Darius looks to me and then back to my father. “So I’ve heard and why I wanted to meet you so I could tell you myself that I won’t be accepting whatever bribe you’ve thought of. I will be a father and I will pull my weight. I won’t be paid off.”
Dad tilts his head, assessing.
“Would you like to hear what my offer is?”
“You can say but it won’t change my mind.”
“A million dollars.”
Cutting my eyes to my dad, I struggle to comprehend the number. I knew it would be a lot, but a million dollars?
Darius accepts the meal from Catherine, and I smile when she places mine in front of me.
“What price would you put on your daughter to walk away?”
“It’s different,” Dad argues.
“I fail to see how, sir. I won’t shirk my responsibilities.”
“Can you even support my daughter financially?”
“I have money, just not as much you,” he counters calmly.
“Your home? Is there enough room for another? You already have five family members under one roof.”
Darius answer is to glare but my father isn’t intimidated in the slightest.
“How do you see this playing out?”
“I understand this isn’t what you wanted for your daughter, that you think she could’ve done a hell of a lot better than meeting someone like me and I agree with you. But like you said, what’s done is done, and I’m here to tell you that I will be a fatherto my child. I will share all responsibilities. I will look out and after Amelia as the mother of my child. I will do my part.”
Dad has yet to touch his food, but I tuck into my lasagne and pretend this isn’t happening as best as I can.
“And what happens between you and Amelia?”
I pause chewing and freeze. Darius flicks his intense gaze to me before looking back at my father.
“Plenty of people co-parent, Mr. Haynes. Amelia doesn’t belong in my part of the world, and I don’t belong here. But we can raise this child.”
Clasping his hands together and resting his chin on them, my father stares intently at Darius.
“What if I make you another offer, one where you earn the money.”
Darius’s guard shoots up and we both wait to see what it is.
“I can appreciate a man’s pride. You say you don’t belong in Amelia’s world. What makes you say that?”
“Because it’s true.”
“What if you had a job with good pay, medical and dental benefits for you and your family. You’d have a steady income, you could move your family to a nicer part of the city, you could change not only your life but your family’s too.”
“Doing what? You say you saw my life on paper, you’ll know that I didn’t finish high-school, I have no qualifications.”
“Can you read?”
“Yes.”
“Can you write?”
