“I’m a police officer! How could I be working for a criminal when I’m trying to catch him?”
“BECAUSE HE’S STILL ALIVE!” Julius roared. “No. I don’t believe you. I don’t believe anybody. You all want me dead. You all want me out of your sight; that’s why you and your partner joined the Vigilante, and I can’t let this continue, brothers or not.”
“What are you gonna do? Kill me?”
A twisted smile spread across Julius’s face as he answered. “No, I’m not going to kill you,” Julius said. “Maybe I’ll send your friend a little message. Something he can read clearly. Perhaps kicking Marcus’s ass wasn’t enough, but you, oh you, my little brother, are gonna pay the consequences.”
Dorian quickly tied Adrian’s hands behind his back, and he watched in agonizing anticipation as Dorian rolled up his sleeves. When Dorian raised his fist for the first blow, Adrian didn’t even try to resist. He closed his eyes and let the pain overtake him, already tasting blood in his mouth.
Adrian lost count of how many times Dorian hit him, how many time he fell into unconsciousness. From the far corner, he could see Julius smiling triumphantly.
The streets of LinHill were dark, humid, and empty, devoid of any activity. The story of Julius’s men attacking a police officer had spread, and although folks knew the Vigilante had come to Detective Jung’s rescue, the citizens of LinHill were still terrified of Julius’s boldness.
Dorian stopped the car in the middle of the street and dropped the trash bag to the ground, giving it a series of slight kicks to move it to the gutter.
Giving the motionless body one last big kick, he got into his car and drove around the corner, hiding behind an abandoned work van that hadn’t moved in years.
Any minute now his prey would show up, just as he always did, and then the real work would begin.
From the far corner, just behind the bushes, a shadow emerged. Riley approached the bag with caution, hoping whoever left it wouldn’t be close enough to see her moving through the darkness.
Slowly opening the bag, her breath caught in her throat.
“Adrian, can you hear me?” Riley whispered. She touched his face again, and the warmth of her hand seemed to cause an effect on him. He sighed with relief, but she knew it caused him immense pain. “You’re gonna be okay. Just don’t move. I’ll get help.”
Before she could move, Adrian grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him.
“Tr-trap,” Adrian mumbled. “It’s a trap.”
As his words sunk in, Riley was abruptly jerked upward by two rough hands, thrown in the trunk of a car, and carried away while Adrian slipped back into unconsciousness.
Chapter Fifty
A rhythmic beeping woke Adrian. He smelled disinfectant as he struggled to open his swollen eyes. Only when a cuff on his arm tightened to take his blood pressure did he realize where he was, and why.
Riley.
Adrian sat upright on the bed, ignoring the sharp ache that the movement caused him, his desperation greater than his pain. Machines were connected to him by multiple wires, a bandage wrapped around his head, and he could barely feel his face. Just when he was about to move out of the bed, determined to look for Riley, Marcus stepped in, preventing him from going any further. His left eye was so swollen the only thing he could see was the hint of a shadow, but he still noticed Marcus’s bruised face.
“Hey, take it easy,” Marcus told him, gently nudging Adrian back onto his pillows.
“I need to talk to Riley,” Adrian said, breathlessly and desperate.
“No, you need to tell me who did this to you, and then we’ll call your girlfriend.”
“You don’t understand. We have to find her, now.”
“Why? What does she have to do with anything?”
Realizing no other option remained but the truth, Adrian took a deep breath. He didn’t want to get to the point where he had to betray Riley’s trust, but knowing she was in danger, knowing what Julius was capable of, left him no choice. He had to speak the truth; it was the only way to save her. “Riley is the Midnight Vigilante. Julius is going to kill her.”
Marcus stood motionless, his hands at his waist and jaw ajar, his face a mix of bewilderment and anger. “You knew about it this whole fucking time and you didn’t say a goddamn word? What the fuck is your problem?! Riley became a killer, a cold-blooded killer, and you protected her this whole time? You’re a cop, Adrian. Above all, you owe respect to your badge.”
“And I also owe respect to the citizens of LinHill, and if that meant I had to put aside my oath, then so be it. Protecting and serving isn’t always black-and-white, Marcus, and she’s doing us a favor by taking care of everything we couldn’t. Not to mention that she saved your life.”
“Fuck,” Marcus said.
“Now,” Adrian said, slowly getting up from the bed with Marcus’s assistance, “I have only one goal, and that’s to save Riley. You can ignore what I just told you and pretend she doesn’t exist and go back to the office. Or tell the captain if you think that’s the best choice. I won’t stop you.”
Adrian dressed himself. It was only when Adrian moved toward the door that Marcus finally spoke.
“Listen, I know you care about Riley. But if Captain Vera ever finds out we’re doing things behind his back, we won’t see the light of the day.”
“Don’t worry, the captain knows,” Adrian told him. “I mean, he knows about me trying to do whatever I can to catch Julius. He doesn’t know about Riley, although he does know I’m sort of rooting for her.”
“Why?” Marcus asked him. Adrian frowned, letting the question hang in the air for a second, not knowing where he was going with it. “Why are you on her side? What has she ever done for
