But the truth?
The real truth?
I’m already gone.
Just as gone for him now as I ever was.
Maybe more.
Because now I know what it feels like to lose him.
And still choose him anyway.
I close my eyes for a second, letting the rhythm of the road settle into my bones.
Yeah.
This is dangerous.
But for the first time in a long time?
I don’t want to run from it.
I want to see where it leads.
Chapter 16-Benji
The Big C lives up to the name.
Hell, it overshoots it.
We crest the last ridge and Chase Baron’s spread rolls out in front of us—wide, clean, efficient as a machine built to print money.
Long lines of fencing, low barns with steel roofs, wind kicking dust across packed lanes where trucks and hands move like they’ve all got somewhere important to be.
Good operation.
Real good.
I clock it all in a glance—the layout, the traffic flow, the placement of the barns, the distance between holding pens and the insemination facility.
You don’t build something like this without knowing your stock and your business.
“Damn,” Esme murmurs beside me, leaning a little toward the window. “This place is huge.”
“Yeah, but size isn’t everything,” I tease, and she blushes just like I want her to.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“It’s run right,” I say, easing the truck down the lane toward the insemination barn. “That’s the difference.”
Alex sits up straighter in the back seat, already unplugging one earbud, his focus sharpening now that we’re here.
“Where do you want me, boss?” he asks.
“Insemination barn,” I tell him. “They’ll have the cryo tanks ready. Stick to the checklist. Don’t rush.”
“Yes, sir.”
