She told me Aaron only wanted what was best for Emma.
She told me everyone was emotional and that stability mattered.
Morales listened without interrupting.
By that afternoon, forensics had already found Aaron’s fingerprints on the inside of the attic panel and partial prints on the envelope.
The hotspot router in the crawlspace had connected to a management app tied to an email address created with Aaron’s business credentials.
Security camera footage from a nearby gas station showed Denise buying the same brand of prepaid hotspot and batteries two days before I moved in.
The lease itself had been routed through a small management company that Denise occasionally did bookkeeping for.
The house had not been chosen by chance.
It had been selected for us.
The detective believed Aaron wanted me in a place he could control.
The cameras would let him document my routines.
The notes suggested he was trying to manufacture a narrative: careless mother, child unattended, chaotic home.
The open gate.
The shifting curtain.
The envelope.
The late-night photograph.
Each incident was pressure.
Each incident was meant to keep me off balance and then capture the damage.
He was not just spying on us.
He was trying to create proof that I was unstable.
That night, while I sat awake in the hotel room listening to Emma breathe, Aaron texted me for the first time in days.
Just checking on Emma.
Heard there was some kind of police activity near your place.
Let me know if she needs somewhere calm tonight.
I stared at the screen so long my vision blurred.
Morales took the phone from my hand, photographed the message, and told me not to reply.
By the next morning, they had enough for a warrant.
They searched Aaron’s office and found duplicate keys, camera packaging, disposable gloves, and printed screenshots pulled from the hidden feeds.
On his computer were draft notes for an emergency custody filing.
One line was highlighted: Mother exhibiting escalating paranoia and inability to maintain stable housing.
The most chilling part was how clinical it all was.
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