Page 7 of The Bargain

“You want Timmy?”

He grimaced. “Is his name really…Timmy? Timmy Beaumont.”

That angered me. “No,” I replied, rocking Timmy softly to burp him. “His name is Timothy Francis Collins.”

“Francis?” he asked, visibly having not expected that.

“Indeed.” I was not a fan either, but Eddie had insisted.

“That's my father's name.”

It was my turn to be surprised by his admission. “I know.”

“Not the reason for my visit.” He sighed, pointing at my surroundings. “We can’t have the Beaumont heir living here. He will most likely become the owner of Beaumont Enterprises one day.”

“Don’t say that. With your charms and kind personality? I’m sure you’ll find a woman desperate enough to marry you and give you a spawn - I mean a child.”

His glare turned murderous. I looked at Timmy, the glare increasing the anxiety I was feeling at having this powerful man in my small place.

Timmy was blinking rapidly - sleepy again. I laid him back down in his bed.

“This is not your concern, and the opinion of a drug-addicted, low-class whore is of no interest to me.”

I stared at him, my face blank. His insults hadn't touched me. They'd all been about my sister, not me.

He sighed, reaching into his suit jacket. He rested an envelope on my small, plastic table. “Here, we both know a child is more of a weight on you than anything else in the life you lead.”

“What is that?”

“A check for $50,000. I’m sure it’s more money than you’ve ever seen.”

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. “And what do you want in exchange?”

He removed folded papers from his other pocket. “You sign all parental rights to me.”

I snorted. He couldn’t be serious. “You want to buy him?”

He shrugged. “Call it as you wish. I see it more as a rescue mission from the miserable basic life he will have with you.”

“Absolutely not!”

“Oh, I see.” He smiled wider. “We’re negotiating. Would $100,000 satisfy your poor, bleeding, motherly heart?” The sarcasm was biting with this one.

How could he hate my sister this much?

“It’s a good offer. Imagine all the drugs you can buy with that.”

It’s official. I hated this man. He was Satan for sure.

“No.” I pointed at the door. “Leave now.”

“I wouldn’t advise going against me. I can hire the best lawyers there are and take him from you for no money at all.”

“No, you won’t. If you could, you would have done it already.” I was not bluffing. Eddie had said how cold and calculating his brother was. “I might have no money, but I’m not taking drugs. I’m fit for my role.”

His scowl deepened. I was right. Something was stopping him from crushing me like a bug and it was not the lack of desire to do so. This man was looking at me with nothing more than contempt.

I was suddenly grateful I hadn’t corrected him about my identity. Opal had changed her name a month before Timmy had been born in an attempt to escape the bad people in her life - something that Satan didn’t seem to know. I knew firsthand now how horrible this man could be. If he knew I was only Timmy’s aunt with as much right as him, he wouldn’t think twice about taking him from me - regardless of the papers Opal had signed before dying.

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