Page 39 of Collateral Love
X didn’t look up. “Money.”
Of course.
Charles believed cash made him untouchable. As long as he could move it, hide it, reroute it, he could survive anything.
That belief was about to bankrupt him.
“Freeze everything tied to his offshore shells,” I said. “Not all at once. Make him believe he has an ounce of control,” I smirked. “Stagger it.”
Channy tilted her head. “You want him confused.”
“I want him desperate,” I replied.
X nodded. “Give me ninety seconds.”
Screens shifted. Accounts flickered from green to yellow to red. The monitors looked like a slow bleed, the kind that made men panic and start calling people they shouldn’t.
Phones lit up across the room.
Channy stepped closer, lowering her voice. “He’s going to hurt her to get your attention.”
“He already has my attention,” I told her.
She swallowed once and straightened. “Kenya taught me how to breathe when things get loud. I won’t fold.”
Pride and fear twisted together in my chest.
“Good,” I said. “Because we don’t rush this.”
That was the hardest part.
The old me would’ve been outside already. Gun-heavy. Name ringing out. Bodies falling fast.
But this wasn’t 2003. I had soldiers, and I would not have Kenya come home to me behind bars.
This was war by attrition.
And I was better at that than any motherfucka.
X snapped his fingers once. “Done.”
“He just lost access to sixty percent of his liquid cash,” X said. “The rest is locked behind flags that’ll trigger audits if he touches it.”
Channy smiled sharply. “He’ll be bleeding.”
“Not enough,” I said. “Hit his people.”
X’s eyes flicked to me. “Do you want them scared or flipped?”
“Both.”
A name popped up—one of Charles’s drivers. I recognized him.
“That one,” I said. “Tell Jones to bring him to me.”
Channy didn’t hesitate. “On it.”
She reached for her jacket.
