Page 118 of Hello Billionaire

Tyler said, “Connor told me they’re moving to the city as soon as it sells.”

Dad swore under his breath. “That’s just what those kids need. They get into enough trouble as it is.”

Mom frowned. “They won’t even finish the school year?”

“Not according to Connor,” Tyler said.

Liv looked devastated. “Connor was supposed to take me to prom! I hope no one buys their place before then.”

“I hope we do,” I said.

All eyes turned on me, but even Rhett didn’t seem amused. They all stared at me like I’d grown a second head.

Mom spoke first. “What do you mean, Gage?”

“I’ve been talking with Mr. Price and his banker, and they’ve taught me a lot about real estate and funding for new business ventures. The Fosters’ farm is over a thousand acres. We could expand the feedlot to take in cattle from neighboring ranches, and we could use the extra ground to run more cattle. They even have some dryland farm ground we could use to grow extra feed to accommodate the increased herd size.”

I realized I hadn’t breathed that entire time and took a quick breath. “And with that many cattle and that much land, we could support at least two families, maybe three if we manage it properly. Nicole and I won’t need much when we’re first married. It’ll give us time to grow the operation, settle in. And by the time Liv’s done with school in a few years, we could purchase more land. Grow even bigger and make this family farm something real. Something that could sustain us across generations.”

Liv had a small smile on her lips, and Tyler was nodding thoughtfully. But Mom was watching Dad, and so was I.

His lips were a straight line under his mustache, unimpressed. Uninspired. “Those are big dreams, Gage. But big dreams take big money.”

“This banker I was talking to said we could easily get an equity loan to cover the cost of a down payment for the Fosters’ land since our land’s been paid off since before Grandpa passed it to you and Mom. And the Fosters already have a house built there, so it wouldn’t cost any extra to keep me on full-time, aside from utilities and food.”

Dad stayed silent for a second and then chuckled. “Send you to the city, and all of a sudden, you come back with these crazy ideas.”

Everyone around us averted their eyes from me, and shame filled my chest. “It’s not a crazy idea, Dad.” I pulled out the manila folder with the business plan I’d pored over with Mr. Price. I knew my dad well enough to know he’d take at least a little convincing. “I worked up a business plan, and I think within two years, we’d be breaking even. Years four and five, we’d see greater returns than you’ve made in the last five years combined. Imagine what you and Mom could do with all that money, Dad. Maybe you could finally take Mom on that cruise she’s been wanting to go on.”

“We don’t need more money,” he snapped, ripping the folder, my plan, in half. “And we sure as shit don’t gamble land that generations of Griffens have broken their backs over so that we could have it now. You know how great-grandpa Griffen bought this land?”

I nodded, exasperated with having heard the story a million times before. “He moved here from Missouri and worked for years to save up the money. Bought eighty acres at a time. Great-grandma didn’t even get an engagement ring until she was on her deathbed. I know. But Dad, they took a risk; they invested their time and money and sweat into this farm because they believed in what it could be. Why are yousodetermined to keep it small when it could be so much more?”

Dad stood up from his chair, putting his hands on the table and glaring across it at me. “I don’t want some twenty-year-old kid who’s been hanging out with a money-hungry vulture telling me how I should run this business. I thought I’d raised you with morals, with respect for traditions, hell, some humility, but two years away and this is what happens? You think you know everything!”

“I know that you could be making more money than the pittance you’re living on,” I snapped.

Dad sneered. “You’re just as greedy as he is.”

His words cut deep, and I glared at the man who raised me, my chest heaving with anger. With shame. Especially with all my siblings and my mom watching, sayingnothing. “Mr. Price is not greedy. He’s given me a job, paid me more than what’s fair, and he provides housing to dozens of families—”

“All while lining his pockets and thinking of number one.”

“And who are you thinking about?” I demanded. “This is supposed to be afamilyfarm, but how the hell am I supposed to come back here and raise a family on it when you’re barely making enough to keep a roof over your head?”

His face was turning red. “You ungrateful little shit. Your mother and I busted our asses to give you a damn good life. You always had food. You always had a place to sleep at night. You traveled all over the fucking state to play baseball. Tell me what you wanted for, and I’ll show you an entitled little brat.”

I ground my teeth together, biting back venom. “What am I supposed to do, Dad? Work as a hired hand for some other farm the rest of my life, barely getting by? You know it doesn’t have to be that way, Dad.”

“The fact that you said that proves you’re just as money hungry as he is. Always looking out for how things can get better for number one. And that greed? It has no place here.”

I shook my head, fighting the tears pricking at my eyes and the anger pooling in my throat. “Then I guess there’s no place for me here, is that it?”

Dad stayed silent, glaring at me across the table. “Not with this attitude.”

There it was. The truth. He didn’t want anything to do with me or my ‘crazy dreams.’ He didn’t want me to try and make this place better. He didn’t wantme.

I stormed away from the patio table where we were eating, and the sound of a chair scraping over cement echoed behind me.

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