“Why would you want Julius alone? I can make the arrest with his men too, and actually that’ll be great; more witnesses and more charges,” Adrian said.
Suddenly everything fell into place. They weren’t as in sync as she thought they were; despite having the same man as an enemy they both wanted different things from him. Just the whole idea of them not truly agreeing would change everything for the worse.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Riley asked him.
“Julius’s arrest, of course. You know? Taking him down and all, like we agreed,” Adrian said.
“No. I said taking him down, not arrest him. That means Julius dead.”
“What? Of course not. I’m not gonna let you kill Julius, not after everything I’ve worked for,” Adrian said. Riley giggled, because she couldn’t believe Adrian’s words were serious. But he didn’t smile, flinch, or blink, so she knew he was being honest.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? After everything you’ve worked for? What about me, I had to endure being close to him for almost a month, let him touch me with those dirty ass hands, so I could finally know his moves and make a plan. Now you’re telling me you want him alive, for what? He deserves to pay after everything he’s done,” Riley snapped.
“Yes, exactly. And he will pay behind bars, like he’s supposed to, where justice will follow its course.”
“That’s fucking bullshit and you know it! He has more influence than the mayor himself. How long would it take for him to be out and about? Three days tops.”
“Not if I stop him.”
“The only way to stop him and to bring justice to those he harmed, including my sister, is him being dead. Or you forgot about her too?’
“No, I haven’t.”
“Then if you’re still thinking of Lydia then you’ll know that the only way she might rest in peace is with her killer underground.”
“We’re not a hundred percent sure he killed her.”
“Oh, great! Fantastic, this is just what I needed. You defending him and taking his side. Do you want to join his crew too?”
“I’m not taking his side, I’m just stating the facts.”
“What facts? Julius was the last person who saw my sister, not to mention she worked for you and she could have been uncovered. Don’t give me that bullshit of innocent until proven otherwise, because you know he’s the one.”
“Whatever the case, I’m not gonna let you kill him. I’m the cop here and I’ll say how things are done.”
“Oh really? Do you think your badge stopped me before?”
“No, but I might,” Adrian said.
Riley walked two steps toward him, their faces inches apart. “I want to see you try, Adrian Castelló,” she hissed. “Believe me I would take you down in seconds.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No, I’m warning you. Anyone who’s friends with Julius is my enemy and I would hate to hurt you because of him.”
“Well, I guess that makes me your enemy then,” Adrian said.
“Get out of my house. Now,” Riley said, pushing herself away from him as much as she could.
“This isn’t over Riley.”
“Oh yeah, it’s more than done to me,” Riley said, turning her back when she heard the door close behind her.
Everything was going downhill just when she thought she was at the top. The question was, would she be able to climb back up when the clock was ticking?
While Riley and Adrian were plotting Julius’s downfall, across town Julius was making a plan of his own: taking down the Midnight Vigilante. Everything he had built was slowly being destroyed by a masked man who seemed invincible. But he was certain the Vigilante had a weakness, if only he could discover it.
His pacing was interrupted by a knock at his office door.
Dorian stepped inside and stood at attention. “You called me, sir?”
“Yes. I want you to send a message to this number, with those words and those words only, got it?”
“Who am I texting?”
Julius grabbed him angrily by the collar of his t-shirt, almost knocking the man out of air. “Fucking do as I say without any fucking questions, got me? All you need to know is that we’re gonna kill two birds with one stone.”
On the surface, LinHill was the most boring town Marcus had ever called home. However, the longer he worked there, the more he understood the underground and nighttime happenings and how difficult they made his job.
For one, the Midnight Vigilante seemed impossible to catch. The criminals who ran the town and evoked fear from everyone else were terrified of the Vigilante, and Marcus knew he’d be hard-pressed to receive assistance from his fellow officers of the law. After all, they’d allowed LinHill to descend to its current state, and the only one who seemed concerned enough to do anything about that was the one Marcus was trying to catch.
Second, Riley Spencer was something of an enigma. Marcus had always put her as the prime suspect for the deaths of Santino Marcone’s gang members, but he couldn’t pin it on her, and she’d slipped away into the night. And now, five years later, it was happening again.
The phone on his desk beeped, pulling Marcus from his thoughts.
The Vigilante. Outside. In 5 minutes.
He could have ditched the message and continued his pondering, but it was the first time someone ever tried to communicate with him about the Vigilante, or anything for that matter. He had two choices: ignore it or figure out what it was, with the potential option of being a complete fool.
So he got up from his seat, grabbed the jacket that hung on its back, and walked out with a quick pace. If the Vigilante was outside he would have to hurry; the guy wouldn’t wait for him to show up.
Chapter Forty-Six
Riley didn’t want to go out. Her plans were to
