The Marriage Contract by Katee Robert

been sure his brother would support him over his father.
    Now he couldn’t shake the feeling that belief was wrong.
    “What happened to you?”
    “I grew the fuck up.” Aiden paced from one side of the room to the other, agitation in every move. “And you know what I saw, Teague? Our father isn’t as cracked as we thought he was.”
    His brother had to be insane to think that. Seamus O’Malley would have been perfectly at home a few centuries ago, ruling some kingdom and answering to no one. But he’d never moved into the future, and how he conducted the family now was damn near unforgivable. “He moves us around like pawns on his own personal chessboard.”
    “He’s doing what it takes to keep our family safe. That calls for hard decisions, which you’d see if you pulled your head out of your ass long enough to look around and think about anyone but yourself. Times are changing, and we can’t afford to be on the wrong side of it.”
    The words could have come straight from his father. Teague had ever been the disappointment—the son who wouldn’t fall in line, who questioned everything, who wasn’t cold enough to believe the end justified the means. Apparently Aiden didn’t have that problem. “I see things clearly enough.” Enough to know if he wanted to stop this shit, he was going to have to do it himself.
    A small voice chose that moment to pipe up and demand to know what the fuck he thought he could do to stop it, but he ignored it. He’d find a way. He’d promised his sisters that he’d keep them safe, and now there was Callie to consider as well. Anything his family did to aggravate the issue painted a target on her back the same as it did his. Unacceptable.
    Aiden made it all the way to his door before a thought occurred to him. “Brendan Halloran.”
    His brother stopped. “What?”
    “You responsible for that?”
    He turned back. “You’ve got some goddamn nerve asking me that question with a straight face.”
    Normally it never would have crossed his mind, but it was becoming increasingly clear that he’d been a hell of a lot more checked out than he’d realized. The ground had shifted beneath his feet, and he had no idea what the terrain would look like once things settled into place—or if he’d still consider Aiden on the side of angels.
    Not that any of them could claim that. Not anymore.
    And his brother still hadn’t given a direct answer. “Yes or no. I need to hear it from you directly.”
    Aiden glared. “No.” Before Teague could relax, he went on, “Though I’d love to know who pulled the trigger so I can send them a fucking gift basket. Father was thinking about pushing Carrigan in his direction—until I looked into him.”
    What the hell had Brendan been into that would give their father pause? The man really must have been a monster. Only something dire would make their father take him off the list for potential son-in-laws, given how advantageous it would be to merge their territory with the bordering Hallorans’.
    And Callie had almost married him.
    He shared a look with his brother, a moment of perfect understanding that was gone nearly as quickly as it’d come. Then Aiden was gone, too, closing the door softly behind him.
    “Goddamn it.” Teague paced from one side of the room to the other, the movement doing nothing to calm him down. He was in the middle of a fight where he had no resources and not a single ally in his corner. How the fuck was he supposed to keep his younger siblings and Callie safe if he couldn’t even make his older brother listen to reason?
    He dug his phone out of his pocket and dialed from memory. It would have been safer to grab a burner phone like he had every other time he’d called Finch, but he wasn’t in the mood to jump through those hoops. The man had some shit to answer for, and now was as good a time as any. It barely rang twice before Finch answered, “You shouldn’t be calling me from this phone.”
    Teague didn’t