Page 63 of Death Game: Supernatural Battle

Ilion jerked. “Ninethousand? That’s 15 percent of the residential market.”

Think of Tommy leaving. Think of Tommy leaving.

“Private transactions usually operate at a word of mouth and local level, but the scale of this is suspicious to the extreme. Someone is brokering these deals, and yet our staff have never come across other realtors, besideForemostworkers. Not only that, the private owners we consider problematic are increasingly selling to overseas buyers.”

I’d known this moment would come as I accelerated acquisition. I needed to focus on the conversation as much as possible.

Angelica bowed. “I leave the seconds to discuss the possible reasons behind the surge; however, you can find a list of proposed theories at the bottom of the second page. IfForemostisn’t behind these purchases, this could be a potential market to hit with everything we have.”

Scrolling down, I skimmed through the theories of her team while doing my best to focus on what I had for breakfast that morning.

“Have you had contact with any of the owners or buyers?” Kyros asked, glancing up at her.

“I was awaiting your decision, sir.” Angelica straightened.

“You’ll have one by the end of the night.”

She bowed again, then launched into an abbreviated version of her usual spiel. Sundulus landed on Purple tonight. After her report, the stream of other team leaders delivered their reports. The door had barely closed on the Forecasting Head of Team before Conrad erupted.

“Foremostis behind the private sales,” he said, bursting to his feet. “It’s a safety net. They broker a deal and keep the details of the sale under wraps. They can then purchase the properties back when they wish. It would be perfectly within the rules.”

Danielle tapped her pen on the table. “No. If they had over nine thousand properties, then they could have won the game by now. Why would they broker private sales to overseas buyers instead of keeping the homes for themselves?”

Kyros was watching me.

I had to say something. “Because the trouble properties are demonstrating resistance toLive RightandForemost. They likely prefer to sell privately than deal with either company. When the property is sold, Foremost can then approach the overseas buyers, who don’t have any resistance to their offer. Holiday homes are often an investment. Convincing overseas clientele to sell due to plummeting house values would be child’s play.”

Ilion scrolled through his tablet. “But some of these properties were purchased nearly thirty years ago. The rate has greatly accelerated in the last month, but prior to that, the rate was steady—between 300 and 350 properties were privately purchased each year.”

Go, Agatha.

“Just a theory.”

Kyros peered at me over steepled hands. “There’s more.”

Dammit.

My palms grew slick with sweat, and I reasoned away my thumping heart. All the seconds were looking at me. At least part of my reaction was masked by the natural instincts of my body around them. “Having visited a lot of these trouble properties, I can tell you that public favour for this company andForemostisn’t good. I don’t think you should discount the possibility that the residents of Bluff City talk to each other. You know word of mouth is the strongest marketing tool there is. The information we’ve spread about plummeting house prices would have only skyrocketed that word of mouth. I also don’t think you should dismiss that someone might have seen an opportunity to make money. You may have forced other realtors out of work, but if someone is brokering overseas deals, they’re filling a niche where there is no competition. Of course they’d thrive.”

Satisfaction thrummed through Kyros, and I held onto the very real passion I’d felt during my outburst so relief didn’t edge in.

I tuned in as the seconds launched into their usual debate. The fury level was at a record high. Everyone felt the stress of what was looking more and more like an imminent loss to Fyrlia. The forecasters reported that the end cascade would be triggered within three weeks unless Sundulus did something huge.

Beforehand, thatsomething hugewas the bluff with Mr Ringly that hardly anyone knew about. That was gone now, though Kyros’s family was still hoping it would turn around.

Three weeksto make everything right.

So little time. And yet I’d decided to sit on my information from Sandra Hoyt. When I brought that information forward, I’d tell Sundulus absolutely everything about what I said to Mikael. Kyros would be pissed. Mega pissed. Possiblynever-talk-to-me-againpissed.

So I couldn’t risk him cancelling the fifth exchange over it.

If the book on mating rituals was correct, we’d be almost inseparable at that point. The opportunity to trigger the sixth exchange with Kyros’s tenuous lack of control would be easier. He may even be more inclined to forgive me.

Which only served to show me how desperate I felt.

And what a coward I was.

Shaking that off, I settled into listening, tapping out hashtags when a comment caught my fancy and slipping in my opinion when something unvoiced occurred to me.

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