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

mercenary had taken everything out on his men. Others said it was a vigilante who had come to save everyone from the miserable life Julius had provided.

“You have a nickname now,” Paige told her, a hint of pride in her voice. “Our Midnight Vigilante, they’re calling you. It sounds cool, if you ask me.”

“Sounds like a superhero name, but I’m no hero.”

“For some, you are. Although, if murdering people randomly means you’re a hero of some sort . . .”

“I’m not doing this randomly, Paige. We already talked about this,” Riley whispered for only her friend to hear.

“Yes, and we also established how absolutely wrong it was for you to kill people. Even if it’s not random, as you say,” Paige told her, absentmindedly wiping the counter as she spoke and avoiding Riley’s gaze.

“Well, you can thank me later when you walk outside your house in the wee hours of the morning and there’s no fear in you.”

“So, that’s why you’re doing this? For recognition?”

“Still not getting the point, after all we talked about.”

“Then tell me, explain to me how on Earth you can be so calm after killing four men. How can you go home and pretend nothing ever happened? It makes me think this isn’t your first time,” Paige said.

Riley didn’t want to answer, but the words left her mouth before she could stop them. “There’s a lot about me you don’t know, and trust me, it is better that way.”

“No. I’m done with the lies. I’m done with you treating me like a kid. You’re gonna tell me everything, right now,” Paige demanded, her cheeks flushed.

“Not here, and most definitely not now.”

Paige grabbed Riley by the hand and dragged her to Mr. Eaton’s office, closing the door behind her with a loud thud. “Now this seems like the right place to talk. Spit it out.”

Riley sighed heavily. She knew this day would come, the time she was forced to explain herself and admit all the things she had been wanting to keep hidden, things only a few knew. Paige was right, Riley owed her friend the truth, no matter how shocking and heartbreaking it might be.

“Fine. Just a little warning, it’s not gonna be all roses,” Riley said.

Paige shrugged. “I can take it. Just tell me, all right?”

And she did.

Riley started with Santino: how they met, how sweet and gentlemanly he was. How in love they were. She could see Paige smiling as she talked about him, and it made her heart tight with emotion.

The smile was erased shortly after her story got into the deepest, darkest part of her life: Santino’s death and everything that followed. The death of his men, the plans she had made to end their lives, and the assassination of each and every one of them. The rabbit hole she had fallen into and how desperation had taken control of her life, before, finally, her escape. Riley had never been more honest about her life, telling her now-best friend that she had become a murderer years before she arrived in LinHill.

And even though she had come to terms with what she had done, voicing it, telling it to someone, put everything into a different perspective. Perhaps asking for justice for a man police officers considered a criminal was too much. After all, Santino Marcone was indeed a criminal, mob boss, drug dealer, societal scum.

Even though, to her, he had been the man who had loved her more than anyone in the world.

“Oh my God,” Paige said after Riley ended her story. She sat on a chair in front of her father’s desk and fell into a very uncomfortable, yet peaceful, silence.

“You said you wanted me to be honest, so there’s honesty,” Riley told her. “Paige, you need to know that what I did before, everything I did, was led by a shadow over my head. I was desperate. I had lost my husband at the hands of those who claimed to be his friends. I couldn’t just sit there and wait for justice to come.”

“And did you get justice? Was killing them what you needed to do, like now, here, in LinHill?”

Riley took a moment to consider her reply. Julius Martinson, the man she had classified as her enemy, was doing things to innocent people because he wanted to. He had taken Lydia’s life, the only family Riley had left, in his quest for power. There was no other option, just as there hadn’t been with Santino. She had to act to stop evil from destroying her hometown. She was doing it because no one else would.

“I got what I needed back then, and I’m getting what I need right now.”

“Which is what?”

“Get to the head of the snake, the tip of the iceberg: Julius Martinson. He needs to die, and I’m gonna make sure it happens.”

Perhaps the situation was completely different, maybe this time law enforcement would be on her side, but there was one thing that remained the same: Riley’s desperate need for justice, and perhaps a little blood on her hands, too.

She’d done it five years ago. What could stop her from doing it again?

Chapter Twenty-Five

Riley hated working for Julius. He was obsessed with betrayal, as if someone was always watching him, always on his tail. Riley thought maybe it was the drug consumption that was driving him over the edge, and she got scared every time she found him talking to himself, walking in circles around his office with a cigarette in his hand.

The man was definitely losing control.

Once again, Riley was in his private office, preparing drinks. The men waiting outside looked fearful, but no less determined to speak to their boss. Apparently, they had come to an agreement that needed Julius’s approval.

“All right, spit it out. I don’t have time for whatever bullshit you’ve cooked up,” Julius said.

The two men stood face-to-face with their boss but neither of them spoke.

“Leo!” Julius snapped. “What the fuck is going on with you?”

“I’m sorry, sir. We,