Page 62 of Scandalous Contract

"Not at all," Aiden replied, keeping his responses short.

Weird. "Say 'cranberry' if you're being held against your will."

A chuckle came across the line. "You're funny, Julian. I'm taking my wife out to breakfast. Do you really need me to stop by the site, or can it wait?"

"No. I need you there now," I said, walking toward my car.

"I'll make a U-turn at the light. Be there in about ten minutes. Twenty if traffic is crazy on the strip."

"No problem. I'll wait. I would say tell your wife I said hello. But she hates me. So..."

"She doesn't hate you."

"The last time she saw us having a drink in the casino, she told me I was the reason you stayed gone most nights. She said I was a playboy who kept bringing you around women, which was the reason you were cheating on her."

"Let's not mention that again, Mr. Cattaneo," Aiden drawled, sounding strained.

Yeah, he was definitely acting strange. "See you in ten."

I ended the call and unlocked my car door. Sliding into the driver's seat, I started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot, my mind racing with the implications of what Marshall had uncovered.

The discovery of bodies at the construction site wasn't just a hiccup on Louis’s end. It was a potential catastrophe. If word got out, it could bring unwanted attention to both our operations and Bak Industries.

But that was exactly why Louis had chosen us to handle this job instead of our competitors. He knew my team wouldn’t go running their mouths, and if they did, the Cattaneo family would take care of it.

He was using us to handle his dirty work. I was sure of it. I couldn’t let my crew handle this. I had to take care of it and ensure those responsible were held accountable because fuck ups like this couldn’t be overlooked or taken lightly.

They damn sure couldn’t be ignored. Someone had to pay. That was the unspoken rule in this game. Arriving at the construction site, I parked and stepped out, the morning sun beating down on the gravel lot.

Marshall was already there, talking to a few of the crew members, their faces etched with concern. I approached them, nodding to Marshall.

"Louis on his way?" I asked.

Marshall nodded. "Should be here any minute."

"Good. Aiden's coming, too. We're going to get to the bottom of this. Show me the bodies."

“This way, boss.”

Marshall led me to the section where the slab was to be poured. The gravel had been cleared back just enough to reveal dark, bundled shapes beneath dirty tarps.

“Give me some gloves,” I told him, getting more pissed off by the second.

As I slid the gloves on, I climbed down into the pit. The gravel shifted beneath my shoes, crunching with each step as I moved toward the nearest tarp, the edges already disturbed from when Marshall’s crew had uncovered it.

I crouched down and peeled the plastic back. The smell hit me first. Rot. Death. I coughed, one hand flying up to cover my nose and mouth as I stumbled back a step. The woman’s body beneath the tarp was decomposing. She’d been dead for weeks. Maybe longer.

“Louis is approaching, boss,” Marshall called to me.

I nodded, still staring down at the decaying woman. Were they all women? I moved to the next tarp. Holding my breath, I untaped it and pulled it back a bit.Yup. Another woman. What was Louis trying to cover up here?

“What the hell’s going on here?” Louis barked. “Why was I called down here? And why isn’t the slab poured yet? We paid for a job to be done, and we expect it to be done in a timely fucking manner.”

He came into view, storming over like he ran shit until he saw me standing there. He stopped short, eyes widening.

“Uh, Mr. C-cattaneo,” he stammered. “I-I didn’t see you there.”

His eyes flicked from me to the disturbed gravel and the half-covered corpse. The color drained from his face.