Chapter 6 Little Hacker's Revenge

# Chapter 6: Little Hacker's Revenge

I should have known the calm wouldn't last. Three days of settling into our new routine at Ted's guest house had lulled me into a false sense of security. The children were thriving with access to Ted's technology and undivided attention whenever he wasn't working, and I was cautiously allowing myself to believe we might forge a functional co-parenting relationship.

Then Lily disappeared.

"She was just here!" Oliver insisted, tears streaming down his face as we frantically searched the guest house. "We were playing hide and seek!"

Ted immediately activated the property's security system, scanning camera feeds while I checked every possible hiding place. "The perimeter hasn't been breached," he reported, his face tight with worry. "She has to be somewhere on the grounds."

"Unless someone already had access," I said, the dread I'd been suppressing for five years rushing back. "Margaret—"

Before Ted could respond, his phone rang. The caller ID showed his stepmother's name.

"Put it on speaker," I demanded, and for once, he didn't argue.

"Theodore," Margaret's crisp voice filled the room. "I believe I have something that belongs to you."

My knees nearly buckled. "Where is my daughter?" I shouted.

"Ah, Ms. Greenwood. Still as emotional as ever," Margaret replied coolly. "The child is perfectly safe—for now. She's quite remarkable, by the way. Very much a Preston."

"What do you want?" Ted's voice was deadly calm, but I could see the fury building behind his eyes.

"What I've always wanted," Margaret answered. "The company returned to proper management. Your resignation as CEO, effective immediately, with me as interim replacement. The board will vote on a permanent successor—not you—within six months."

"You're insane if you think—"

"I've already drafted the paperwork," she interrupted. "Sign it, or I'll be forced to demonstrate how unsuitable these children's current living arrangements are. Starting with this one."

"If you harm her—" I began, but Ted placed a steadying hand on my arm.

"You'll have my resignation within the hour," he said. "Where do we meet for the exchange?"

"Your office. Come alone, Theodore. Any security or police, and the deal is off."

The call ended. Ted was already moving, grabbing his car keys.

"I'm coming with you," I insisted.

"No," he countered. "Stay with the boys. This is Margaret's game—she wants us separated and vulnerable."

"She has our daughter!"

"And I will get her back," he promised, his eyes meeting mine with such fierce determination that I almost believed him. "Trust me, Wilona. Please."

Trust. The one thing I'd been unable to give him since our reunion. But now, with Lily's safety at stake, I had no choice.

"Okay," I whispered. "But you call me the second you have her."

He nodded, already heading for the door when Ethan's small voice stopped us.

"Wait!" He ran to his bedroom, returning with a small device that looked like a toy watch. "Give this to Lily when you find her. It's important."

Ted accepted it solemnly, tucking it into his pocket before racing to his car. As the sound of his engine faded, I gathered the boys close, trying to project a calmness I didn't feel.

"Is the bad lady going to hurt Lily?" Oliver asked, his voice small.

"No," I assured him, praying I was right. "Your dad won't let that happen."

Ethan, unusually quiet, was tapping away at his tablet. I almost told him to put it away—this wasn't the time for games—but something in his focused expression stopped me.

"What are you doing, sweetie?" I asked instead.

"Helping Lily," he replied without looking up. "She's waiting for the signal."

My parental alarm bells rang loudly. "What signal? Ethan, do you know something about this?"

He finally met my eyes, his expression surprisingly mature for a five-year-old. "Lily said if the bad grandma ever came, we should activate Protocol Dinosaur."

"Protocol Dinosaur?" I repeated, bewildered.

Oliver nodded eagerly. "We made it after we found out about her. It's our emergency plan."

I knelt down to their level. "Boys, I need you to tell me exactly what this protocol involves."

They exchanged glances before Oliver explained. "Lily wears a special bracelet I made. It has a tracking chip and a recorder."

"And a panic button," Ethan added. "If she presses it, we get her location."

"Which is..." I prompted, hope rising.

"Preston Technologies, floor 47," Ethan confirmed, showing me the map on his tablet. "That's where the bad grandma's office is."

