Page 17 of Pregnant By A Rich Demon 4

“I’m not negotiating.”

“So what do we send him? Some kind of ultimatum?”

“One message.”

I picked up my phone and typed it myself.

No aide.

No filter.

Four words.

Priest read it over my shoulder.

Come get your people.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“No demand? Price? Meeting spot?”

“He doesn’t need instructions.”

I sent it.

“He needs to understand the shape of what’s happening to him.”

By nine that evening, Teal reported the message had crossed three parishes through channels we didn’t control.

By ten, DeShawn heard through a secondhand source that Rahsaan’s own sister had started asking around about relocating out of state.

By eleven, a man in Kenner reported somebody matching Rahsaan’s description had been seen for the first time in weeks, moving fast and alone.

No entourage.

First crack.

The message was working.

Three more names came off the board before the sun came up, none requiring the kind of personal attention I’d given Curtis or Marguerite.

Priest crossed the last one off with a heavier hand than the others, the marker squeaking against the board.

“Fourteen names down.”

He stepped back.

We’d started with eleven.

Fourteen had already come off.

Seventeen more stared back at us.

“The list keeps growing faster than we can clear it.”

“That’s not a problem.”