“You’re a dick, you know that?” I muttered.
“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.”
Noe and I had the potential to be happy. We’d been so damn happy in the past. Even just yesterday, she was kissing my forehead and calling me her savage. She was upset with me right now, and she had every right to be.
But I was confident that we could work this out and get back to how we were in the past. An image of her flashed in my mind. It was from yesterday at breakfast. She’d winked at me and flirted with me. I’d seen the love she felt for me in her eyes, felt it in her touch.
“She’s happy with me,” I told Julian, thinking about how excited she’d been in the garden. “Since the accident, we’ve been... closer. I almost lost her, Julian. It made me realize that I couldn’t live without her. Iwon’tlive without her,” I vowed, staring back at Noe.
She was watching Julian and me. She saw me looking and gave me a wave and a smile. I was pretty sure she was going to check my glove compartment and console while I was away.
She was just biding her time.Sneaky ass.There was nothing in there for her to find, I’d made sure of that while she’d been showering. Though I knew she was plotting, I was still mesmerized by her smile. I waved back, not wanting her smile to disappear. Ever.
“Congratulations,” Julian told me, pulling my attention back to him.
“What about the woman you’ve been stalking?” I asked. Since he wanted to be in my business, I’d delve into his. “Any progress? Or are you still watching her from the shadows?”
Julian chuckled. “No. I’ve stepped into the light, her light. But...” He sighed. “It’s going to take a lot of work to make her realize I’m serious.”
A good woman was worth fighting for, killing for, even dying for.
“Put in the work,” I told him. “It’ll be worth it.”
“I know,” he agreed.
“Now, what the fuck do you want me to see, Julian? I can’t keep my wife waiting.”
“Right. Over here.”
He led me to the gravel pit. My mind raced, trying to figure out what the problem could be. For Julian to call me here, it couldn’t be a simple foundation issue. Something like that wouldn’t require my attention.
I’d placed Louis over this job. Julian would’ve called him if there had been any problems. Which meant something bigger was at play here. Something that may require me to spend time away from the estate, away from Noe.
I gritted my teeth. I didn’t have time for this shit. I continued walking, anger rising with each step. I didn’t even know what was wrong yet, and I was already pissed off. But I began to figure it out when that smell hit me.
Death.
The stench of death was in the air, and I was so glad Noe was far enough away not to smell it. That scent could possibly trigger another memory for her, a grim memory. Even with that stench in the air, I was still shocked by what I found when we reached the pit.
Fuck!My jaw clenched tighter as I took in the scene. Down in the gravel pit, there was a row of bodies that were partially covered with a tarp. The bodies were already decaying, but I could tell they were women.
There was no way my family was responsible for this. Women and children were off limits in my family. At least... for the men in my family. According to my grandfather, I was the only Park male in generations who’d come close to killing a woman.
And that was a few years ago, when I threatened to blow Ellie’s brains out for breaking into my place and climbing into my bed while I was drunk. The only thing that saved her was me learning that my grandfather was the one who’d given her the code.
Not only had he given her the code to my condo, he’d also planned the entire setup, knowing it would lead to Noe breaking up with me. Ellie was the only woman I’d ever wanted to murder. I still wanted to murder her lying ass.
This shit I was looking at right now was not something my family would condone. Some sick fuck had murdered these women and dumped their bodies at my site, planning to use my property as a place to hide their gruesome evidence.
If the bodies were ever discovered, this crime would fall back on my family, causing a scandal. And my grandfather hated scandals. That was why I’d ended up marrying Ellie, to keep our family from being caught up in a scandal.
I sighed, staring at the corpses of women who’d deserved better than to have this happen to them. This was about tobe another damn problem, and I didn’t have time for more problems.
I clenched my fists in my pockets, wanting to kill someone right now. Then I noticed the guy I’d placed over this job, Louis, sprawled beside one of the bodies. What the hell was he doing down there? I took in his appearance.
His lips were busted, and one of his eyes was swollen. There was a cut above his eyebrow, and the bruise on his cheek was already turning purple. I glanced over at Julian, noticing his bruised knuckles. What the fuck had Louis done to make Julian beat his ass?
"What the hell is going on?" I asked Julian, ignoring Louis’s sobs.