I was torn between pride in their ingenuity and horror that my five-year-olds had anticipated a kidnapping scenario. "How did you know which floor was Margaret's office?"

"We hacked the building directory," Oliver shrugged, as if this was perfectly normal. "And we practiced. Lily volunteered to be kidnapped because she's the bravest."

"You practiced being kidnapped?" I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

"Just pretend," Ethan assured me. "But we knew the bad grandma would try something. Dads in movies always have evil stepmothers."

Their childish logic was simultaneously heartbreaking and reassuring. "Does your dad know about Protocol Dinosaur?"

They shook their heads in unison. "It's a kid secret," Oliver explained. "But the watch will tell him what to do."

I grabbed my phone, about to call Ted and explain, when Ethan's tablet suddenly lit up with a video feed. To my shock, I was looking at what appeared to be Margaret Preston's office, filmed from a low angle—likely from Lily's bracelet.

"Streaming activated," Ethan announced with professional crispness. "Audio coming through."

"—such a precocious child," Margaret was saying, her voice artificially warm. "You have your father's eyes. A pity about the defect, but corrective surgery can fix that."

"It's not a defect," came Lily's clear voice. "It's heterochromia iridis, and Dad has it too."

"Yes, well, Theodore always was imperfect. Your grandfather had such hopes for him before he fell in with your mother."

I clenched my fists, fury building at the casual cruelty directed at my daughter. But Lily, remarkably, sounded unafraid.

"My mom is a genius," she stated matter-of-factly. "Dad says she's the smartest person he's ever met."

"Your father is currently saying whatever he thinks will please your mother," Margaret dismissed. "Men do that when they want something."

"What do you want?" Lily asked, echoing Ted's earlier question.

A pause. "A legacy worthy of the Preston name. Something your father seems determined to destroy with his... sentimentality."

"By sentimentality, do you mean loving his family?" Lily's vocabulary sometimes startled even me. "Because studies show children with loving parents have higher success rates in education and career achievement."

I couldn't help the small smile that formed despite the situation. My daughter, lecturing her kidnapper about parenting studies.

Margaret's laugh was cold. "You really are quite remarkable. Perhaps there's potential in you after all, with proper guidance."

"Is that why you took me? To guide me?"

"I took you to teach your father a lesson about priorities. The company comes first—always. It's a lesson he refuses to learn."

The camera angle shifted as Lily apparently moved. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Certainly," Margaret replied, sounding amused by the child's composure.

"Do you know Section 278 of the California Penal Code?"

A pause. "Excuse me?"

"It covers kidnapping," Lily continued conversationally. "Subsection B specifically addresses kidnapping of a minor under fourteen years of age. That's me. The minimum sentence is eight years in state prison."

I clapped a hand over my mouth, torn between terror at my daughter antagonizing her kidnapper and amazed pride at her courage.

"This isn't kidnapping," Margaret said dismissively. "This is a family matter."

"I'm recording this conversation," Lily informed her. "And broadcasting it. So maybe you should check Section 518 too. That's extortion. Another felony."

The camera wobbled as Margaret apparently stood suddenly. "What do you mean, broadcasting? What device do you have?"

"My bracelet," Lily answered, and I could hear the smile in her voice. "I made it with my brothers. We're very good at programming. Mom taught us."

"Give me that right now!" Margaret demanded, her composure finally cracking.

"Too late," Lily replied calmly. "It's already streaming to the cloud. And to the Preston Technologies security team. And to the police. And to a news station."

My eyes widened as I looked at Ethan. "Is she telling the truth?"

He nodded solemnly. "Protocol Dinosaur includes multiple broadcast channels. For redundancy."

On screen, Margaret's office door burst open, and Ted rushed in, followed by security officers. "Lily!"

"Dad!" Lily's camera bounced as she presumably ran to him. "Did you get my message?"

"The watch," Ted said, sounding bewildered as he apparently examined Ethan's device. "It showed me a video of Margaret taking you from the garden."

"We had cameras installed," Lily explained proudly. "For security."

Margaret's voice cut in, her tone desperate now. "This is absurd. I was merely spending time with my granddaughter—"

"Save it," Ted snapped. "The security team has already seen the footage of you forcing her into your car. And apparently," he added with a note of amazement, "my five-year-old daughter has been broadcasting your confession to kidnapping and extortion for the past twenty minutes."

