Page 20 of Bred

What we could build together. Not just a family, but a home here. Babies in her belly and my arms. Erik would be an utterly devoted uncle. Maybe her family would even visit at the holidays. We could be happy.

I groaned, leaning back in my office chair and staring out across the landscape just outside our window. It would be full-on winter soon, and some part of me wanted so badly to be here, holed up, unable to fly to Chicago every week. Just Wren, me, and maybe even our baby.

Fuck, I’d throw a fucking party when I found out she was pregnant. Not just because of the baby but of the end of this agreement.

Wren and I had talked about it before. What it would mean. But day by day, I found myself growing itchy. Wearisome of this act I’d put on her, onto us both. I wanted to be free of it now. Not after a year, not after our baby was born.

I wanted them born clear of agreement. I wanted to have Wren free of this agreement, and so one morning, in the cool gray dusk of fall, I slipped from our bed, leaving a note and my briefcase.

I wouldn’t be home for dinner. I would be home for bed though, and I knew there would be hell to pay.

The helicopter ride was short, my patience even more so as I flew into Sioux Falls. Home of Ehlers Co. I had a meeting set with Wren’s grandfather.

The old man was still as much a conundrum as I believed him to be the first time we met. All beard, harsh gaze, but in a polished black suit that looked like it cost more than the one on my own back.

“Loren!” the big man bellowed, his arms spread wide. “Come to deliver good news already?”

I cringed away, oddly irritated by the way the man suddenly equated my marriage to the breeding arrangement it had begun as.

“Depends on what you consider good news.” I set my briefcase on one of the chairs in front of his desk.

Ehlers sat down, his face curious. “To what do I owe the visit, if not news of my great-grandchild being conceived?”

I cringed again, purposefully brushing off the man’s callous words. Had I once sounded like that? The thought now made me nauseated.

“I don’t know if Wren if pregnant or not, Ehlers. I came for a different proposition.”

“What’s that?”

“Her freedom.”

His gray brows flew high. “From you?”

I squared my shoulders, my throat tightening so severely I was surprised the words even slipped out. “From both of us.”

He eyed me, leaning back in his office chair to fold his fingers. “Go on.”

I leaned over, gripping my briefcase and opening the folder where I’d stored the original contract that bound me to the best thing that had ever happened to me. “Wren is beautiful, smart, and more than capable of making her own choices. I should never had entered into this bargain.”

Her grandfather was rising, his blue eyes fast on mine. “What are you saying?’

“I want to call it off. All of it.”

“You don’t want my company?”

“No, I do. I just want your granddaughter more.” I laid the contract on the desk between us, our mutual signatures glaring up at us.

“And if she’s pregnant? Are you looking to get out of this?”

I rolled my shoulders, anger making my teeth grind against each other. “Finding out Wren is pregnant would be the highlight of my life, and I would do absolutely anything to convince her to stay with me.” I pushed the contract closer to his fist. “Starting with this. Tear it up. Today.”

Ehlers’ foggy gray eyes started at the paper, his lips set in a firm line above his beard. I wasn’t sure how or when he was going to respond. Maybe he wouldn’t.

I leaned over the desk, waiting until his gaze slowly rose to meet mine. “Set her free so I can make her mine on her terms. Please.”

I had never begged in a boardroom. I never would. But for Wren, I would do just about anything.

“Please, Ehler. Let me love my wife the way she deserves.”