Chapter 671: First Demand

Michael was sitting alone in his when his phone rang.

He had been waiting for the call since the operation began. Even though he knew the people handling it had been careful, there was still a difference between knowing a plan was underway and knowing it had actually succeeded.

He looked at the number before answering.

"Yes?"

The voice on the other end was low and unfamiliar. "We have the girl."

Michael remained quiet for a moment.

"Is she alive?"

"Yes."

"Anyone hurt?"

"The security guard was taken care of. The girl wasn’t injured."

Michael leaned back in his chair. "And nobody followed you?"

"No. We checked twice before leaving."

"Good. Where is she now?"

The man gave him the location.

Michael listened without interrupting, then looked down at the notes in front of him. Everything appeared to be where it was supposed to be.

"Don’t move her again unless you have to," he said. "Keep her somewhere secure. She stays alive, and nobody touches her. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

"You’ll receive the next instruction through the same channel. Until then, don’t contact me again."

The call ended.

Michael put the phone down and remained seated for a few seconds. He had expected to feel relief. Instead, the first thing that came to him was the seriousness of what they had done.

Jennifer was no longer simply a name in one of Dayo’s files.

She was a child they had taken.

There was no undoing that.

Michael picked up another phone, checked the room, and made sure the door was closed before dialing Silas.

The call connected after several rings.

"Well?"

"We have her."

Silas didn’t respond immediately. Michael could hear movement on the other end, followed by the sound of a chair scraping against the floor.

"Are you certain?"

"The team confirmed it. She was taken without anyone identifying them."

Silas finally sounded relieved. "Then we can move."

Michael knew exactly what he meant.

"Not yet."

Silas paused. "What do you mean, not yet?"

"We need to decide what we’re asking for before anyone contacts Dayo."

"We already decided."

"We decided we need leverage. We didn’t decide how to use it."

Silas gave a quiet laugh. "Michael, we have his daughter. What else do we need to discuss?"

"Everything."

The answer irritated Silas. "We have spent enough time planning. He’s going to cooperate because his daughter is with us. We tell him what we want, and he does it."

Michael rubbed his forehead. "And what exactly are you planning to tell him?"

"The truth."

"Which truth?"

Silas was quiet.

Michael continued before he could answer. "Are you going to tell him that we want him to interfere with the investigation? That we want him to use his connections to get people off our backs? That we need him to make certain problems disappear?"

"Yes."

"Then you’re making a mistake."

Silas shifted in his seat. "Why?"

"Because he’ll know immediately that this isn’t about money."

Silas frowned. "Of course it isn’t about money."

"Exactly."

Michael leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Think about what Dayo knows right now. His daughter has been taken by people he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know who we are. He doesn’t know what we want. He doesn’t even know whether this is connected to the investigation around us. The moment we ask him to interfere with something specific, he’ll start looking for the reason."

"He can look all he wants. He still has to do what we say."

"You’re assuming he will sit quietly while he does it."

"We have Jennifer."

"And we have a problem if he finds out we have her."

Silas said nothing.

Michael knew he had his attention now.

"If we tell him to use his influence to help us, what happens next?" Michael asked. "He starts asking why. Then he starts checking names. He checks the investigation. He checks who benefits if it disappears. He looks at the people currently under pressure. Eventually, he gets to us."

Silas’s voice hardened. "You’re overestimating him."

"No. I’m being careful."

"You’ve been careful for years, Michael. Look where that got you."

Michael ignored the insult.

"We are already in prison," he said. "Our names are already being dragged through investigations. The people around us are being questioned. Accounts are being watched. We don’t have the freedom we had before. If Dayo discovers that we took his daughter, this stops being a business problem."

Silas leaned back.

"What do you think he’ll do?"

Michael looked toward the closed door.

"You know what he’ll do."

Silas didn’t answer.

Michael continued, "Right now, he doesn’t know who did this. He probably thinks he’s dealing with criminals who want money. If we suddenly start asking him to interfere with investigations, he’ll realize the people holding his daughter understand his world."

Silas’s voice became quieter. "And you think he’ll come after us?"

"I think he’ll come after whoever he believes is responsible."

"And you think he could find us?"

"I think we shouldn’t give him a reason to try."

Silas was silent again.

For several seconds, neither man spoke.

The idea that had seemed simple when they first discussed it now looked different. Taking Jennifer had given them a weapon, but it had also placed something dangerous in their hands. If they used it carelessly, it could turn against them.

Silas finally said, "So what are you suggesting?"

Michael answered without hesitation.

"We make him believe this is about money."

Silas gave a small scoff. "A ransom?"

"Yes."

"You think Dayo will believe that?"

"Not completely."

"Then what’s the point?"

"The point isn’t to convince him forever. We only need to give him the wrong explanation long enough for him to lower his guard."

Silas thought about it.

Michael explained the rest. "The first demand should be simple. Money. Enough to make it believable, but not enough to make the demand ridiculous. We give him instructions. We give him a deadline. We threaten him if he involves the police. Everything about it should look like a professional ransom."

"And after he pays?"

"We don’t ask for what we really want yet."

Silas understood where the conversation was going.

"The second demand."

"Exactly."

Silas was still unsure. "And what happens if he refuses the first one?"

"We deal with that when it happens."

