Page 42 of Steady and Strong

Luca shrugged.

“Someone on your crew?” Conor pointed out what was the most obvious answer, though not one Luca seemed willing to accept.

He shook his head. “I can’t believe that. I’ve worked with most of the guys on quite a few projects. Hell, I hired every single one of them myself.” Luca stepped around them, out of the bathroom, walking down the hallway and checking every room along the way.

Conor and Harper watched—until he stopped.

“Son of a bitch,” he muttered, then he turned toward them and cocked his head, gesturing for them to come take a look.

“What is it?” Conor asked.

“There’s a broken sill, window looks like it’s been pried open with a crowbar,” Luca replied as he walked across the room to look outside.

“Someone gained access from the fire escape,” Conor observed, stepping next to Luca.

“It’s broad daylight,” Harper said.

“Yeah, but I’ve had construction workers crawling all over this place for weeks. Not sure a guy with a crowbar would send up any alarms these days.”

“Goddammit,” Conor cursed.

“What’s wrong?” Luca asked as he and Harper flanked him, looking over Conor’s shoulders.

“The position of the camera is wrong. I can’t see this part of the building at all. Whoever did it was smart enough to figure out the weak point in our security.”

Luca sighed, then repeated Conor’s sentiment. “Goddammit!”

“I’m going to call the security company, get more cameras. And I know we were waiting until most of the construction was done to set up the alarm system, but I vote we do it now.” Conor was clearly upset.

“Agreed. Given the amount of water in the room, I’d say it hasn’t been running more than an hour or so.” Luca lowered the window, studying the frame. “The latch is broken. I’m going to run downstairs and grab a hammer. Nail this shut so no one else gets in. Might go ahead and nail shut any others that aren’t in view of the cameras.”

Conor glanced her direction, concern in his gaze. “You okay, Harper?”

She started to nod, then stopped. “You really think someone is trying to sabotage our restaurant?”

Luca ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know, but this broken window means our pool of suspects has grown beyond that of my crew. Anyone could have climbed that fire escape and broken in.”

“Do you think it’s possible someone is doing this to harm your company…or mine?” Conor was looking at Luca.

“That’s a possibility. We’ve won more bids than we’ve lost lately. I guess we could be stepping on toes without realizing it. You have any enemies?” Luca asked.

Conor grimaced. “I could probably come up with a few or twenty, if I thought about it. Matt and I have acquired a bit of a reputation for being cutthroat when it comes to real estate acquisition. I suppose there’s a chance we’ve pissed off the wrong person.”

Neither man asked her. Harper considered it as if they had, wondering if there was anyone out there who might want to hurt her. Six months ago, she might have suspected Bradley, but he’d been supportive—mostly—since finally accepting her decision to retire. Fulton came to mind, but he didn’t seem to hate her. It was more like he was mildly obsessed with her. Besides them, the only other person who was probably pissed off at her was her dad. But that didn’t track because she hadn’t heard from him in a decade.

“The fact we caught this when we did…” Conor rubbed his chest as he studied the broken windowsill.

Luca ran his hand over his beard. “We were lucky in that regard. The damage would have been a hell of a lot worse if the water had run all weekend. Jesus, I don’t even want to think about how bad that would have been. Let me call Joey, get him to come back—with a mop—so we can clean up the water. In the meantime, I’ll get that hammer.”

He headed downstairs as she and Conor looked around the room, frustration rife on both their faces. Conor walked over and placed his arm around her shoulders.

“Never a dull moment,” he murmured as he embraced her, his attempt at a teasing tone making her feel better almost instantly.

She looped her arm around his back, nestling close. “True. Let’s just hope all the crap ends here. My mom said bad things always come in threes. Fire, robbery, flood. We’ve officially hit that limit.”

Luca stood in the doorway, hammer in hand, listening to their conversation.

Conor, bless him, found a way to lighten the moment. “As long as we don’t hit the plague-of-locusts stage, I’m cool.”

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