Page 9 of Dark Succession
“That’s what we’re about to find out.” He let out a breath. “We can get up now.”
She followed his gaze to where a man had just come back inside. One of his? It had all happened so fast, she couldn’t begin to say if it had been an attack or something else altogether less sinister. But all rational responses aside, her gut said this wasn’t all caused by an accident of some sort. No, this had been intentional.
It was nearly impossible to climb out from beneath a table with any level of grace, so she took Teague’s offered hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. Or that was the excuse she told herself. It certainly wasn’t that she wanted to feel his skin against hers again.
Papa was already in motion, shouting orders in direct counterpoint to Teague’s father. The end result was the same—a group of men rushing to the main doors to find answers.
The man who’d come back in the doors approached their table and spoke in a low voice. “A drive-by. One of the guests was winged, but the bleeding has already stopped.”
A drive-by? Who would dare?
But even as the thought crossed her mind, she knew. “Halloran.”
“It makes sense.” Teague frowned. “Apparently he’s not too keen on the idea of you switching out husbands without missing a beat.”
She took a step back, removing her hand from his. For a moment there, she’d almost forgotten that he was an O’Malley and little better than an enemy. She turned away from him and stepped carefully around the fallen chairs to her father. She nodded at Micah, one of her father’s long-term men. “Talk to the couple outside. Find out everything you can.” She waited for him to head toward the doors to turn to her father. “Papa, I think it was the Hallorans.”
“Victor Halloran might be a vicious bastard, but not even he’s vicious enough to attack both our family and the O’Malleys at the same time. No, it must be someone else—some hotshot kid with a gun and more balls than sense who wants bragging rights for a skirmish with the Sheridans.”
She might have believed that under different circumstances, but she’d seen firsthand how grief for Ronan had changed and warped her father, affecting both his judgment and his health. And that waswithoutsomeone heaping humiliation on top of it like they’d effectively done with Victor Halloran.
But he wouldn’t listen to reason, and now wasn’t the time to argue about it. “Papa, we need to go home and regroup.”
“Nonsense. The boys will take care of things.”
She reined in her temper through sheer force of will. “Someone drove by and fired on innocent bystanders to prove that they could.”
“Yes, and if we scurry like rats to our den, they will know they have the upper hand.” He straightened, towering over her. “I’ve been in this game longer than you’ve been alive, daughter.”
The same argument-ending statement he always made when he decided she was being too lippy. There would be no reasoning with him now, and if he backed down, it was a weakness he wouldn’t allow himself to show. There was no option but to stay here and be a sitting duck for whatever attack the Hallorans had planned next.
Maybe they’re done for the night.Wishful thinking and she knew it. Maybe they were, but it was always smarter to overestimate your enemy than to hope for the best. She tried to put herself into Victor Halloran’s shoes. From everything she’d heard, he’d done wet work for a prominent empire in New York before deciding to branch out for himself and carve out a piece of Boston. He’d worked his way up the ranks and created a reputation so brutal, people here had folded for him without a fight. She’d bet everything she owned that he wasn’t done for the night.
Callie motioned to John. He hesitated, looking at her father, but finally crossed over the stand next to her chair. “Yes?”
“Set up a perimeter around the building.” Making a show of strength was all well and good, but they’d have to be fools not to put some extra security in place to protect the guests here. Even her father would acknowledge that—already had if the small smile he wore was any indication. He’d done that sort of thing from the time she was a child, setting up a situation and allowing her to learn how to take the lead. Once she’d basked in his approval when she made the correct decision. Now? Now, she just wanted their people taken care of.
“Will do.”
Satisfied that they were as safe as they could be, she reached for her glass of champagne before realizing it hadbeen tipped over during the scramble for cover. Just as she turned to search for another, Teague appeared by her side. “Thought you could use this to settle your nerves.”
“My nerves are just fine, thank you very much.” It wasangergiving her the shakes, not fear. Mostly. But she still accepted the tumbler and eyed the amber liquid. “Scotch?”
“Whiskey.”
Of course. She rarely touched the stuff, but now wasn’t the time to quibble over foolish things like this. The liquid shot fire down her throat, a blaze that slowly eased and settled into comfortable warmth in her stomach. She blinked at Teague, her eyes watering a little.
He watched her like he wasn’t sure if he should laugh or be worried. God, she wasn’t sure which he should do, either, so she took another—smaller—sip. “My father insists that we stay and continue the party.”
“That seems to be the plan.” And he didn’t look any more pleased with it than she was.
To keep herself from staring at him, she watched as people righted chairs and slowly settled back into whatever they’d been doing before the screaming started. Some of them looked worried, but the others cast their glances at the head table and took their cues from her and Teague’s fathers. They wouldn’t leave—wouldn’t show dreaded weakness—until the party was over.
“It’s idiocy to stay here when we know there’s danger.”
“It is.” He shrugged those big shoulders. “But these people are scavengers. The second they smell weakness, they’ll stop fearing us and it will be complete chaos.”
She knew that. Truly, she did. But it was such a fine line to travel, and they were on the wrong side of ittonight.At least there are some precautions in place now.“There has to be a better way.”
