I stepped inside. As soon as my boots echoed on the polished floors, that familiar emptiness rolled through me. Every light on the first floor flicked on automatically, illuminating nothing but expensive furniture and silence.
Standing in the middle of the living room, I stared up at the vaulted ceiling, wondering what the hell I’d been thinking when I’d approved the blueprints. At the time, it had felt right. A big house for big dreams. A place to grow into.
Now that it was finished though, it just felt hollow. All this space only for me. It seemed like such a waste.
I dropped my hat on the table and unbuttoned my shirt. The faint smell of dust, sun, and cattle clung to me, and there was no one around to care. For a man who had everything, I’d never felt the weight ofnothingquite like I did these days.
My phone rang, a sharp, piercing sound slicing through the silence. I ran my fingers through my hair, already knowing who it was before I’d even slid it out of my pocket. I answered on the third ring.
“Hey, Mom.” I let out a silent sigh as I strode to the stairs. “What’s up?”
“Are you still coming up to the lodge for dinner?”
The lodge. The old family house where I’d grown up and where the ceiling beams still creaked in all the familiar ways. Nothing had really changed over there. Nothing except for me.
“Yeah,” I said finally. “Just need to grab a shower. I’ll be there in twenty.”
After dinner, I sat at the long table finishing a drink with Dad, the amber liquid in our glasses catching the light. It had been just the three of us tonight, at a table that could fit fourteen.
I didn’t know why this stuff was suddenly bothering me so much, but I kind of wished my sister and her brood of kids could be here. With Jameson and maybe even Sterling and his family. But they were all the way back in San Francisco.
All the chaos was over there while we had all the quiet. I should’ve liked it this way, but I couldn’t even bring myself to feel pride as Dad listened to me lay out the year’s results.
As I explained that the breeding program was finally paying off, his expression was stony. Not even as enthusiastic as mine, and mine wasn’t enthusiastic at all. It should have been, though. This was worth so much more than a conversation piece for cocktail parties, but Tiberius Sr. had always viewed this side of the ranch as recreational, something to brag about to his wealthy friends.
It had been fine that he’d seen it that way. Until it wasn’t.
Back when I’d first wanted to start the program, I’d argued numbers, genetics, and market reach. He’d simply nodded once or twice, his mind already wandering back to polo matches or corporate dinners.
Despite this recent success, it didn’t look like he was paying that much more attention to it now. Meanwhile, I just felt weirdly in limbo.
Mom appeared a moment later with a whole cake balanced on a silver platter. I didn’t even glance at it. Neither Dad nor I had a sweet tooth.
She placed it gently on the table with her eyes flicking between us, hopeful. “Just in case either of my boys decide they’d like to take a walk on the sweeter side tonight.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said, smiling at her, but I didn’t bother pretending to be interested in the cake. “Maybe later.”
I leaned back in my chair, stretching my legs under the table while I waited for her next question. It was inevitable since she’d walked in on us talking about the breeding program.
“Are you still going to be running the business out of Chicago?” she asked finally.
And there it is.“Yeah, I am.”
Her brow furrowed. We’d been through this before, but Momrefusedto get it. It wasn’t because she didn’t understand it from a business perspective. She did. Mom might never have pursued any kind of business herself other than the business of being a socialite, but she was sharp as a tack, and when she had gotten involved in a venture or two over the years, her ideas had been amazing.
She’d simply decided to not support this. To not get it. “Why Chicago? Why not Dallas? Or Oklahoma City? Chicago is sofarfrom here.”
I picked up my glass and swirled the last of the liquid around in it. “It’s not just about the south, Mom. My meat will be all over the country. Not just here. There’s interest on the west coast too. Chicago is right in the middle of it all. Distribution-wise, it makes sense.”
Mom didn’t say anything right away, just tilting her head and studying me as if she was trying to figure out whether I was joking.
“I know it’s far, but it’s the right move,” I explained. “For the business, for the genetics, and for the growth of our brand. It’s strategic.”
Besides, I already had an office set up in Chicago. A few employees, a handful of executives in sales, and a small army of contractors doing the legwork. I didn’t need to be there every day and it was already making me a shitload of money, but Mom and Dad wanted me here.
On the ranch. In Texas. Preferably knocking out a son or six to carry on not just the nameTiberius Shepardbut the family line. I didn’t argue.
I knew how that game worked. Sadie’s herd of kids didn’t count. They were Westwoods, not Shepards.
