Read an Excerpt
Chapter 1
Allie
“Get here. Pronto. Shit is going down!”
There are only three reasons my real estate assistant, Liv Sloan, sent me the vague text on Monday morning.
One, the deal for my last clients, who fled the lively Haight-Ashbury area to raise their family in the quiet and quaint Cole Valley district, fell apart.
Two, our boss is in a mood.
Three, a pair of Liv’s beloved high-heel shoes suffered a wretched death.
Stuffed inside the elevator, a block away from Union Square, with rank perfume smells tickling my nose, I wonder over Liv’s message. All three reasons are totally up her alley. She’s dramatic, but in a cute, funny way that I love.
When the elevator doors chime open, I ease my way out, entering Richardson Real Estate, and frown. While I love my job, the offices are a whole other thing. They’re in need of a major upgrade, which is the very reason I’m late today. I’d never meet clients in this run-down horror show.
I pass the empty waiting room, scrunching my nose against the stale smell hanging in the air, then pick up my pace, turning the corner down the main hallway, finding Liv standing by the watercooler near our cubicles.
“You’re not going to believe what’s happened,” she says, practically bursting with energy.
“Aliens have invaded Earth?” I offer.
“What?” She gives her head a slight shake, her brown curls bouncing on her shoulders. “Guess again.”
“Santa came early and brought you new Louboutin shoes?”
She gives me a playful nudge, her big, round brown eyes squinting. “Ha, I can only wish! Holt has bought out Richardson.”
I pause, waiting for her to say she’s joking. “You’re serious?”
She nods. “Very serious.”
A knot of worry tightens in my belly then I force myself to go numb. I’m a top-selling agent at Richardson. My job can’t be in jeopardy. This has to be good news, right? Still, I can’t wrap my head around it. Holt has made billions of dollars dealing in commercial properties. Richardson’s sales are only in the multi-millions, with a handful of agents selling middle-income homes. Sure, that’s Richardson’s strength in the San Francisco market, but why would Holt want to add it to their portfolio? Isn’t the middle-class market messy pocket change to them? “What in the world does Holt want with Richardson?” I voice my thoughts.
Liv gets herself a drink from the watercooler and then faces me. “From what I gathered, Holt wants to gobble up the entire real estate market. Businesses, high-class homes, middle-class homes; they want it all. Including taking the top agents at Richardson into Holt.”
Greedy pricks. They can’t be satisfied having a corner of the market to make their billions, they need to suck the whole damn thing dry. I lean against the cubicle next to us, my back straight as a pencil. “So, their plan is to swallow Richardson up?”
“To be honest, I don’t really know what the plan is.” She leans closer to me and tells me quietly, “They offered me a job at Holt. Which I guess means they’re taking you, too.”
“Indeed, that is the plan,” says a strong male voice.
Oh, shit!