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Chapter One
“Un-fucking-believable.”
Conor Russo stood on the sidewalk, watching as his latest investment went up in smoke…literally.
The street was blocked by the three fire trucks and nearly a dozen firefighters working to save what was—hopefully still—going to be his restaurant.
Well…his and Harper Branson’s restaurant.
Conor still couldn’t quite believe he was going into business with one of the most recognizable faces in the world. A former supermodel, Harper had graced the cover of countless magazines, and she’d spent years as the face of Siren’s Smile, one of the most popular perfumes on the market. Images of her—and that famous siren’s smile—consistently showed up in television commercials, on billboards, the sides of city buses, and on endcap displays at the local grocery store.
He and Harper had formed a partnership nearly a year ago, their plan to open a high-end restaurant here in Philadelphia. In early November, they’d found the perfect property in a prime location of the city and had decided rather than rent the restaurant space on the bottom floor, they’d simply purchase the entire three-story building outright.
The building that was currently on fire.
Conor had only met with Harper in person a handful of times, the last time being when she drove from New York City to tour the three different properties he’d narrowed down as their top choices. Since he lived in Philadelphia, he’d taken the lead on finding the real estate for their endeavor. They’d both agreed that this one was ideal for their plans, so they’d signed on the dotted line.
The rest of their meetings had been done over video conference calls as she completed her coursework at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, as well as finished the last of her modeling contracts. Now…here they were, mid-April, at the very beginning stages of this new business endeavor, and it was all going to shit.
Conor rubbed his chest, trying not to let his anxiety get the better of him.
Tonight was supposed to be a small celebration as Harper was, at last, ready to move to Philadelphia full-time to become an active partner in the redesign and reconstruction of their future restaurant—Harper’s Dining Room. The name was perfect, as Harper was known for her pleasant, girl-next-door appearance and attitude. Her entire brand was wrapped around her friendly nature, the idea for the restaurant name born from the fact that she was the type of person you’d like to share a meal with.
Conor glanced down the street and saw Luca Moretti talking to one of his friends, Kayden Gallo, a cop on the Philadelphia police force. Kayden was clearly on duty, in uniform and serving as crowd control for the gawkers hovering nearby to watch the action.
Kayden had parked his cruiser sideways at the end of the block to prevent thru-traffic, which was probably causing a lot of headaches in other parts of the city as this was typically a busy thoroughfare on Saturday nights, when the restaurants and bars in the area were hopping.
The police barricade felt unnecessary considering no one could drive through with all the fire trucks parked in the street, blocking both lanes.
Conor wasn’t surprised to discover Luca here. After all, he was the contractor on the restaurant reconstruction job, and the two of them had planned to meet tonight—right now, in fact—with Harper. Conor had been en route to the meeting when he’d gotten the call from the alarm company that a smoke detector was going off and the fire department had been alerted.
Their original plan had been for Luca to give him and Harper a tour of the building, showing them what physical progress the construction crew had made thus far. Since work on the restaurant had only started a week earlier, all that had really been accomplished was gutting the first floor completely, maintaining the retaining walls, while taking the entire place down to studs.
Luca looked over, spotted him, and gave him a quick wave. Conor nodded once, then glanced away, turning his attention back to the building, shaking his head in disbelief once more.
Prior to their acquisition, the bottom floor of the building had been a pizza parlor, though that business had been closed for nearly six months. The top two floors had been sectioned off to create six small apartments—three on each floor. Upon purchasing the building, they’d honored the remainder of the leases of the current renters but didn’t re-up them. The last person moved out a few weeks ago.
Thank God. He would hate to think of someone losing all their possessions in a fire. He glanced at the upper floors, slightly relieved to see that the flames didn’t appear to have made it that far.
He and Harper had been delighted to find the building, located in Old City, a part of Philadelphia well known for its trendy restaurants, fashionable boutiques, and eclectic galleries. It was a popular tourist attraction, but it also pulled in quite a lot of local foot traffic as well.
Conor glanced at his watch, then ran his hand through his hair anxiously. Harper should be arriving soon. This was going to be one hell of a welcome to Philadelphia for her.
He’d called her immediately after receiving word that the fire alarm was going off, aware she was on the road and not checking her messages. Conor had foolishly told her it was probably nothing, that the alarm had most likely been triggered by dust from the demolition.
So much for that theory.
He needed to warn her before she arrived because this was going to be one hell of a shock. However, before he could pull his phone out of his jacket pocket, he caught sight of her walking toward the building. Her wavy, long blonde hair was pinned up in a tight ponytail and she was wearing sunglasses even though dusk had come and gone, giving way to night. He suspected the shades were less for eye protection and more an attempt to remain unnoticed.
That was a pointless endeavor. Even if Harper hadn’t been famous, people would still notice her. She was a breathtakingly beautiful woman with electric-blue eyes, high cheekbones, a curvy figure, and legs that went on for miles. Those legs were currently framed in tight blue jeans paired with a plain, lowcut white T-shirt, chunky silver jewelry, and covered with a soft black leather jacket. On anyone else, it might look like a regular outfit, but Harper wore it like a work of art.
A quick glance in the opposite direction proved that Luca had spotted her as well. Harper and Luca had never met in person before—tonight was going to be their first introduction—though Luca had been involved in most of their video conference calls since being hired as contractor.
Conor couldn’t quite believe he was working with the Moretti brothers on this project. God knew that was something that would have been unheard of when his grandfather and father had been alive.
The Russos and Morettis had participated in a four-generations-long feud that had included everything from infidelity to workplace sabotage to sketchy loan sharking to high school rivalries. It seemed the animosity had finally ended with Conor’s generation—he and his brothers, Matt and Gage, as well as Luca’s large clan of brothers and cousins attempting to make amends.
The rift began to be repaired when Gage had married Penny Beaumont, whose brother, Rhys, was in a strange sort of throuple relationship with Tony Moretti and a young single mom, Jess. Gage’s marriage had opened the door to more interactions between the two families and had led to Tony and Matt—who’d legit hated each other since their senior year of high school—burying the hatchet just a month earlier.
