Page 61 of Scandalous Contract

"What?" I sat up, tension coiling in my gut.

"Yeah. Bodies. Boss, I think they hired us to cover up their crimes."

I exhaled sharply. "And those fuckers didn't even pay extra or sign an NDA."

"Right. I checked to see if that had been noted on our forms. There was nothing that indicated this was supposed to be a cover-up job. This was supposed to be a legit job. The crew I have with me don't work the cover-up jobs. They're freaking out over this."

"Is there anyone on your team who's going to be a problem?"

"Nah. Everyone is loyal to Cattaneo Concrete Solutions and the organization. They just prefer to work the clean jobs. This is their first brush with something this serious. And they know cover-ups follow a different protocol."

Yes, a protocol that helped us protect our asses and assets if anyone ever found out about the cover-up. The company that hired us would accept full blame if a criminal investigation was launched.

And we’d keep records of the site, the owner, and a detailed description of the job to provide to our consigliere so he could handle things on the legal end if needed. If Marshall hadn’t caught this, we could’ve ended up with a legal nightmare down the road.

"Fuck!" I slammed my fist on the desk, the sound echoing in the office.

Marshall remained silent, waiting for me to tell him how to handle this. I ran a hand through my hair. I didn’t have time for this shit today.

"We’ve been working with Bak Industries for years. Both legit and cover-up jobs,” Marshall said. “We’ve never had them pull something like this on us. They know that this isn't how we operate. If they want to involve us in their mess, there are protocols."

“Who put in the order?” I asked, grabbing my phone and scrolling through my contacts. “It better not be Aiden Park.”

He definitely knew this wasn’t how we handled shit. And I’d just talked to Aiden a week ago. He would’ve given me a heads-up if this type of job was needed.

“Louis Fields put in the order,” Marshall informed me.

Figures.Louis was a shifty little man with beady eyes, a short temper, and always sweating, even when it was cold out. He looked like the type who’d sell out his own mother if the price was right.

My gut told me neither Aiden nor his brothers knew about the bodies. Yeah, they were part of the same criminal world as my family. But they kept their chain of Korean-inspired hotels, Bak Luxury Resorts, away from the darker side of things.

And Aiden was over the hotels. If there had been a need for a cover-up, the order would’ve come straight from him. Not Louis. I scrolled until I found the Korean-American’s phone number in my phone. It was listed under Park-Bak Hotels.

I rose from my seat and told Marshall, “Follow me to the site. On your way there, call Louis and tell him to get his ass down to the site, or we’ll shut the entire job down. I’ll call Aiden and have him meet us there.

I pressed the call button and listened to the phone ring as I closed the windows on my laptop and shut it. Exiting my office, I was locking the door when Aiden answered.

"How may I help you, Mr. Cattaneo?" Aiden drawled.

"Meet me at the site of your future boutique hotel."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I'll show you when you get there."

"I'll send my assistant. I'm busy with my wife right now."

I started to say fuck his assistant. But hearing that he was with his wife threw me off.

“Am I on speaker,” I asked.

“Of course, not.”

“Good. The last time we spoke, you told me you were getting a divorce.”

Hesitation followed before Aiden said, “That is no longer the case.”

"Is she blackmailing you to stay with her?" She was the type to do that. I wish Stefanie would do that to me.