Casagrande -

For eighty years, the Casagrande family had worked this soil. They had weathered droughts, economic crashes, and the slow, relentless march of time that threatened to turn their fertile fields into suburban sprawl.

Leo looked at the contract, and then at the family surrounding him. The dust of the valley was in his lungs, and the love of his family was in his bones. Casagrande

"Five million," Elena whispered. "Leo, that changes everything." For eighty years, the Casagrande family had worked this soil

He smiled, a slow, genuine thing that reached his eyes for the first time all day. With deliberate slowness, Leo picked up the contract, tore it straight down the middle, and tossed the pieces into the center of the table. The dust of the valley was in his

From this vantage point, Casagrande looked less like a house and more like a living thing. He could see the patches on the roof where three generations of men had hammered shingles. He could see the swing hanging from the ancient valley oak where he and his sisters had spent their summers.

But as Leo looked down at the house, the conflict in his chest felt like physical weight.