“Nothing. She’s been going through a lot. Here at least, of what I know of,” Adrian explained as he tied his shoelaces and put his jacket on “With Julius, to be more specific. He has done a lot to her. More than you can imagine”
“Tell me. I need to know the whole thing if we’re going to do something about it,” Marcus said. Adrian figured one day he would have to be honest about the whole Julius, Lydia situation. He didn’t think it would be so soon.
“Julius killed Riley’s sister.”
Marcus pulled out his cell phone and nodded. “I’ll call the captain to let him know.”
“No. We don’t need to drag anyone else into this. If the captain knows where we’re going, he’s gonna send backup, and there’s no way that’ll happen without Julius finding out. He has more cops on his payroll than I can count. I’ll explain everything to Captain Vera later.”
Chapter Fifty-One
When Riley opened her eyes, she saw nothing. The room was pitch black, and if she hadn’t remembered what happened, she would’ve thought she’d gone blind.
Her eyes burned from a sudden burst of light from the lone bulb swinging from the ceiling as Julius entered with Dorian at his side. Julius stepped to her, whiskey on his breath, and ripped her mask from her face.
“I’ve gotta be honest with you, Riley. I’m a bit surprised. Never in a million years would I have thought that you, such a beautiful woman, would be behind that devious man. Looks can be deceiving, though. Don’t you think?”
“Are you surprised that it’s me, or just pissed that it was a woman who outsmarted you?” Riley replied boldly.
Dorian slapped her across the face, making her ears ring as her eyes watered. She spat directly on Julius’s shiny black shoes, and looked Dorian in the eye.
“I’m not scared of you, or your dumb gorilla.”
“You should be, though,” Julius said, pacing slowly around the room, lighting a cigarette as he did so. “There’s no one here to save you. Not even Adrian. Who knows? Maybe he’s already dead.”
“If he is, I’m gonna fuck you up” Riley hissed, knowing that her words might be empty threats given the condition she was in, and would also give Dorian another reason to hit her. Which he did, with more force than necessary. She suppressed the wave of pain the blow provoked and spit out the blood accumulating in her mouth. Riley knew Dorian was just warming up, that the chit-chatting was just to keep Julius entertained. Her suffering, though, was nothing she hadn’t handled before.
Julius approached her, putting both of his hands on each side of the chair, his face so close to hers that she could smell the tobacco and whiskey.
“Are you really? Because the way I see it, I am the one who’s fucking you up. At last,” Julius whispered, “you’ll pay for every single man you killed. Slowly”
He stepped aside and Dorian took his place. This time the blow was stronger, heavier and even more despicable than the last one. Riley felt the pain run through her whole body, from the tip of her hair to her toes; she wanted to cry and scream but wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of showing her agony.
At some point the blows didn’t stop. In her brain she counted them, counted the crack of her ribs, the breath he took with each pounding of his hands, and the tears that unconsciously fell down her cheeks. Riley’s eyes were closing; she wasn’t sure if it was because of the ache or because her body was suddenly giving in, but Dorian made sure she stayed awake each time by slapping her cheeks.
“Stop a little bit. Let the woman breathe,” Julius said to Dorian, who stepped away. Riley wasn’t grateful for his intervention for she knew the attack would continue either way, unless she gathered all the strength she had left to fight back.
She just needed a plan.
Then she remembered.
Riley had left the house without a gun because she figured no fight would happen, knowing the only remaining man was Dorian. Incidentally, she wanted to give the man a break. Now she realized it had been a mistake.
Sitting on the chair, with her head bowed down, pretending she had fallen into unconsciousness, gave her the perfect perspective for her next move. She had something up her sleeve, literally: a knife hidden in an arm wrap that Julius and Dorian hadn’t checked.
For a moment Riley had forgotten about it, but the position she was in at the moment gave her the opportunity to make sure the straight edge knife Santino had given her for her birthday was still there. And it was. Now she only needed the perfect moment to use it.
“Ready for round two, darling?” Julius spoke. Riley pretended she wasn’t listening, when she indeed had her senses wide awake. While Dorian got ready to start the beating again, Riley moved her right hand so it touched the tip of the knife’s handle, getting ready to grab it and cut the rope that scratched her wrists.
She took her time, didn’t want to show she had any sort of plan, just let herself be beat up for their sake. “Off you go, Dorian. Do your thing.”
Dorian stepped in and Riley went to work. The knife was already at hand, the rope was slowly being cut while the man hit her. She tried to focus her mind less on the pain and more on the task at hand. With each blow the rope cut loose a bit more. By the third one Riley’s hands were free and so was her rage.
Riley swung the knife so fast Dorian didn’t see it coming and neither did Julius. The blood that poured out of Dorian’s neck washed over her, onto her black jeans and the cold floor. She heard Julius gasp, and then his man was laying on the ground, panting for air as
