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Maybe that’s what it is. Maybe she realized she’d pushed my hand too far. Reputation is everything for Celine, especially now with the rapid growth of her company. The publicity of our fightwould be a tarnish on the shiny exterior she presents to the world.

“I don’t want to jinx it by overthinking it.”

“Fair. Looks like they want to meet this afternoon—that good?”

“I’ll cancel my showing.”

“I can always ask them to meet later?”

“And risk her changing her mind? Fuck no. I’ll be there.”

“Okay, we’re meeting at my office.”

“Sounds good.”

My foot taps on the ground after we hang up, my mind spinning.

Finally.

I will finally be free of Celine.

“Mr. Ross?”

There’s a knock at my door, and I spin around as Amy walks in.

“What’s up?”

“Mr. Ryan just called and said he sent the information you needed to your inbox. I also wrote down the listings and associated phone numbers for you.” She places a piece of notepaper on my desk.

“Thanks, Amy.”

I give her a nod and she leaves, shutting the door behind her. I pick up the paper, giving it a quick scan. Looks like there are about six or seven properties.

I open my email, finding the one he sent over. There is a bunch of extra information included, but what I care about right now is what each of the listings are.

I click on each link, doing a quick analysis of the properties. They are all residential apartments out in Brooklyn, which isn’t a borough I bother myself with normally. Going out there is goingto be a bit of a pain, but it will be worth the look on Mike’s face when he finds out he lost all the listings to me.

Normally, a seller picks one agent to represent them and lets the agent parse through the fodder of buyers and bring them the offers that are the best options. What I am about to do is extremely underhanded and a little unethical when it comes to common decency among realtors.

However, Mike pissed me off. So, this is just—as Chloe would call it—karmic retribution.

I will go to each of the sellers and convince them to drop Mike and Vanguard in favor of working with me and RARE. Most of these properties have been on the market for at least ten weeks. I will have them sold in under seven days. That alone will sway the sellers.

Honestly, the housing market in the city has one of the quickest turnovers in the whole country. The fact that he’s had these listings for more than four weeks is telling enough.

I should probably be putting my effort into Clifton right now, but I can’t. This is more important. Verity is more important.

That kid will regret challenging me.

I get to work on doing a deeper dive on each of the listings, taking in the notes Sam sent me and cross-checking them with what I can find online. Mike’s commission percentage is probably smaller than my usual, but I will be able to get more money than he could, so I should still be able to make a decent amount from these deals.

I’m completely absorbed in my computer, in between calls to the different sellers, when there’s another knock at my door.

“Come in.”

I jot down a note that one of the sellers out in Greenpoint has an additional property they’re looking to rent. It’s not on Mike’s list, but I’ll take it anyway. It’s been a while since I did a rental commission.

“Hi.”