“What words would you use?”
“I’m offering you another option, freeing you from the responsibility—”
“Are you out of your mind? You think you can pay me off and I’ll walk away? My baby is not for sale.”
“Calm down.”
She tried, but couldn’t. Her head felt as if a five-piece band, made up entirely of percussionists, pounded out a constant beat inside her skull.
“What kind of woman do you think I am? You can’t seriously think I would agree to something like that.”
“Everything has a price, Eva.”
His matter-of-fact tone pushed her toward hysteria again. “Not me, and not my child. You don’t have enough money to make me hand her over to someone like you!”
His face hardened at the insult, the ensuing silence only disturbed by the sound of a few cars passing by. A small family with laughing children descended from an SUV to have breakfast at the restaurant across the street.
“Do you really want to do this?” he asked quietly. Too quietly.
Alarm bells sounded in her head at the determined set of his jaw. When she’d called him to tell him about her pregnancy, she had never considered he would want his child so much he would do anything to get her.
“Do you really want to battle with me? Because I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get what I want.”
Her heart raced at an alarming speed. This calmer Derrick frightened her more than the one who had withstood her hysterical outbursts moments before.
“I didn’t want to do this,” he continued. “But you’ve left me no choice.” He reached inside his jacket and removed an envelope, thrusting it in her face.
Eva took it. Apprehension caused goose pimples to spring up on her arms despite the morning’s warmth. “What is this?”
“Open it.”
Filled with nervous tension, she tore open the unmarked envelope. It contained a letter, typed on ornate tan stationery with the name of a well-known law firm in embossed letters across the top. Her fingers tightened on the paper as she scanned the contents.
“If you don’t change your answer, you’ll receive a certified copy in the mail within the next day or two,” Derrick said. “I brought along a copy in case I needed it, and clearly I do.”
The gist of the letter expressed the attorneys’ intention to file for sole custody of the unborn child on behalf of their client, Derrick Hoffman, as soon as the baby was born.
Eva frowned, shaking her head emphatically. She suddenly felt ill. “No, no. You won’t get away with this.”
“Try me.”
“Courts don’t separate babies from their mothers.”
“If you want to take the chance, go right ahead. But here’s something you should know. My father left everything to me. That means I have almost unlimited funds to fight you as long and as hard as I need to. How difficult do you think it would be for my attorneys to prove I’m the better option for our daughter, hmm?” He held up his thumb to start counting. “One, you haven’t had a full-time job since January. Two, at the job you have now, you only earn minimum wage, and you work part-time. Three, you don’t have insurance, so your access to adequate health care is questionable. Four—”
“Enough!” Eva crushed the paper in her hand. She stared down at the sidewalk, fighting back the tears of helplessness. Her heart felt swollen and heavy in her chest. He couldn’t be this cruel. What had she ever seen in him? “Please don’t do this.”
“I gave you two other options,” he said. “If you marry me, you’ll live a comfortable lifestyle, and we can raise our daughter together. If marriage to me is so unappealing, I’m willing to take on the responsibility of being a single parent. You can give her to me willingly, and I’ll compensate you for it.”