CHAPTER SIXTEEN
J ULIAN
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L OUIS GAGGED AND CRIED out as I shoved him closer to the corpse. He twisted and squirmed, feet scrabbling against the gravel as he tried to pull back, but my grip didn’t budge.
“Help! Somebody...” he shouted.
“Help isn’t coming for you, Louis. Just like no one came to the aid of these women.”
“Julian... it isn’t what you think.”
“Don’t insult my fucking intelligence,” I snarled. “Why the fuck is there a dirty setup on a legit site? Huh? Did you forget how we operate? Or were you trying to pull one over on me?”
He sobbed, shaking his head violently. “I didn’t... I wasn’t trying to hide them from you, Julian. I swear! I thought it was cleared. I thought the bodies were handled already.”
“Handled?” I hissed. “You thought throwing bodies under gravel and sending my crew to pour over them was handling it?”
“I-I didn’t think...” his voice trailed out.
“No, you didn’t think,” I spat, shoving him into the gravel next to the woman. “You just decided to do whatever the fuck you wanted to do and hoped no one noticed.”
Louis was breathing hard, skin pale, tears pouring down his face.
“I’ll fix it,” Louis panted. “Just tell me what to do.”
“There’s nothing you can do to fix this,” I told him. “But you will pay for putting us in this situation. And you’ll pay with your life.”
Louis tried to scuttle backward.
“There’s nowhere you can run,” I told him, hoping he tried to run.
He pushed himself to his feet, then turned and bolted, feet slipping in the loose gravel. He stumbled, caught his balance, and took off in a full sprint. Smirking, I raised my hand, signaling my men to stand down.
Let him run. Let him think he had a chance. It made the hunt more fun. He actually thought he could escape me. Pathetic . I gave him a head start, savoring the anticipation. But my patience wore thin.
He was moving too damn slow, and I had better things to do. I took off after him, closing the distance in seconds. Grabbing the back of his shirt, I yanked him toward me. He spun, throwing a wild punch.
I leaned aside, letting his fist sail past my face. Off balance, he left himself wide open. My turn. I drove my fist into his gut. He doubled over with a wheeze, spit flying from his mouth. I didn't give him a chance to recover.
A knee to his face sent his head flying back before he sprawled to the ground, blood streaming from his nose. That was over much too fast. I was riled up now. I needed a fight. A full fight. A real fucking fight.
“Get up,” I told him, walking closer.
He shook his head. “I don’t... want any problems.”
"You don’t want problems, yet you tried to fuck me over. That sounds like you wanted a motherfucking problem to me," I snarled, standing over him.
He raised a hand as if to ward off the next blow. I stomped on his outstretched arm, hearing the satisfying crunch of bone as I ground his hand into the dirt. His scream of utter agony echoed through the site. It was music to my ears. I crouched, grabbing a fistful of his hair, forcing him to look up at me.
"You set me up with corpses on a legit job. What the fuck did you expect to happen if we found out?"
He blubbered, tears mixing with the blood on his face. "Please, Julian... I know I fucked up. I just. My client ordered me to get rid of bodies for him. And this... this was the only way I knew how.”
“Which client?” I demanded.
He shook his head, crying like a bitch. “I can’t say.”
I slammed my fist into his nose. “Which client?” I yelled.
“I’m sorry,” Louis wailed.
“So you didn’t kill these women?”
“No... sir.”
I found that hard to believe. I stood, dragging him by his collar back toward the women.
“Are you saying that if I had these bodies autopsied, the coroner wouldn’t find your DNA on any of these women?”
“I...” Louis’s words trailed off.
“What? Can’t answer?”
“I... I didn’t kill them, Julian. I swear. But... I... did stuff with the bodies after receiving them.”
“What?” I frowned, cocking my head to the side to stare down at that sick motherfucker. “Is that why they’re already decaying? The client gave you the bodies to dispose of, and you kept them around as your fuck toys?”
“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.
“Noelle smiled at me,” I continued, brushing off the jab. “She’s never smiled at me before. I heard she was in a car accident recently. Did it lead to a change in her personality or something?”
Aiden stopped walking and faced me, shoving his hands into his pockets. “You’re awfully interested in my wife, Mr. Cattaneo.”
My gaze drifted to Noelle again.
“Don’t look at her,” Aiden ordered harshly.
I smiled. “Taking her to breakfast. Kissing her forehead. Getting jealous of men staring at her.” I stared Aiden up and down. “It seems you’ve fallen in love with your wife, Aiden Park.” I patted his shoulder. “It’s about damn time.”
He shrugged my hand off. “You’re a dick, you know that?”
“Nah. I just call it how I see it. And you look in love. If you’re happy and she’s happy, then I’m happy for you, man.”
He finally cracked a smile, expression softening. “She’s happy with me,” he told me, voice low. “Since the accident, we’ve been... closer. I almost lost her, Julian. It made me realize that I couldn’t live without her. I won’t live without her,” he vowed, staring back to look at his wife.
In his tone, I heard the same possessiveness that I felt for Stefanie. The way he looked back at her told me everything I needed to know. The man was a goner, head over heels, the same way I was with Stefanie.
“Congratulations,” I told him, pulling his attention back to me.
“What about the woman you’ve been stalking?” Aiden asked. “Any progress? Or are you still watching her from the shadows?”
I chuckled. “No. I’ve stepped into the light, her light. But...” I sighed. “It’s going to take a lot of work to make her realize I’m serious.”
“Put in the work,” Aiden told me. “It’ll be worth it.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“Now, what the fuck do you want me to see, Julian? I can’t keep my wife waiting.”
