He shook his head. “My father wrote me out of the family business. He said I didn’t have what it took to keep the company running. But Nile did. He was my father’s favorite.”
“But your father couldn’t just cut you out of your inheritance—out of what is rightly yours.”
“My father was powerful. No one told him what to do. He made up his own rules and expected everyone to follow them. He removed me from having anything to do with the company. While I was included in the will, it was my brother who inherited the controlling shares of the company.”
“But with him gone, who’s running it now?”
“At the moment, the board of trustees have stepped in to make sure there are no disruptions.”
“And after that?”
“Well, since the baby is too young, there will be a conservator appointed.”
“And that will be you?”
He shook his head and backed up. “It’s not going to be me.”
“Can’t you do the job?”
“I could, if I wanted to. I might finally get some use out of that expensive education that my brother convinced me to get. But I’m not going to do it.”
“You’re just going to turn your back on your legacy.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. It’s not my legacy. It never was.” The memory of his father’s harsh words came rushing back to him. Worthless. Stupid. Mistake. Each hurtful word was like a nail in his heart. How could those words still have such power to hurt him after all these years?
“Apollo—”
“No, I’m done talking about my past.” His words came out more harshly than he’d intended. “We need to talk about the future. The baby needs to grow up in its home in Athens.”
Popi glared at him. “You mean the same place where you were so obviously unhappy.”
He sighed. She did have a point. “It will be different now. My father is no longer there.”
“But will you be there? What about all of your adventures?”
That was something for him to consider. After being on the go for the past ten or so years, he couldn’t imagine waking up in the same place day after day. Maybe when the baby got a bit older, he could take him...or her...on an adventure.
The outing would need to be more docile than he was used to taking. There would definitely be no thrill seeking, but something to get them out and about. He could teach the child about the world and how to care for it.
“I will deal with it.”
Popi sent him an I don’t believe you look. “Until you get bored.”
“I won’t get bored.” Would he? He hoped not. But raising his nephew or niece would be such a different sort of lifestyle than he’d become accustomed to.
Before he’d only had himself to worry about. Now he’d have a tiny human counting on him for everything. The enormity of that responsibility did not elude him.
Popi sat up straighter. “You say that now, but things will change. Babies aren’t always that easy to manage.”
And just as she was talking him out of his plan, he recalled what his brother had done for him. “I understand that, but I also remember what my brother had sacrificed after our father died. He stepped up and became my legal guardian. He didn’t have to do it. No one made him. But he said that family stuck together in good times and bad.”
“I... I didn’t know. Your brother never spoke about those times.”
Apollo rubbed the back of his neck as the memories started to flood back to him. “It wasn’t an easy time back then. There was a power grab for control of the company. They said my brother was too young and inexperienced to run such a large entity. And then the attorneys wanted me to go off to live with strangers. It was a horrible time. And I didn’t make life any easier for my brother. I was full of anger. My brother was the undeserving recipient of a lot of hostility.”
“It couldn’t have been easy for either of you. You were both so young, and to lose both of your parents...”
“Even though everything was against us, my brother didn’t give up. He fought tooth and nail to keep us together and to hold on to our father’s legacy.”