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“What does this mean for the company?”
“Without the infusion of a significant source of capital, there will no longer be a company.”
“How significant?”
He said a number that made her eyes widen and her hands go clammy. “How can we possibly raise that much money? Unless you want to go public?” It was something she’d talked about with him before, but he had always been adamantly opposed.
His expression of distaste now said that his opinion on that issue had not changed. “Going public saves the company, but not our family’s role in it. We might as well close our doors, for we would no longer be Leonides Enterprises.”
“I’m sure the hundreds of employees who work for us would not feel the same.”
Her father’s eyes flashed. “I do not dismiss my responsibilities so lightly.”
“I never said you did.” And she hadn’t meant to imply it either.
“My desire to save your brother’s birthright may be old-fashioned, but it is not wrong.”
“What of my birthright?”
“You are a Leonides. It is your birthright.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“We are talking in circles.”
“I am sorry.”
“As I said, we need a large infusion of cash.”
“But how are we going to get it?” She could not see even Theo Petronides loaning such a large sum to her father with no surety, and other than the company—which they were trying to save—they had nothing worth so much.
Her parents were wealthy, and lived as such, but this was beyond personal riches. This type of money only changed hands on a corporate level. At least in her experience.
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“Theo Petronides has agreed to a merger of sorts.”
“A merger? Like Leonides-Petronides Enterprises?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It is a family merger.” Her father tried for a smile, but it was strained. “Of a sort. With a single stipulation.”
A very ugly sense of impending doom came over her. “What stipulation?”
“It is nothing bad, pethi mou. He simply wishes to see our families joined prior to the business merger and the transfer of funds. Understandably, he could not make such a large single investment with a mere friend, but family is a different thing.”
“Our families joined?” she asked faintly. “In marriage?” She wasn’t stupid. She’d finally figured out where this was leading. “I should have realized you weren’t inviting me here to offer me a job. After all, it’s Chrysanthos’s birthright, not mine.”
His mouth twisted in a grimace at her last words, but all he said was, “I wish it was something so simple.”
“I don’t want to marry Dimitri.” It was one of the hardest—no, definitely the hardest thing she had ever had to say.
“He will be a good husband, Phoebe. He is a good man.”
“How can you say that? He doesn’t love me. He doesn’t even like me.”
