Entangled (The Accidental Billionaires, #2)(25)

At the moment, Sinclair Properties was only occupying the entire upper floor. But I knew that Seth had ambitions that would fill the whole building with company employees very shortly.

Once I hit the offices, I passed by mine and made my way to Seth’s next door.

He was standing behind his desk, and I didn’t hesitate as I walked up to him. Once he turned his head and looked at me, I hauled my arm back and slugged him in the face so hard that he landed flat on his ass.

“What the fuck, Aiden?” he whined from his seated position on the carpet. “I think you broke my damn nose.”

I flopped down in a chair in front of his desk. “She was pregnant, you asshole,” I informed him angrily. “She left a letter to tell me that she was having my baby.”

I watched as Seth got into his chair and reached for some tissues. The blood hadn’t landed on his pristine suit yet, but it would if he didn’t stop the bleeding from his swollen nose.

“How in the fuck would I know that?” he questioned grumpily. “That thought never even occurred to me back then. You were always careful. You weren’t the kind of guy to get a female knocked up.”

“It didn’t matter. You should have never screwed with my mail. It changed a lot of lives, and not for the better. Skye was miserable, and my daughter was not in a great environment.”

I hated to admit it, but I kind of enjoyed watching his nose bleed and swell up. The bastard deserved it.

Seth held the tissues in place, only removing them once the bleeding had been stanched.

“So I’m the enemy now?” he asked while he stared at me unhappily.

“You’re my brother,” I corrected. “I just don’t like you much at the moment.”

“I didn’t know, Aiden. I swear. I would have told you if I’d read it.”

“My life would be entirely different if you had let me know,” I drawled. “And so would Maya’s and Skye’s. Maybe they would have had less material things, but I believe that neither one of them cared about that. They just wanted to be safe and loved.”

“Maya and Skye?” he asked. “Skye’s daughter is your child?”

I nodded and then proceeded to tell him the whole story.

When I’d caught him up, I added, “By the way, I quit. I’m done with Sinclair Properties. This is your dream, not mine.”

Seth shook his head. “You don’t mean that. This company is already worth eight figures, and it won’t take long before it’s even more.”

I shot him a warning look. “Believe it. I plan on turning over full ownership to you.”

He gave me a look of disgust. “You’re just pissed right now—”

“That’s not why I’m doing it,” I interrupted.

“Then why in the hell would you give up a company that’s kicking ass right now?”

I shrugged. “It’s not my thing. I don’t get a hard-on from dealing in properties or land. And high-rises do very little for me.”

“Jesus, Aiden. You can’t just—”

“I can,” I assured him.

I started to think about what Skye had said about people always telling her what to do, and I could relate.

“Somehow, I can’t see you lying on the beach with a beer for very long,” Seth warned.

“Neither can I, which is why I’ll be working on my own company. I’ll start in my home office and see where it goes.”

“What’s your plan?” Seth asked.

“I want to amass one of the biggest seafood-supply companies in the world. I want to build a fishing empire. What I can’t get myself, off the boats I plan to launch here, I’ll source from fishermen around the world. I have a ton of contacts. And I want it all to be done with sustainable fishing. I’ll use the guys who do it the right way. No more bycatches.”

Even though I’d always loved fishing, there was too much waste and too many species that were caught and killed without being our targeted catch. If my grandkids were going to be able to still get protein from the oceans, there needed to be more responsible fishing.

“You seem to have it all figured out,” Seth said flatly.

I nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”

I could provide a ton of jobs in Citrus Beach, and I could also do fishing the way it should be.

Not that I planned on going out again for long-ass trips. I could find great captains and crews to man the boats.

Building up the name would take a lot of work, but I was up for the challenge. In fact, I knew I’d relish it.

“If that’s what makes you happy, I think you should do it,” Seth said grudgingly. “But maybe we could swap your part of this business for half of your fishing empire. I’d like a piece of it. I could run Sinclair Properties, and you could build your business. But we’d be partners in both businesses.”

“I’d have to think about it,” I said in a noncommittal tone.

“You’re still pissed?” he said, astonished.

“Not really,” I shared. “Busting your face and watching you bleed helped.”

“That’s cold,” he shot back.

“You don’t exactly give me a warm, fuzzy feeling right now,” I rumbled. “What you did was stupid. And it caused Skye a lot of pain she didn’t deserve.”