Arden Finch

Arden glared at the Tracphone in her hands. Calling Duke would give him - and by extension Grimm - a way to contact her whenever they pleased. Not calling Duke could result in her getting caught up with whatever scheme he'd concocted the minute that Marc accepted the money transfer. Not that Duke usually schemed. Grimm was the schemer more often than not. But just because he didn't usually didn't mean he couldn't. And up and paying for a year's worth of rent out of nowhere was way more out of character than any possibility of scheming.

He knew full well that she wouldn't be able to trust this so-called 'gift'. Was almost certainly counting on it. What a simple and elegant way to ensure she did end up contacting him. She scowled. No matter what she did, he won. Which was true of pretty much all djinn interactions, so she wasn't sure why she was so bothered about it this time.

He already knows where I am. Where I'm living. Having my new number won't change any of that.

True, but it really did take the victory out of her escape. Fucking hell.

He might win either way, but there was one way where she'd lose sufficiently more. So she did the only thing she really could. She dialed Duke's number and waited for him to answer.

[For broadcast generally, but the contents of the conversation with Duke NFB, please]