Midnight Vigilante, Leonor Bass [top business books of all time .TXT] 📗

Midnight Vigilante

Leonor Bass

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters, and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or localities is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2021 by Leonor Bass

Second Edition

Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

About the Author

Acknowledgements

To my dearest friends from the Writing Community, you’ve been my support, my rock and my shoulder to cry on for years, you have no idea how important it is to have you with me.

To my friends Tiffany, Marita, Diana, Paige and Dawn. If it wasn’t for you I’d be completely lost. I love you all with my heart and soul!

To my family, now YOU know what it means to have an artist in the family. I swear I’m not crazy when I’m talking to myself, I’M PLOTTING.

Chapter One

Riley Spencer never thought she’d be hopping on a train in the middle of the night to run away. She wasn’t the type of woman to run from a threat. Except that one time, but she’d had no other choice then. She liked to plan things out in detail; if she were to leave, she liked to be prepared for the packing involved, tickets to buy, and people to call. But this trip involved none of that; just a small handbag, suitcase, and a couple of bucks in her pocket.

She could have said no when her friend and right-hand told her she had to leave. It was imperative, he had said, and Riley trusted him enough to know if he used a big word like that, it was because he was right. He also mentioned something about a gun and two men paying him a visit, so in the end, there wasn’t much of a choice.

It was a pity, though—she had been starting to like the city again.

Now with a handbag and one direction to follow, Riley was ready to start a new life.

The transition between one way of life and another was going to be hard. The city she was leaving behind was big, full of large buildings, cabs, crowds, and a tremendous amount of noise. It had been hard to get used to it, but after a few weeks, she hadn’t felt like an outsider any longer. Once she had made it a home, she relished it.

Now, returning to her hometown after ten years would most certainly turn her world upside down, especially considering it was rather small and bursting with gossip. She’d grown used to the anonymity the city provided, and if she could have chosen any place for an extended stay like the one ahead of her, she would have stayed as far away from LinHill as possible. Sadly she couldn’t. She could only look at the bright side: at least LinHill would be the last place those people would look for her.

The inspector announced her stop was five minutes away; Riley sighed heavily as the people around her gathered their belongings. She was not in a hurry, so she remained seated, staring through the window as the trees passed by and chaos ensued all around her.

When the train stopped and Riley walked out, the cold autumn wind hit her face in a biting surprise, but the scarf Mickey had strategically put on her suitcase brought a grateful smile to her face. She watched as the people around her dispersed, each one in their own hurry, and realized she had a lot of time on her hands. All she wanted was to delay her arrival home as much as she could. Being back meant too many memories of her last day home were too close.

There was a time, when she was younger and her father was still alive, that she could put up with everything her mother and sister did. Usually her father interfered and calmed her mother enough to leave Riley alone. Since he’d died, though, Riley had learned to bear the brunt of her mother’s raging episodes by herself, but she knew she could only bend so far before she snapped, especially since she’d learned the truth.

When Riley was 15 years old, she had found her birth certificate in her father’s desk. The mother’s name was different from the woman who’d raised her, and when Riley had asked her father, he’d confirmed it—her birth mother had been gone since she was a baby. He’d planned to tell her someday, he’d said, and she’d understood. She knew her father would never keep a secret to hurt her.

But after her father died, the secret gave her power. The respect her stepmother commanded wasn’t due out of familial obligation; it was a tactic of manipulation. Riley quit wondering why her younger sister, Lydia, was the favorite. Lydia was actually her stepmother’s daughter, and Riley was just baggage that came with marriage to Riley’s father. Whatever Lydia wanted, Lydia received. Whatever Lydia accused Riley of doing, Riley was automatically guilty.

“I told you to leave my stuff alone!” Lydia shrieked. “Why do you have to be so fucking nosy all the time?” She threw articles of clothing at Riley with each word. “Why aren’t you saying anything? You think being quiet is gonna save your ass?”

As their mother climbed the stairs at Lydia’s command, Riley’s heart raced with anxiety.