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Chapter Fifteen
Luca parked on the street in front of Conor’s building, but neither he nor Harper opened the car doors.
He’d tried to talk Harper into letting him take her to his place to rest after she was released from the hospital, but she refused, claiming she couldn’t rest until she knew Conor was okay. Luca had tried calling and texting him last night, but eventually gave up when Conor didn’t reply.
It was just shy of ten a.m., so there was a chance Conor was at the office. If he was, Luca was going to lose his shit. He’d been trying to hold it together for Harper, but between worrying about her and Conor and sleeping upright in an uncomfortable chair all night, he was riding the razor’s edge.
“You mad at him?” Harper asked.
“Aren’t you? Jesus, Harper. You went through hell last night, and he couldn’t even bother to call to check on you.”
“We don’t know his side of the story,” she started.
“You saw how he was yesterday, blowing us off. He keeps trying to push us away and it’s making me—” Luca cut himself off, tightening his grip on the steering wheel until he was white-knuckling the thing.
Harper placed her hand on his forearm. “Let’s go in and talk to him.”
She was right. He knew she was. The problem was, he had experience with being dumped by Conor. Sure, it was a friendship forged in Spanish class rather than a relationship, but Conor had still walked away without any explanation. Sixteen-year-old Luca let him do it, but he wouldn’t this time. Couldn’t.
Luca took a deep breath, then nodded. “Okay.”
Entering the building, they stopped at the front desk. Before they could ask the stickler-for-rules front desk attendant—who knew damn well who they were, after all their visits—to call Conor, he heard someone else calling their names.
“Luca, Harper.” Gage waved at them, he and Matt crossing the foyer.
“You should have made that bet,” Luca heard Gage say to Matt as they walked up.
“How are you feeling?” Matt asked Harper.
“I’m fine. Few bumps and bruises, but other than that,” she said, in a cheerful voice Luca knew was fake.
Bradley’s attack had shaken her. It stood to reason. After all, she’d worked with the man for fourteen years, and even if they hadn’t exactly been friends, they’d always been friendly. At least, that was how she’d portrayed their relationship, and he didn’t think she was lying. He’d been with her last night when Bradley approached them in the hotel lobby. She was genuinely delighted to see the man.
The asshole, Luca amended.
Kayden had called just before Harper’s release to let them know Bradley was still behind bars, but likely to post bail by this afternoon. Kayden and Seth had been assigned to investigate the “accidents” at the construction site. Obviously, the fire had been scrutinized, as had the theft of the electrical wiring, but Luca stupidly hadn’t reported the flooding, something that he could see in hindsight had been a mistake.
Kayden was taking Harper’s allegations seriously that Bradley was to blame for all of the destruction. He was a good cop, and Luca didn’t doubt Kayden would leave no stone unturned.
“Is Conor upstairs?” Luca was unable to hide the annoyance in his voice.
Matt nodded. “Tony called me this morning, said the two of you were concerned, so we came over to check on him. His phone was dead. He didn’t receive your messages.”
That didn’t make Luca feel much better. “Did you tell him about Harper?”
Matt exchanged a look with Gage, one Luca couldn’t begin to interpret. “We did.”
“Is Conor alright?” Harper asked.
Matt rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re going to let Conor explain what happened last night.” He looked at Luca. “I hope you’ll give him the chance.”
There was something troubling in Matt’s expression, and Luca’s anger morphed to concern in an instant. Something wasn’t right.
“Okay,” Luca said, anxious to get upstairs. “We will.”
Matt smiled, while Gage handed them a keycard. “Use this. And watch your step in the living room.”
Before he and Harper could ask what the hell that meant, Gage and Matt headed for the exit.
