Surprise Me Maybe

08. Burning Bridge

"I beg your pardon?" I ask, unsure if I've heard her correctly.

"You heard me, Charlotte Garnett." Danielle leans back to her chair's backrest without breaking eye contact. "A woman popped up into my son's life out of nowhere, with his child, after he secured an important role in the business society. Do you think I won't catch your true intention?"

"And what is my true intention?" I ask while still trying to catch up with where she's trying to go with this.

"Please, we don't need to twist and turn. Let's just go down to business and make this easy for all of us."

"The problem is I can't proceed with this conversation if we don't have a mutual perception about the issue. So, please, enlighten me," I reply, feeling the irritation start to grow in me.

Danielle fixes her gaze on me for several seconds as if she wants to find any signs of me playing a game with her. She then breaks eye contact and crosses one thigh on top of the other, sighing.

"Very well," she says. "Everyone knows the Knights as a family with money and power, and it's not uncommon that people try to exploit us from every direction, especially through the stupidity of my children. Even Emily, my most sensible child, fell into this trap. Instead of moving forward and growing, we keep being dragged down by these unnecessary situations which–"

"And your point is?" I cut her, my eyes glowering at her.

"Before this goes too far, let's get this settled right here and right now. How much money do you want to leave us in peace?"

I frown at her question. So, she thinks it's all about money. That I'm bringing my child to them in an exchange for money. I get her general concern about people trying to rip them off, but does it give her a free pass to judge me at our first meeting?

"Wait, leaving your family in peace as in cutting the ties between Chloe and your family?" I ask. "Also with her father?"

"No. That's not what I meant at all," Danielle replies. "We love to have Chloe in the family since she has Knight blood running in her body. Therefore, we will not deny her. Let me tell you how it works, Charlotte. Since Chloe is a family member now, we're willing to support her education financially or her other basic expenses. Even when she wants extra facilities such as vehicles or a place to live when she's older, we're happy to provide them. We will encourage her to take our last name to make it easier for her future."

My frown gets deeper every second. I know this is a huge offer for Chloe. Every mother will love to hear that her child's future is secured, but when the offer is coming from the very woman in front of me, it feels like a death trap. I still don't know what she wants from me exactly.

"What I want to stress here is," Danielle adds, "you don't have any ties with the Knight family. Thus, all the privileges are only for Chloe, not for her mother. In other words, we don't want you to use your child for your personal benefit."

"Personal benefit as in getting money from you?" I can hear the thrill in my voice, and the question tastes disgusting on my tongue.

"Yes. I don't want you to use Chloe to keep getting funds from us, to your advantage. I will not allow that." Danielle takes a sip of her orange juice before turning her attention to me again. "I understand that raising a kid is expensive. And judging from your position in the company my son's running now, money can be a struggle. Therefore, we are willing to offer you an interesting amount of funds. It's to express our gratitude for taking good care of Ashton's daughter during the years he wasn't there for his child. But it's going to be a one-time thing. We are more than happy to take over the rest of the child's expenses from here if you like, but again, we only pay for her needs."