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“I was going to marry her,” Mick continued. “I had a ring… I’m sorry for breaking the bro code, but I loved her.”
Apollo chuckled. “Did you think I had no idea? I knew you two were hooking up, but there was no way in hell I was butting into my sister’s sex life and it didn’t occur to me it was serious. I figured she was getting it out of her system before she went home and married Kosta. You were so focused on your studies and work, I assumed it ran its course.”
“She broke up with me on the phone and refused to see or speak to me ever again. I didn’t talk to her again until your wedding.”
“I think you have to let go of all that,” Paige spoke up softly. “You don’t have to forget, but you have to forgive because like it or not, the two of you have a child and it appears you’re going to be raising him together.”
“I’m only in Greece for two years,” Mick said roughly. “Then I could go anywhere. I’ve been to New Zealand and Japan already, and the next project could be Africa or Dubai or the moon, for all I know! How am I going to see my son?”
“Summer vacation, holidays…FaceTime.”
Mick grunted. “Fuck that! I’ve already missed three years and I’m not going to be relegated to seeing him twice a year in the summer and Christmas. Not a chance in hell.”
“What do you plan to do?” Apollo asked carefully.
“We need to find a way to share custody. I’ll sell my house in San Francisco and then I’ll be able to either hire a tutor or bring one on the road with me so he can do school from wherever I am.”
Apollo seemed ready to protest but Paige interjected. “Is that fair to Mihalis?” she asked softly. “No friends, no interactions with other kids… and if he’s on the road with you in Dubai or Antarctica, how will Lena see him? He needs both of his parents.”
“I don’t know,” Mick said through clenched teeth. “But I’m not going to miss out on anymore of his life. I already missed all his firsts—first word, first step, first time sleeping through the night—I’m not missing anymore.”
“What does Lena say?” Apollo asked.
“Pretty much all she did last night was cry,” he admitted softly. “Which is why I don’t know what we’re going to do. I can’t stand to see her cry.”
“You still have feelings for her?” Apollo gazed at his friend’s profile intently.
Mick didn’t say anything, merely clenched his jaw and continued staring at the road in front of them.
“So you do,” Apollo smiled. “Seems to me the two of you could work something out.”
“I don’t know what’s in her head and, to be honest, I don’t even know what’s in mine right now. I’m so angry with my mother, I can hardly see straight.”
“Your mother?” Apollo asked in confusion.
Mick told them everything.
“She was scared,” Apollo said. “I don’t know why she didn’t trust you but having a baby while she was in a foreign country, with a guy she was secretly dating, had to have been terrifying. I’m not taking sides, but if you loved her so much, why didn’t you go after her?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, pulling into the driveway.
Apollo sighed. “You two are going to have to do some soul-searching.”
“No shit.”
14
Lena was happy to see her brother and sister-in-law, but the frustration on both Apollo’s and Mick’s faces told her the cat was out of the bag. Paige gave her a big hug before turning to Raegan and the two of them disappeared into the kitchen. Lena yearned to go with them but she had to handle this and wanted to get it over with.
“Should we talk here?” Apollo asked quietly, looking from his friend to his sister.
“Mihalis is napping,” she replied. “We have a little time.”
“Mick told me most of it,” Apollo said, his green eyes meeting hers sadly. “I’m younger than you, but we’ve always been close, so I feel like your big brother. I wouldn’t have been happy about an unplanned pregnancy, but I love both of you. I wish you’d come to me.”
“There wasn’t anything you could do,” she whispered. “I thought I was protecting him.”
“At this point, I think Mihalis has to be our concern,” Apollo said after a slight hesitation. “Have you two talked about what to do going forward? Your name isn’t even on the birth certificate, Lena, which means it’s going to be a legal mess.”
