Three Lovers on the Grift - 15

Mr Leigh listened, a horrified look on his face, and then asked tautly, "What do you want from me?"

"My husband lost his job. We can't afford the doctor bills and, well, much of anything actually, so I was hoping you'd understand and help me out with this."

"No." He shook his head almost violently. "I'm not paying you one red cent for a kid that only might be mine."

Page leaned back, crossing her arms over her belly as she stared at him. "I didn't want to do this; I was hoping that you'd see reason. But since you seem fit to pretty much call me a liar without coming out and saying it—" She took another envelope from her purse.

He tore it open, took out two more pictures and a folded sheet of paper.

"The letter is a copy of the one I will send to your wife," Page said quietly, "along with the originals of those pictures."

"You bitch!" he barked out.

"I have to think of the baby."

He stood up, looking down at her angrily, his fists clenched. She pulled back as if afraid he was going to hit her. Turning away, he paced angrily to the door, started to open it, obviously changed his mind and went across the office to stare out of the window, his hands fisting and relaxing spasmodically. Finally he turned around to look at her. "How much?"

She named a figure, telling him she wanted it in cash. "After all, you might have a problem explaining to your wife why you'd written a large check to some strange woman," she pointed out when he seemed ready to protest.

He nodded, his shoulders slumping in resignation. "It will take me a day to get that much cash together."

"You have three hours. I'm sure you can get to the bank and then to my hotel room in that amount of time."

"I—I don't know."

"I do." She used the arm of the sofa to help her stand up. "Three hours or I send the letters and the photos to your wife."

"This is blackmail," he growled. "How do I know you won't contact me again, asking for more money?"

"That," she replied softly as she walked to his desk to write down the name of the hotel and a room number, "is a chance you'll have to take. Honestly though, all I want is enough to see me through until our baby is born and this should do it quite nicely." With that said, she handed him the slip of paper and left.