Page 65 of Scandalous Contract

“I’m sorry,” he blubbered, snot mixing with the blood on his face.

My gaze moved to the women. These women were not only brutally murdered, but even in death, they couldn’t find peace. I glanced back at Louis.

“You’re a sick fuck who deserves the death you’re going to get.”

The bastard continued muttering how sorry he was.

I slammed his head into the gravel. "Shut the fuck up. I’m not the one who deserves your apology."

He coughed, choking on dust and blood.

“Do you have sisters? Do you love your mother? Do you have a woman you love and want to protect? You can’t. Because if you did, you wouldn’t have been able to do this to these women.”

“They were already dead...” he started.

“Motherfucker...” Grabbing his broken arm, I twisted. He howled, body convulsing in pain.

"Does them being dead make it okay to violate them?” I hissed into his ear. "I’m going to make sure you’re alive for what’s coming next. I want you to feel every ounce of pain that I deliver to you before you finally die."

I shoved him down onto the corpses, his face landing inches from the decomposing woman. He gagged, retching violently.

"This is where you belong," I said coldly. "With the dead."

He whimpered, too broken to respond. I turned to Marshall, who stood silently watching.

“Keep an eye on him, Marsh. When Aiden gets here, we’ll continue with the job. We’ll cover this bitch with gravel and pour the concrete over him while he’s still alive. Let him feel what it’s like to have no hope, to call for help and have no one answer.”

“Okay, boss.”

“No... Please no, Julian...” Louis cried.

I ignored his pleas. I didn’t feel sorry for men who hurt women in any way. The Cattaneo women were strong and boasted constantly about how they could protect themselves. But it didn’t matter to me if a woman could protect herself or not.

It was still a man’s job to protect women. Not because they were weaker than us. But because they deserved to be fucking cherished and protected. All of them. No woman deserved what had been done to these women. It took a sick fuck to hurt someone this way. I had no patience for sick fucks.

“Here’s a wet towel, boss,” one of the other crew members said, approaching me with a white cloth.

“Thanks.”

Without another glance at Louis, I walked away, wiping my hands on a cloth. I was handed another towel to clean my face with. I was just handing the dirty towels back to the crew member when a sleek black sedan pulled up to the site.

It was Aiden and his wife, Noelle. She turned to him and said something that made him smile. Aiden... smiling at his wife? What the actual fuck? Was this the Twilight Zone? Then he kissed her forehead.

I blinked, feeling like I’d stepped into an alternate reality. Yeah, definitely the Twilight Zone. He stepped out of the car, looking like he wanted to stab someone for dragging him away from her. That alone was weird.

Normally, the man jumped at any excuse to be somewhere she wasn’t. Today, he looked irritated with having to leave her side. My gaze drifted to Noelle. She wore a brown dress, a few shades lighter than her complexion.

I expected the usual eye roll or standoffish glare. Instead, she smiled at me.Smiled. At me.Yeah. Something was definitely up with these two. Aiden adjusted his cufflinks as he approached.

"Julian," he greeted with a curt nod. "What's so urgent?"

I gestured toward the gravel pit. "Let's take a walk. There's something you need to see."

Together, we made our way to the disturbed section of the site.

“Noelle looks happy,” I probed as we walked.

“What happened with the woman you’ve been stalking?” Aiden asked, deflecting.