“I need to know why. And I don’t want some bullshit story. If you have any love for your son left inside of you, please think about your answer. It’s important for Tommy.”
Evangeline winced when Keenan spoke his name.
“I couldn’t deal with the pressure. I always had to be so damn perfect all the time. Derek hooked me up at one of his fights…” She nodded towards Ronan.
“It blew me away how good I felt after the first hit. And after a few months… I was sick, Keenan. I couldn’t find it in me to deal with you both sober. I know how bad it sounds.”
She clasped a hand to her mouth and said, “Oh, God. I… I know that I’ve hurt him. And you. And I wish somehow that I could make the pain go away.”
“Do you mean go back in time?”
He had to know if she regretted anything. Not because it would make any difference to him, but for Tommy it could mean a world of a difference hearing his mother was sorry or at least regretted her actions.
“Yes. I’m sorry. I wasn’t happy back then, Keen.”
It was his time to wince. She had no right to shorten his name. That right had been revoked.
“I know now, that you weren’t happy with us. I just wondered if you ever think about our son. If you’d wished you had done things differently.”
“Sure… I think about him. I… I know he must hate me.”
For a brief second, he wanted to hurt her just as much as she’d hurt his son and tell her all about the hell she’d put him through. But he thought better of it because he still needed something else from her.
“He’s hurt more than angry.” He wanted to leave it at that. Time to get on with the reason why they stood here in this dump.
“Life is nothing but pain and moving on from that pain. He’ll get over it.”
There was so much wrong with her answer. He didn’t even know where to start. He let her remark slide. He’d promised himself to keep things civil.
“In that case, I’ve brought some papers with me. I don’t mean to waylay you into anything. But I’m going to ask you to sign them.”
Her head already vehemently shook from side to side. “No, no. That’s fine. I’ll sign the papers.”
“What? Really?”
“On one condition.”
There it was. Donovan had warned him she’d try something like this. He wondered how high the amount would be.
“A hundred thousand dollars.”
She picked up a cigarette bud from an overflowing ashtray and lit it up. Her hands shook, but he didn’t know if it was because this conversation unnerved her or because she needed her next fix.
Before he could even reply, his stupid ass cousin said, “Twenty-five thousand dollars, and that is our ultimate offer. You get five thousand after you sign those papers, then ten when you check into rehab and the final ten when you finish rehab. We’ve got an account in your name ready for you to use.”
Keenan stared flabbergasted at Ronan, knowing that the wildcard of the family, wouldn’t have thought things through like that. It had to be Donovan’s work.
“That’s not enough. You’re loaded… You must be with all those fights you win.”
Keenan wanted to interrupt that Ronan wasn’t Tommy’s father, so he wasn’t the one paying her ass anything, but then Ronan said, “I know you’re sick. And I’m already countin’ to a hundred to stop me from sayin’ what I’m really thinkin’, but if you don’t cooperate than we’re goin’ to haul your ass in court. And you already know you don’t get a dime then.”
“I need cash.”
Ronan took a step forward, sucking all the oxygen out of the room with his mere size. Evangeline swallowed nervously and croaked, “How do I know your word is good for it?”
“You don’t. But I’m not handin’ out cash to a drug addict. Forget about it. I will not be responsible for you gettin’ ahead of yourself and overdose.”
Keenan said, “Eve… think about it. We want you to get better. If you sign this, we follow through with every promise.”