“Right. Over here.”
I led Aiden to the gravel pit where Louis was sprawled beside one of the bodies, his sobs low and pitiful.
Aiden's jaw tightened as he took in the scene. "What the hell is going on?"
I gestured toward Louis. "I'll let him explain."
Louis rolled onto his back, one eye nearly swollen shut. "Mr. Park, it's not my fault. It's..."
"What the fuck happened?" Aiden cut him off. "Why are there bodies at the site?"
Louis's sobs intensified. "I... a client wanted me to dispose of them."
"One of my clients?" Aiden's voice was as cold as ice.
Louis hesitated before shaking his head. "Someone I work with on the side."
"Who?" Aiden demanded.
Silence.
"Answer me, or I'll not only kill you but your twin sons, who'll be going to college soon, too," Aiden hissed.
Louis's eyes widened in terror. "I'll tell you. Please don't... don’t hurt my family."
"Then fucking tell me!" Aiden roared, glancing back toward his car, likely hoping Noelle hadn't heard him.
"It was... Aaron Clark," Louis sobbed.
"From Clark Constructions?" I asked, feeling the rage boil within me.
Clark Constructions were one of our competitors and Aaron Clark had been a thorn in my father’s side for years.
Louis nodded. “Yeah. Him.”
"Did he tell you to set us up?" I asked.
Louis sobbed harder.
"Answer him," Aiden demanded.
Another nod from Louis revealed the truth behind this entire fucked up situation.
“I was supposed to have them buried at the last job site,” Louis confessed.
“What site?” I asked.
“The Bak Children’s Center that Cattaneo Concrete Solutions poured the foundation for last month. But... I kept them a little longer than I should’ve. So... I had to make up for it at this site, or Aaron would’ve killed my wife and sons.”
Aiden exhaled slowly. "So, you decided to get rid of your client's problem at my site and use Cattaneo Concrete Solutions to cover it up without going through the proper channels because Aaron Clark told you to?"
"I'm sorry..."
"What the fuck can your sorries do for me?" Aiden shouted.
Louis opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally, he whispered, "I've been working with you for years, Mr. Park, and..."
"And you've done some deceitful shit during that time," Aiden interrupted. "But this takes the cake. My brother sent you to work for me. And I looked over your minor fuck ups for his sake. But this shit can’t be forgiven." He turned to me. "Do you want me to kill him, or do you want to do it?"
"I thought about burying him here with these bodies."
"Hell no," Aiden objected. "Not to the burying him part. You can definitely bury him here. But these bodies are getting dropped back off to the motherfucker who killed them. I'm having them delivered to Aaron's fucking doorstep."
"That won't send a good enough message. He'd just have them disposed of again. Let's send them to his office. Have the bodies waiting inside when the staff shows up in the morning."
Aiden faced me. "Let's do it."
I turned to Marshall. "Get a crew in to prepare the bodies and deliver them in the morning to Clark Construction Company. Then, finish prepping the site and begin pouring. Make sure Louis is secure so he doesn't cause a lump in the foundation."
"Got it, boss," Marshall said as Louis wailed.
"Shut the fuck up before you alert my wife to this shit," Aiden demanded.
But Louis continued wailing.
I patted Aiden on the shoulder. "Let's go before your wife comes looking for you."
“Yeah. And I’ll work on the NDA so we follow protocol with having Louis buried here later today.”
“No problem.”
Together, we turned and headed back to his car, chatting about the situation with Aaron as we walked. The Clark family had started showing interest in buying failing hotels. It was my theory that they wanted to take two companies out with one criminal investigation.
As long as either of us were being investigated, we couldn’t handle business as usual. But Aaron’s plan failed. Instead, he was going to get his problems dropped right back off to him.
And he’d be the one with his businesses on hold while he went through a criminal investigation. As for Louis, Aiden said he’d make it look like the man ran off because he’d been embezzling money.
That plan was solid and wrapped up any loose ends that could unravel later. When we made it to Aiden’s vehicle, his wife was walking toward us.
“I got worried,” she told Aiden. “Is everything okay?”
The anger left his face instantly. “Everything’s fine. Just a hiccup at the site,” he told her, reaching out for her hand.
She placed her hand in his.
“Let’s go,” he said, leading her toward their car, our conversation forgotten.
She stared over her shoulder at me. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your colleague?” she asked Aiden, leaving me stunned.
Introduce her to me? We’d met years ago.
“I’m Julian Cattaneo,” I told her. “It’s nice to meet you, finally, Ms. Park.”
Aiden glared at me.
“It’s nice to meet you, also, Mr. Cattaneo,” she said, smiling.
I looked at Aiden. “Let’s catch up over drinks this weekend,” I suggested.
“I’ll be with my wife,” he started, only to have her speak up.
“I’ll be fine,” she told Aiden. “I’m doing much better now. Have drinks with your friend this weekend. You don’t have to watch over me all day, every day.”
It seemed her accident had affected more than just her personality.
Aiden glared at me and said, “I’ll be in touch, Julian.”
“Do that, Mr. Park,” I called out, smirking at his discomfort.
He’d joked about me falling for the weather girl dozens of times. It was my turn to laugh at his expense. I watched him and his wife head to the car. As he backed up, I pulled my phone out, preparing to call my dad and tell him about the situation.
But I noticed I had a text from Blossom & Vine, letting me know my floral arrangement had been delivered. I smiled. The Seduction of Stefanie Adams had begun. I wasn’t going to let up until she was where she was supposed to be.
In my life. In my arms. In my bed.