Upon leaving Julius’s house, Adrian did the only thing he could think of to catch the Midnight Vigilante in the act: he went undercover as one of Julius’s men.
For years, he’d been watching his brother’s goons, so he knew where to go and how to act. The two men beside him walked slowly, alert as they watched their surroundings.
They paced around for almost half an hour in silence, wondering if the elusive Vigilante would appear. Just as Adrian was about to call it a night, the bushes beside him rustled. He reached for his gun half a second before the Midnight Vigilante appeared before them.
Riley stood in front of three men, her brain quickly realizing that Adrian was among tonight’s patrollers. Adrian pointed his gun at Riley the minute he saw her while the other two moved toward her with knives, the only kind of weaponry they seemed to use, in their hands, ready to attack.
The first man tried to punch her in the jaw, but she ducked, only to receive a blow to her stomach. The attack threw her off-balance as she doubled over in pain, which she felt for only a moment before rallying her strength. Riley was about to retaliate when the second man kicked her in the ribs.
As the fight wore one, she could see Adrian with his gun raised, following her as she moved, ready to fire.
When Riley landed a final blow on each man and they fell to the dirt, she drew her gun and pointed straight to one man’s head, only hesitating when she saw Adrian watching, although he didn’t move until she’d fired her second shot.
“That’s enough. Drop your gun, now!” he yelled. Riley hesitated, but she didn’t want to kill Adrian, so she complied. “Now turn around, nice and easy. Do it!”
Riley didn’t understand why her legs wouldn’t allow her to flee, or why her arms prevented her from taking her weapon and just attacking him. She had escaped capture so many times, but now she was turning slowly and raising her hands in surrender.
“Take off your mask. I wanna see your fucking face before I shoot you,” Adrian ordered.
Riley swallowed hard, and Adrian moved two steps toward her, his gun close to her chest.
“I said take it off. Now.”
Riley took a deep breath, and with shaking hands removed her hoodie and then the mask.
Adrian stared at her, lowering his weapon. Seeing his reaction hurt her more than she could’ve ever fathomed.
“Riley,” Adrian whispered. “How could you? How?”
“I’m, I have to go,” Riley said, but before she could move, Adrian grabbed her wrist.
“How could you do this? What were you thinking?”
“Let go of me,” Riley told him firmly, but Adrian’s grip only tightened.
“You won’t go anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on.”
Riley considered her options. She’d always planned on explaining why she’d killed so many men, but it wasn’t time yet. Left with only one option, she spit in his eyes. When he instinctively moved to wipe it away, she punched Adrian in the side of his head, an instant knockout. By the time she blinked, he was on the ground, blood dripping from his temple. She knelt beside him for a moment, murmured her apologies, then disappeared into the night.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Riley ran as fast as she could, without looking back. Her face was splashed with tears she didn’t want to cry, but the situation had been too much for her. The hurt on Adrian’s face broke her in ways she couldn’t describe. It was as if she had disappointed herself and her whole heart.
At first she thought about going home, but when Adrian recovered, her house would be the first place he would go. So she ran toward the second place she felt comfortable: Paige’s house.
Paige immediately opened the door. “Riley, what are you doing here? Are you hurt again?”
“No, I just didn’t know where else to go,” Riley replied, breathing heavily.
“What, who did you kill this time?”
“It’s not who I killed. It’s who I hit. And who saw my face.”
Riley didn’t quite know how to put into words what happened, but she tried to explain it to Paige, omitting as many gory details as possible.
“God, Riley! What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking it was either punch him in the head or shoot him, and I refuse to kill Adrian even if he’s partially to blame for Lydia’s death. He doesn’t deserve that.”
“Was he with Julius’s guys?” Paige asked her, a bit confused.
“Yeah. I don’t know why. I don’t know what he wants. He just pointed the gun at me,” Riley spoke, with eyes downcast and a mellow tone. “I thought he was going to shoot me.”
“Riley, what else did you expect? He thinks you’re a murderer, a criminal; he reacted like any cop would do. Just be grateful it was him and not the other guy,” Paige said and Riley could only nod at her words.
“Now he knows it’s me. He’s gonna demand answers I might not be able to give him. At least not yet,” Riley reflected.
“Well, he’s gonna want to see you. He knows where you live, and where you work. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Hide, maybe? I can’t face him. He’ll have too many questions with answers I’m not ready to give.”
“You know what? I think this is a sign, a sign that maybe you need to stop this madness for good.”
Riley considered Paige’s words. Tonight’s events could indeed be a sign, but perhaps not the one Paige suggested. Perhaps if Adrian knew now, he could actually be a helping hand?
Could Adrian really help her kill his own brother?
Sign or no sign, all Riley really knew was that she wasn’t going to stop yet.
