A1.Rebecca Sloan set down her blue mug on her cluttered desk, looking at Daniel over the rim of her glasses. Her eyes held the weary skepticism of a woman who had seen wealthy patrons make grand promises only to disappear when the reality of bureaucratic red tape set in.

Forty-eight hours later, Nathan Vance walked into the high-end steakhouse in downtown Denver that Daniel had specified for their meeting.

Nathan wore a cheap borrowed suit, trying his best to look confident as the hostess guided him to a private dining room at the back of the restaurant.

Inside the room sat Daniel Mercer, wearing a dark charcoal suit, quietly sipping a glass of ice water. Beside him sat Mara Bennett, Daniel’s chief legal counsel.

Nathan smirked, pulling out a leather chair and sitting down. "Mr. Mercer. I see you brought your lawyer. Good. That means we can handle this business like gentlemen."

Daniel set his glass down on the white tablecloth, looking at Nathan with absolute disdain. "You want fifty thousand dollars to waive your parental rights to Noah."

"That's right," Nathan boasted, leaning back. "Fifty grand in cash, and you never see my face again. Otherwise, I file for full custody tomorrow morning. Family courts love biological fathers who want to step up."

Mara Bennett opened a thick leather folder on the table, sliding three sheets of paper toward Nathan.

"Mr. Vance," Mara spoke calmly. "Prior to this meeting, our legal firm executed a comprehensive background investigation into your activities over the last five years."

Nathan's smirk faltered slightly. "What are you talking about?"

"In addition to three outstanding warrants for check fraud in Nevada," Mara continued, "we obtained your banking records from last month. You recently accepted twenty thousand dollars from a third-party private investigator hired by Brock Miller—the son of Rachel's former landlord—to track Rachel's location."

Nathan went completely pale.

"Furthermore," Mara stated, "extortion under Colorado Revised Statutes Section 18-3-207 is a Class 4 felony. This recording device on the table has captured your explicit demand for cash in exchange for withholding a fraudulent custody suit."

Nathan scrambled backward in his chair, his eyes wild with sudden terror. "You... you recorded me?!"

Daniel leaned forward across the table, his dark eyes locking onto Nathan with an intensity that made the younger man tremble.

"You abandoned a pregnant woman," Daniel said, his voice dropping into an icy whisper. "You stole her savings, left her to collapse after childbirth, and then tried to sell her baby boy for gambling money."

Daniel stood up, towering over the table.

"Outside this restaurant," Daniel continued, "are two detectives from the Denver Police Department. You have two choices, Nathan. Option one: you sign this voluntary, irrevocable termination of parental rights right now, agree to a permanent restraining order, and leave Colorado forever."

Nathan swallowed hard, his throat dry. "And... option two?"

"Option two," Daniel said coldly, "is you walk out those doors, get arrested for felony extortion and interstate fraud, and spend the next seven to ten years in state prison. Choose."

Nathan stared at the paper on the table, his hands shaking violently. Realizing his pathetic extortion scheme was completely smashed, he snatched a pen from Mara's hand and signed his name across the bottom line of the termination document.

"Get out of my sight," Daniel said softly.

Nathan grabbed his jacket and fled the private dining room like a beaten dog.