Chapter 12 - THE HOME INVASION
HomeLine planned to stage Thomas entering my house and killing me.
Then police would shoot him.
Two fathers removed.
Ethan left legally available for placement.
The plan relied on the kitchen’s smart system unlocking doors remotely.
We disconnected everything.
Replaced digital locks with manual ones.
Moved Ethan and Sarah to protected housing.
Then the invasion happened anyway.
Not at our house.
At the protected location.
A man wearing my face entered with federal credentials.
Sarah recognized one detail.
I always touched the doorframe with my left hand when entering unfamiliar rooms.
The replacement used his right.
She triggered the alarm.
Agents captured him.
His name was Aaron Cole.
Another HomeLine-trained father.
He revealed the network’s director.
Margaret Ashbourne.
A child-welfare philanthropist and donor to police departments.
She funded the missing-child technology used to track Ethan.
The same system that helped searches also identified vulnerable families.
Public good became a hunting tool.
Ashbourne was arrested.
Her servers contained thousands of family scripts.
Then one file showed my mother Helen as co-founder.
Not infiltrator.
May you like
Founder.
She had helped design HomeLine before trying to dismantle it.
