I Ran So Far Away - Complete

Chapter 57

"Mr. Grey? I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have Ray Steele on the phone for you. He said it's urgent."

"Thank you, Andrea," I said standing from the head of the conference table. "Let's all take a ten-minute break," I directed, much to the annoyance of the group I was meeting with. I'd just interrupted them mid-pitch. Meh. My business, my building, my rules. Walking into my office, it pleased me to note Andrea already had a steaming black coffee waiting for me.

"Ray? What's up?" I asked when I picked up the phone.

"I think I might need your help, Christian. I've done something without thinking things through."

You could have knocked me over with a feather. Ray asking for help and admitting to an ill-considered action both seemed out of character.

"Talk me through it," I said, wondering what had my stoic father-in-law in such a flap.

"Well, Annie came to visit me this morning. All was going well until I told her I'd sold the house in Montesano."

"Oh?"

"I talked to a lad in the local Real Estate office about it last week; that I was thinking of selling. The guy is none too bright, and I doubted his ability to negotiate me a good deal, so I gave him an inflated figure of what I thought it was worth thinking that would give me some wriggle room to come down. Anyway, he called me this morning. He found a buyer willing to pay full price and give me six weeks to pack up the house. It's a lot more than the place is worth, so I jumped on the opportunity. Only now Annie is heartbroken. She said she wanted to buy the house. I'm a man of my word, and I don't like to sign something and then back out, but I was hoping one of your legal guys might be able to look over the contract and see if there's a way out of it?"

"If the buyer was willing to go so far above market value to secure the property, they might not give it up without a fight," I suggested.

"You think so?" Ray asked sounding worried.

"I know so. The guy who bought it wanted it as a birthday and first wedding anniversary present for his wife. She has her heart set on that house and what she wants, he makes sure she gets."

Ray uttered a particularly colorful word. "Just so we're clear, you're saying you're the mystery buyer?"

"That would be an affirmative," I chuckled.

"You have more money than sense, Grey," Ray spluttered out. "If you wanted the house, you should have told me yesterday. I would have sold it to you straight."

"And would you have accepted so much above market value for it?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well of course not. Seems stupid you cost yourself so much more by going through an agent."

"Yes and no. He did let me know the house would go on the market before you had a chance to consider other offers. Besides which, as you pointed out, the guy you went through is not so bright. He used a contract with a lower commission percentage that instead relied on gaining through advertising costs – of which there were none."

Ray chuckled. "You put some thought into this, didn't you?"

"Sure did. I called every real estate agent in Montesano and told them anything came up on that street, I wanted to be told immediately."

"What I don't understand is why Annie wants the house so much?"

"She loved growing up there, and after Carla's third husband, it became her safe place. She wants Teddy to be able to experience a taste of that, even if it's only as a family vacation house."