"She's lying! There's no broadcast—"

"Actually," a new voice interjected—one of the security officers, "we've been watching in the control room, ma'am. Along with the SFPD. They're waiting downstairs."

A strangled sound of rage came from Margaret. "You can't do this to me! I built this company!"

"No," Ted corrected her. "My father built it. You just manipulated your way into control. And now you've lost it all."

The next few minutes were a blur of activity—Margaret being escorted out by police, Ted comforting Lily, and finally, the blessed sound of my daughter's voice directly addressing the camera.

"Mom? Can you hear me? I did it just like we practiced in our stranger-danger drills! I stayed calm and remembered all the legal codes you taught me."

I laughed through my tears, clutching the boys close as they cheered for their sister's victory. "I hear you, baby. You did amazing. Dad's bringing you home now."

The tablet switched off as Lily presumably ended the broadcast. I immediately called Ted, who answered on the first ring.

"She's safe," he said before I could speak. "Not a scratch on her. In fact, I think Margaret is the traumatized one."

Relief made my knees weak. "Put her on, please."

"Hi, Mommy!" Lily's cheerful voice came through. "Did you see me? I made the bad grandma cry when I started reciting legal statutes!"

"I saw, sweetheart," I confirmed, my voice shaking with emotion. "You were so brave."

"I wasn't scared," she insisted. "I knew you and Dad would come. And I had Protocol Dinosaur."

I could hear the smile in Ted's voice as he took the phone back. "Did you know about this... protocol?"

"Not until after you left," I admitted. "Apparently our children have been preparing for a kidnapping scenario. Complete with broadcasting technology and legal knowledge."

"She quoted California Penal Code at Margaret," Ted said, sounding both stunned and proud. "Word for word. Where did she learn that?"

"We may have played 'courtroom' a few times," I confessed. "I didn't realize she was memorizing actual statutes."

His laugh was warm and relieved. "We're heading home now. The police have Margaret in custody, and my legal team is already filing for a permanent restraining order."

"Is it over?" I asked, hardly daring to believe it could be that simple.

"The Margaret chapter? Yes. She won't recover from this—kidnapping charges, attempted extortion, all caught on camera thanks to our little hacker." His voice softened. "But our story? I think it's just beginning, if you'll allow it."

I glanced at the boys, who were watching me expectantly. "Let's start with getting our daughter home safely. We can discuss the rest later."

When they arrived thirty minutes later, I swept Lily into my arms, holding her so tightly she squirmed in protest.

"Mom! Can't breathe!" she complained, though she returned the hug just as fiercely.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again," I murmured into her hair.

"I wasn't scared," she repeated her earlier claim. "I knew what to do."

I finally released her, looking at Ted over her head. He appeared both exhausted and exhilarated, watching our reunion with undisguised emotion.

"Thank you for bringing her back," I said softly.

"I would move heaven and earth for any of them," he replied simply. "For all of you."

The boys rushed to surround their sister, demanding details of her adventure, which she began recounting with dramatic flair.

"She made the kidnapper cry!" Oliver announced proudly.

"And we helped!" Ethan added. "Protocol Dinosaur was a success!"

Ted moved to stand beside me as we watched our children celebrate their victory. "Did we know we were raising vigilante hackers?" he asked quietly.

"I knew they were good with computers," I admitted. "I didn't realize they had developed an entire anti-kidnapping protocol."

"Complete with legal citations," Ted shook his head in wonder. "Margaret didn't stand a chance."

"She underestimated them because they're children," I observed. "A mistake I try never to make."

Ted's hand found mine, and for the first time since our reunion, I didn't pull away. "They're extraordinary," he said. "Just like their mother."

I allowed myself to lean slightly against his shoulder, the adrenaline crash making me seek support. "We make good kids together," I conceded.

His fingers tightened around mine. "We make a good team, period."

As I watched Lily reenact her confrontation with Margaret for her brothers' entertainment—complete with exaggerated villain voice—I found myself believing that maybe, just maybe, he was right.