Once her first attacker was lying on the floor, she concentrated on Borya. Riley’s movements had to be quick, something Borya couldn’t see coming, and he didn’t—an elbow to his abdomen, a hard tread to his instep, and a fist to his groin.
Borya loosened his grip and fell on his back on top of the small table in the living room, groaning, but recovered sooner than she had expected. As he regained his balance, Riley took the opportunity to run to the kitchen, throwing everything she had in her way toward her attacker, from a small flower vase, to a portrait that had fallen off the wall and was now laying on the floor. Once she managed to actually get into the kitchen she threw a glass at Borya to distract him. He dodged, and she grabbed a knife. Quickly turning around Riley reacted without thinking: she stabbed him in the gut, dropping him to the floor and leaving a sea of blood around him.
Enjoying the brief moment of freedom, she hurried to her room to retrieve one of the ten guns Mickey had hidden between her clothing and she was now more than grateful to have.
Just as Riley was about to reach the last stair, the other man grabbed her by her legs, causing her to fall face-down on the stairs and yell as her jaw hit the wooden steps. She fought to hold onto whatever she had in hand, but it was obvious he was stronger and she wasn’t going to make it far.
The minute he had her at arm’s reach, he lifted her up from the floor and pushed her against the wall, breaking the glass of a family portrait as her head bounced off of it. She winced and felt something warm dripping down her neck. She didn’t have to think twice to realize it was blood.
Riley wasn’t going to let him touch her again. When his hand came up to slap her, she grabbed his arm as hard as she could, while with the other she did exactly as Mickey once taught her—hit him repeatedly on his stomach, nonstop, until he lost his ability to breathe properly. When she succeeded only a few seconds later, she stumbled toward her room, ears ringing from the punch she had received, this time even more determined.
The spot she had chosen to put her gun, underneath her bed, was reachable and quick. Mickey always told her to keep her gun loaded, and she was glad she had followed his advice.
Riley heard urgent footsteps closing the distance between them, but she was more than prepared. She wasn’t going to die, not at his hands or on his timeline.
The door swung open and Riley shot once, twice, three times, until the man fell heavily by her door. He was certainly dead, but Riley didn’t want to take chances and pushed him down the stairs, just to make sure he was never getting up.
Riley had sworn once she was never going to kill again. It was the first time she had broken a promise, but she told herself it was her life or theirs. And she wasn’t ready to die yet.
Chapter Nine
Lydia knew Julius and his ways better than she cared to admit. If he made a comment about getting rid of someone, that meant he was already planning to do it.
That’s why she was absolutely terrified when Riley didn’t answer the phone or reply to her text messages or voicemails. With tears streaming down her face, Lydia searched the bar first without finding any sign of Riley. She turned toward home, prepared for the worst. All because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut, her sister would be dead.
Ten minutes later, Lydia was standing outside her house, keys in hand, wiping away the tears from her cheeks. This was the moment of truth, as painful as it might be. As she walked slowly inside her house, she caught her breath at the disaster before her; besides being a mess, it looked bloody, absolutely bloody and disgusting.
Lydia looked at her surroundings, trying to find any indication of Riley’s well-being, but she found none, only more blood and destruction.
She turned a corner, and there was no need to look for Riley any further: she was standing next to the kitchen door, arms crossed against her chest, blood covering her lavender shirt as well as her face. Lydia sighed with relief, absolutely tempted to run and hug her sister, but she had to keep her facade for a while longer.
“What the hell happened here?” Lydia asked.
Riley wiped her lips with the back of her hand as she walked toward Lydia, picking up a few broken glasses on her way. “These two guys came to deliver a message.”
“Are you okay? You should probably go to the hospital,” Lydia told her, not able to hide her concern for her sister’s state.
Frowning, Riley said, “I’m okay. I’ve had worse.”
Lydia took her time to look past the chaos. Besides the incredible amount of blood, she saw no sign of who she guessed had been Julius men. And the more she searched, the less she found. “Did you call the police? Did they take whoever attacked you?”
“They’re dead. Both of them.”
“What? How did you–?”
“Shot them. After they kicked the hell out of me, of course. Sorry I had to destroy your backyard, but their bodies were taking too much space in the living room.”
“You buried them here?!”
“What else did you want me to do? Throw them out?”
“You could have called the police!”
“No! Are you crazy? I just killed two men! I wasn’t gonna let myself be arrested because those assholes decided to attack me.”
“My God, Riley. What are you going to do now?”
Her sister shrugged as she kept picking up the broken pieces of the house, occasionally wincing and wiping the blood that slowly poured out of her nose.
“Move on with my life, obviously. Or what, do you want
