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

it? I still believe there’s something you’re not telling me. You know you can trust me, right?” Julius pushed.

“It’s nothing really. I mean, well, maybe it’s nothing. I haven’t been sleeping very well, with Riley at home–” Lydia stopped mid-sentence. Her breath caught in her throat. She had made the first mistake, talking about Riley.

“Riley?” Julius echoed.

Lydia stepped away and grabbed her coat, avoiding his question, but she knew it wasn’t enough for him to stop asking.

“My, my sister. She’s back in town, only for a couple of weeks, though. It’s not important.”

“Is she bothering you? Do you want me to take care of her?”

“No, no, nothing like that. There’s nothing wrong with Riley. She’s not bothering me, all right? Let it go.”

“It doesn’t look like she’s not. Look at how shaky you are.”

“Of course I’m shaky if you just said you wanted to kill my sister!” Lydia snapped, tightening her coat all too hard and putting her shoes on, her desperation to leave increasing by the second. Julius didn’t seem bothered by her words, her fear, or her despair.

“Why not? If she’s a pebble in your shoe, why keep her around?” Julius suggested.

“You’re crazy,” Lydia said as she walked toward the door.

He blew a kiss at her and winked, unaffected. “You love me anyway.”

She opened the door and walked out, covering her mouth with her hands to suppress a sob. She had, unwittingly, put her sister’s life in danger, and there was no way to undo it.

Chapter Seven

Contrary to public opinion, Julius Martinson would never kill someone without reason. Many of his business ventures were based on power, the strong defeating the weak, and he had proven time and again he was, in fact, the strongest, most fearless man in LinHill.

Now, he cared about his friends, though he had just a few. He cared about their well-being, so a woman bothering someone he cared about deeply had to disappear. There wasn’t, and would never be, another choice for Julius Martinson.

“You called me, sir?” Ruslan asked as he walked into Julius’s office. He was a tough man, mentally and physically. He was determined; that’s what Julius liked the most about him. That’s why Julius trusted him.

“Yes. Come a bit closer, Ruslan. You know I trust you, right? With the most important tasks and my business,” Julius said.

“Of course, sir, and I appreciate your confidence.”

“I need you to do something for me, and I need you to be especially careful with this one.”

“Whatever you need, sir.”

Julius explained the problem of Lydia’s sister and Ruslan’s smile twisted from eager compliance to evil as the conversation progressed.

“No warnings. I need this person dead,” Julius said. He scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Ruslan. “Don’t make it easy. No guns; you won’t shoot anyone unless it’s necessary. In this case, it’s not. I want her to suffer a bit for messing with my baby. And take Borya with you.”

As Ruslan nodded and left the office, Julius smiled to himself.

There was nothing in the world that pleased him more than to make Lydia happy, even if that meant adding another body to his list.

Chapter Eight

Riley never went to bed early. She had made it a bit of a habit to read a book and drink tea or hot cocoa to unwind, and she had already gotten comfortable on the couch when someone knocked on the front door, a firm knock that was far too insistent to be a casual guest.

The knock stopped abruptly. She swallowed hard before reaching toward the door knob, her heart beating fast with fear.

Someone pushed the door open with so much force it knocked Riley backwards to the floor. In front of her stood two men, tall, strong, and bald, one of them with a face extremely familiar to her.

“Are you Riley Spencer?”

“Who’s asking?” Riley replied, a little bit breathless, but she managed to get up.

“I got a little message from someone,” the one Riley recognized said. He had a small cut on his forehead, from where she had broken the bottle of beer on his head the day before she started work at Mr. Eaton’s bar.

“Yeah? Isn’t it a bit late to deliver messages?”

The man gave her a crooked smile, and before she could do anything to stop him, slammed his heavy hand against her face. She lost her balance and almost fell to the floor again, but managed to remain upright and wiped the blood from her nose.

While he instructed his partner to hold her tight, she made sure to catch his name: Borya.

Borya did as he was told: he pulled her away from the wall and held her hands behind her back as tightly as he could. They thought that holding her and slapping her a few times would be more than enough for her to catch whatever message someone was sending.

But Riley had been hit before, many years ago, and it had resulted in losing more than her dignity. After the first fight ended, she had decided to learn some tricks and tactics of her own, to make herself stronger and more secure in her own world.

“This happens when you mess with the wrong people, bitch,” the man said as he hit her once more. She spit blood and was losing balance again, but Borya made sure she was still standing when they hit her for a third time, a little sooner than she’d expected.

They had no mercy, nor did they care it was a woman they were beating. If she had to get her hands dirty one last time, it would be because of them.

Riley could hear Mickey’s voice in her ear. Get up, Riley! This isn’t the end for you. Not yet! She rallied her courage for Mickey, for Santino, for herself.

After another blow came, she swallowed the metallic taste of blood in her mouth and breathed in, fighting the sharp pain in her chest. She gathered her strength to throw the first kick, straight to the man’s