exactly what the soft clicks of Carrigan’s tools in the lock meant?
This is the only way. You die now, or you die how the Hallorans choose.
When she looked at it like that, there wasn’t really any choice at all. She couldn’t just sit here and wait for the ax to fall, proverbial or otherwise. Now was the time for action.
“Got it.” Carrigan’s words were barely more than a whisper.
“Just a second.” Callie padded over to grab the lamp. It was unwieldy, but any weapon was better than no weapon at this point.
Carrigan nodded. She took the other lamp and then cracked open the door.
They waited, but no one burst into the room and no sound of alarm went up. Apparently James was confident in his people’s ability to keep them contained in the house without a guard. Well, he was about to be proven wrong. Callie slipped into the hallway, followed by Carrigan, padding on bare feet. She would have liked to get the other woman a pair of shoes that weren’t heels, but James’s were almost comically too large. So bare feet it was.
She silently counted the doors as they moved past them. One. Two. Still no one in the hallway but them. Three. She pointed to the third door. Carrigan tried the handle and it opened with only the slightest creak.
Footsteps in the hallway behind them had them both spinning around. James stood at the top of the stairs, his eyes narrowed. Callie tensed, waiting for the moment he’d sound the alarm. Even with two of them against one of him, she doubted they’d win in a fight. He walked to them slowly, his gaze flickering over her and landing on Carrigan.