Page 27 of Twisted Secrets
“Hmm.” Aiden rubbed a hand over his mouth, his frown deepening. “Do you think it’s Halloran?”
He almost reached up to touch the cut on his head, but managed to abort the move before it started. “I wouldn’t necessarily rule it out, but I doubt it. Carrigan—”
“Don’t.”
Jesus Christ. She wasn’t dead, no matter what their father liked to preach on the rare occasions when one of their siblings brought her up. Of them all, Cillian would have thought his older brother wouldn’t stand to let her go completely. She’d always been closest withTeague and Aiden, and it felt like yet another betrayal that Aiden was dancing to the tune their father set. Not surprising, but disappointing in a huge way.
Well, he wasn’t going to dance. “It’s not like saying her name three times is going to bring her crashing through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man.”
Aiden clenched his jaw. “She betrayed our family.”
“If that’s what you want to call it.” Cillian didn’t chafe at the bounds as much as some of his siblings, but this was getting ridiculous. “The whole arranged-marriage thing is tired, don’t you think? You can’t blame her for ditching the Russian and going with her heart.”
“Even if her heart led her to James Halloran?”
He looked away.Those wounds are never going to close, not when we keep ripping them open to prove a point. “I don’t like it any more than you do. But she’s still family, no matter what Father says.”
“No, Cillian. She’s not. She’s a Halloran now.” Aiden walked back to his desk and sank into the chair. “Don’t bring her up again.”
Fat chance of that happening. “My point is that James has been quiet these last few months. He’s occupied with her and keeping control of their people. The only reason you even brought him up in the first place was because you’re still pissed she chose him.”
“That’s not it.”
Yes, it was. For whatever reason, Aiden took Carrigan’s choice almost personally. Since Cillian knew for a fact his brother hadn’t been thrilled with the Russian either, he didn’t get it.
Damn it, that wasn’t the truth. He understood it far too well. James Halloran might not have been theone who gave the order that resulted in Devlin’s death, but he was still part of the family who did. That might not be enough to totally condemn him, but it didn’t exactly win him any points, either. Cillian still had a hell of a time wrapping his mind around the fact that Carrigan had gone and fallen forhimof all people.
But it was her choice. He respected it, even if he didn’t understand it.
He leaned back, stretching his arms over his head. “If not Halloran, then who? We both know it’s not the Sheridans.” Teague and Callie might not share all their secrets these days, but they were allies.That, at least, he was sure of.
“I don’t know.”
The words settled between them, and the feeling of danger only got worse. Cillian straightened. “Well, we need to find out what’s going on.” It had to be a precursor to something else—something worse—but hell if he could figure out what it was. Even if all the businesses chose to revolt and throw a fit, there were other ways to do it. Better ways. Three percent was just…insulting.
It didn’t make any sense.
“Iwill find out what’s going on.Youare going to stay out of trouble.”
It was like his brother was talking to a child. Protesting that he hadn’t gone looking for trouble just sounded like he was making excuses, which undermined his whole point. Pointing out that he’d danced to whatever tune Aiden and their father set wouldn’t help, either. So Cillian sat there and glared—and felt childish for doing even that. “I can help.”
“You found the discrepancy. That’s helping.” Aiden shrugged into his jacket and stood. “There’s a family dinner tomorrow, and you’reexpected to be there.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” It seemed like the only time he got to see all his siblings—Carrigan excluded, of course—was during the obligatory family dinner these days.
Aiden snorted and left the office. Cillian set his list aside and got back to work. Now that he’d brought all the accounts up to date for this week, it was time to go over the notes from the meeting he’d missed this morning. He rifled through the pages his brother had left him, cursing under his breath when he realized they were missing some seriously vital information. “Goddamn it.”
“Problems?”
He glanced up to find Sloan standing on the other side of the desk. He knew she could be quiet when she wanted to, but he hadn’t even heard her come in. “Hey, squirt. How’s it hanging?”
She took the seat across from him and pulled her legs up to rest her chin on her knees. His little sister always seemed to do that—find a position to take up as little space as physically possible. She didn’t look too great, either. She’d always been thin, but she was almost gaunt these days, her dark eyes huge on her face. It made him want to drag her down to the kitchen and make her a sandwich—except he knew it wouldn’t really solve anything in the long term.
Still…
Cillian stood. “I missed lunch. Come on.”
“If you insist.” Her sigh was almost silent, but he caught it all the same. “What happened to your head?”
