“You’re going to get away with it, Chloe.” I let out a breath. “You’re going to get away with it.”
I continued walking, focusing on what mattered most today: landing new clients and selling a property.
Please let one of them be super rich.I opened the office door with a prayer.
“Where the heck have you been, Chloe?” My best friend Marie rushed over the moment I stepped inside. “I haven’t seen you at our apartment in forever.”
“Sorry.” I set down my umbrella. “It’s been a long couple of days.”
I looked around the room, noticing that almost every realtor in our area was here.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“An emergency agent meeting was called an hour ago.” She shrugged. “Mr. Hudson decided that every agent needs to report to their respective offices for a mass satellite meeting. It’s nonnegotiable.”
“I wish he would realize that we’re technically not employees,” I said. “We just work under his banner.”
“Until the two of us branch off and make our own banner, right?”
A girl can dream.“Right.”
“Well, we’ll have to hold off on our usual Pinterest sessions and mimosas for the rest of the month.” She lowered her voice. “There’s a rumor going around that he’s stopping by every office and checking on things.”
“You don’t actually believe that, do you?” I scoffed. “He’s far too busy yachting and taking his private jet around the world to care about the little people.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” She tapped her lip. “It’s just that his secretary was the one who called me about this, so?—”
“Mr. Hudson is here!” someone yelled from the break room. “Mr.Fucking Hudson is here!”
WHAT?
Our office suddenly transformed from civil and bright to apocalyptic and grey within seconds.
The interns draped a curtain over our massive “Fuck Mr. Hudson and All His Properties” board, the secretariesdisconnected the fairy lights strung across the ceiling, and someone pulled down the shades on all the windows, leaving us in darkness.
Literal pitch-black darkness.
I can’t be here. I CANNOT be here…
I reached out for Marie, but I didn’t feel her, so I used my phone’s flashlight to find my desk. Then I crawled under it.
The lights flickered on seconds later, and the collective gasp told me all I needed to know.
“Good morning, realtors.” Mr. Hudson’s deep voice echoed off the walls. “Today is a nice day to sell properties, isn’t it?”
Silence.
His footsteps echoed through the office as he moved forward.
“As you know,” he said, “I don’t typically visit my branch offices, but that’s officially changed as of this week. I need to make sure we’re all on the same page regarding certain policies on my listings.”
“Well, sir—” Marie cleared her throat. “We’re so happy to have you here. We love being a part of your brand and showing off your properties.”
“Some of you love the latter a little too much, I’m afraid…”
My heart pounded against my chest.
“But that’s only one of a few things I need to address in the coming weeks,” he said. “There’s a major issue I need to handle first.”
