Chapter 27 - The Counter-Surveillance
"She wants to prove you are an unfit mother," Elias confirmed, his jaw clenched tight. "She assumes you have a secret, a hidden vulnerability she can exploit to overturn the protective order and grant Derek full custody."
"What do we do?" I asked, looking at Maya. The thought of a dirty ex-cop watching my daughter filled me with a sudden, blinding rage. I was not going back to living in fear.
"We don't hide," Naomi Chen said, stepping into the kitchen from the hallway. She had let herself in using her access code, carrying her signature leather briefcase. "If we hide, they keep hunting. We give them exactly what they want, but we control the narrative."
I looked at Naomi, confused. "You want me to let him follow me?"
"I want Elias to counter-surveil the investigator," Naomi smiled, a sharp, predatory expression. "Vance Gable operates illegally. He uses unauthorized wiretaps and illegal GPS trackers. If Elias catches him planting a device on your vehicle, we don't just sue him. We arrest him. And when the police offer him a plea deal, he will flip on whoever is paying him. He will hand us Vivian on a silver platter."
May you like
Elias nodded slowly, appreciating the tactical brilliance of the trap. "I'll sweep your car today. If it's clean, we leave it parked on the street tonight instead of the garage. We give him an irresistible opportunity to plant a bug."
"Let's do it," I agreed, feeling the familiar, cold resolve settling back into my bones. "They thought the highway was my breaking point. Let's show them it was actually my starting line."