"You don’t think he’ll pay?"

"I think he will try to protect his daughter. But I don’t know how he’ll respond after that. That’s why we don’t reveal the second part until we see what he does first."

Silas looked away from the phone for a moment.

"What amount?"

Michael had already thought about it.

"Ten million."

Silas considered the number. "That’s a lot."

"Dayo can afford it."

"And if he thinks it’s too much?"

"Then we lower it after he starts negotiating. The amount isn’t the important part."

"What is?"

Michael’s answer was simple.

"His reaction."

That was the part Silas hadn’t considered deeply enough.

Michael wanted to see how Dayo responded before revealing the real objective. If Dayo immediately started looking for technical ways to trace them, they would know they needed to change their approach. If he focused entirely on getting Jennifer back, they could proceed with the second demand.

Silas slowly accepted the logic.

"Fine."

Michael waited.

"We do it your way," Silas said. "First the money. Then the real demand."

"Yes."

"But there is one condition."

Michael waited for him to continue.

"When we make the second demand, we don’t waste time. If he starts dragging his feet, we remind him what happens to people who don’t cooperate."

Michael’s expression remained serious.

"Don’t touch the girl."

"I didn’t say we would."

"I’m saying it now. Nobody touches her. She stays alive, unharmed and out of sight."

Silas’s voice lowered. "I understand."

Michael ended the call shortly afterward.

He picked up the other phone and contacted the intermediary.

The man answered after the second ring.

"Yes?"

"The first demand is ready."

"I’m listening."

Michael gave him the amount, the payment instructions, the deadline, and the conditions. He also explained exactly what the intermediary was allowed to say.

"You don’t mention our names. You don’t mention why we want the money. You don’t ask him anything beyond what is necessary. If he asks who you are, you tell him it doesn’t matter."

"And after the payment?"

"You wait."

"For how long?"

"Until I tell you."

The intermediary repeated the instructions to make sure he had everything right.

Michael corrected one detail, then said, "There will be another demand later. You won’t give it unless you receive the instruction."

"Understood."

The call ended.

Michael sat back and stared at the phone.

For the first time since the kidnapping had been planned, there was nothing left to prepare.

The next move belonged to Dayo.

At the house, Dayo was still with Felix.

Luna had not yet returned.

The last few hours had felt unreal to him, but the panic that had taken control of him earlier had begun to settle into something colder. He still wanted to tear apart every road, camera and building between him and Jennifer, but Felix had forced him to slow down enough to think.

They had already gone through the camera footage several times.

The delivery vehicle.

The disguised driver.

The security guard stepping away from his position.

The attack.

The people entering the house.

The timing of everything.

Felix sat at the dining table with his laptop open while Dayo stood behind him.

"I’ve checked the vehicle," Felix said. "The plate was covered. The company markings were fake. Whoever arranged this expected us to look at the footage."

Dayo stared at the screen.

"Can you trace the vehicle?"

"Not from that footage alone. I’m checking traffic cameras along the route, but it may take time."

Dayo walked away from the table and picked up his phone again.

The unknown number was still in his call history.

He had tried calling it several times.

Nothing.

"Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing," Dayo said.

Felix didn’t look away from the laptop. "I know."

"They removed Bella."

"Yes."

"They got Luna out of the house."

"Yes."

"They compromised Wayne’s phone and used it to pull me away."

Felix stopped typing for a moment.

"That’s the part that bothers me."

Dayo looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because whoever planned this understood your routine well enough to know what message would make you turn around. They didn’t just send you something random. They used someone you trust."

Dayo’s phone suddenly rang.

Both men looked at it.

The number was hidden.

Dayo answered.

"Hello?"

The same unfamiliar voice came through.

"You were thinking about calling the police."

Dayo didn’t answer.

"We told you not to."

His grip tightened around the phone.

The voice continued calmly. "If you contact them, you will receive a picture of your daughter. She will be asleep, and there will be a gun beside her."

Dayo’s stomach turned.

"Don’t do anything stupid."

The line went dead.

Felix was already watching him.

"What did they say?"

Dayo lowered the phone slowly.

"They know I was thinking about the police."

Felix’s expression changed.

"What else?"

Dayo told him.

For several seconds, Felix said nothing. Then he closed the laptop.

"They’re controlling the pace."

Dayo looked toward the empty hallway where Jennifer’s room was.

He hated the fact that they were right.

Every part of him wanted to call the police, alert every security service he knew, and start searching immediately. But the image the caller had described kept coming back to him.

He couldn’t risk Jennifer’s life on a guess.

Felix stood and took his laptop.

"We keep working," he said. "We don’t give them anything else they can use against us."

Dayo nodded once.

He was still scared. That hadn’t disappeared.

But now there was something else taking its place.

Focus.

Across the city, Michael received a message from the intermediary.

Ready.

Michael looked at it, then sent one instruction.

Call him.

A few seconds later, the intermediary dialed Dayo’s number.

Dayo’s phone began ringing again.

He looked at Felix before answering.

Neither of them knew that the next few minutes had already been planned by two men who had no intention of revealing themselves.

Dayo picked up.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other end was calm.

"You have ten million dollars."

Dayo remained silent.

"If you want your daughter back, you’re going to follow my instructions exactly."

The first move had begun.