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

the party to end so she could go home and take a shower. Several hours later, by the time it was nearing its end, half of the men were drunk, some making a fuss over having to leave. The ones that remained continued playing poker with Julius until they lost and had to be dragged outside by his men, complaining about being cheated.

Riley had seen many drunken fights before, and the parties Santino used to throw resembled this one so much she felt she was waitressing in a memory now. Although Santino always tried to drag her as far away from the commotions as possible; as Mickey explained, he didn’t want her involved in his business—an ironic comment, given that later in their life together she became more involved than anyone else.

“That went well,” Julius said as he collected money from one of his tables. The room was a mess, reeking of cigarettes, and his employees began gathering broken glasses and discarded plates of food. Riley was about to join their efforts, but Julius stopped her before she could grab a single brandy glass. “No, let someone else do that. You’re here to be my waitress, nothing else.”

“Oh, okay. If my job is done, I can leave then?” Riley asked.

He moved toward her again, like he had done when she arrived, and Riley felt trapped and a bit disgusted at the same time. “You’ve done a marvelous job. Eaton couldn’t have picked a better person.”

Riley felt like running away, or slapping him. Or both. “I was just doing what I’m used to, sir.” She moved a bit further away from him.

“Well, I hope I can have you around again. My parties happen very often, and I need a skilled woman like you to help me out.” The way Julius spoke made his words sound like they had a second, more intimate, meaning.

“I still have to work at the bar, you know?”

“Yes, but I’m sure you can also use the extra money,” Julius suggested. “It’s not a bad idea, if you think about it. Extra cash, good company, maybe a new friend.”

Pretending to consider it, Riley looked to the side where her fellow waitresses were struggling to keep themselves covered as they bent to gather debris from the party. She knew the money would be good, but that wouldn’t be her main reason to accept. “Okay, sure. I’ll do it,” she finally replied. Julius nodded vigorously as he reached inside his pocket and handed a bundle of bills to her.

“Thank you, sir.”

“You’re most welcome. And I’ll see you in two days. A new party is coming,” Julius said, leading her to the door. She forced another smile and a friendly wave before stepping into the night air.

Riley breathed in and shivered. She felt disgusted with herself and unable to erase the look on those men’s faces from her mind, the way they stared at her as if she was a piece of meat. She couldn’t understand how any woman would want to work for Julius Martinson, concluding it could only be someone out of her mind or completely desperate for something. Riley was obviously one of them, but she was desperate for vengeance.

Chapter Nineteen

Adrian was looking forward to returning to work. The first day of his medical leave, unnecessary as he claimed, he just lay in his bed and watched TV until he got a headache. The second day was as boring as the first, the only difference being that he had gotten a visit from one of his coworkers.

On the third day, Adrian called the doctor and told him he was ready to go back to work and promised to take things easy. The fourth day out of the hospital, Adrian returned to the office, though his boss left him on standby until he felt one-hundred-percent better.

“Hey man, listen. I gotta talk to you about something,” Marcus Jung said as Adrian sat behind his desk, surrounded by paperwork he had left behind. Adrian narrowed his eyes, not quite angry, but still uncomfortable with a partner he was certain he didn’t need invading his space. He knew his boss meant well, and the brown-eyed, short-haired young detective was not the one to blame.

“What’s up?”

“I don’t know if you heard, but the two guys who attacked you are dead,” Marcus said.

Adrian frowned, speechless for a moment. “I guess you don’t think I had something to do with it, do you?”

His partner patted his back, which made him wince a bit, and laughed at his words. “Of course not. I know you were at the hospital. I just thought you should know about the whole thing before you heard it from anyone else.”

“Have you found who did it?”

“No, but they were Julius’s men. I guess anyone could have done it.”

“What happened to them?”

“Someone beat the hell outta them and then shot them in the head. At close range, I might add, so I’m guessing whoever did it was an expert.”

“Just tell me how to help,” Adrian said, recalling the complete lack of cooperation they had where Julius was concerned. The investigation had been happening for months, and he had gotten help only from a few cops who occasionally looked out for anything suspicious at Julius house. The rest just stayed out of their way. Adrian wasn’t sure if it was because they were scared or in Julius’s pocket. What he was certain of was that he had his captain’s support and for now it was enough.

“Yeah, I’m gonna have to stop you there,” Marcus said, raising his hands. “Your involvement in this case . . . I don’t have to explain that to you. Those men tried to kill you–”

“They didn’t try to kill me,” Adrian interrupted.

“They beat the crap outta you, Adrian. And for some twisted reason, they didn’t actually kill you, even though we both know they could’ve.”

“So what? I was lucky,” Adrian said. He didn’t want to tell him the truth: Julius had forbidden his men from touching him,