Page 33 of Riptide
The weight of that settled over the room.
"So we can't pay her off. Not that we would," Wade said.
"We have to take her down completely." Tom gestured to the screens showing Blaire's financial records, her victim list, her Instagram empire. "Destroy her business. Make it so she can't operate anymore."
"How?" Cara's voice was small. "She's got millions of dollars, a huge public presence and a whole system built around this."
"We find her pressure points," Reagan insisted. "Everyone has them."
"Except Blaire's pressure points aren't obvious," Tom said. "She's careful. Everything she does is technically legal on the surface. Even if we went to the police with what I found?—"
"Which we can't," Wade interjected.
"—they'd need proof of blackmail. Victims willing to testify. Evidence that would hold up in court." Tom shook his head. "We're not going to beat her legally."
"Then we beat her illegally," Piper said. Everyone turned to look at her. She shrugged. "What?”
"Piper—" Tom started.
"Reagan’s right, Dad." Piper met his eyes. "Blaire's destroying people. And she's going to keep doing it because the system can't touch her."
"But we can," Wade said. "We find her vulnerabilities and we exploit them."
"We run a con," Cara said quietly. Everyone looked at her. "We're going to con a con artist. Make her think she's winning right up until she loses."
Reagan’s eyes sparkled. "I’m liking this. What kind of con?"
"I don't know yet." Cara stood and started pacing. "But Blaire's weakness is her confidence. She thinks she's untouchable. She's been doing this long enough that she's gotten sloppy."
"Has she?" Tom pulled up surveillance footage Wade had captured. "Except for her obvious money deposits, which is totally stupid, she’s pretty slick. Look at this. She doesn't use her phone for blackmail—probably has a burner. Doesn't put anything incriminating in writing that I can find. Always films in public places where there's no expectation of privacy."
"But she's overconfident," Wade said. "She approached Gabe. That was a mistake. She was trying to rattle Cara, but she exposed herself to law enforcement scrutiny."
"And she underestimated us," Reagan added. "She thinks Cara's alone. She has no idea there's a team investigating her."
"So we use that." Cara stopped pacing. "We make her think she's winning. That I'm desperate and scrambling. Meanwhile, we're actually—" She looked at Tom. "What would hurt her most? What would destroy her business?"
Tom thought for a moment. "We can’t count on getting any of her victims to testify, but we should at least contact them. Some of them might be willing to help behind the scenes. Give us insight.”
"But first, we need her distracted. We need to make her think she's safe," Cara said. "Make her think I'm broken. That I'll pay. That I'm not a threat."
"And while she's relaxed, we figure out how to expose her," Tom finished. "Maybe we can bait her into being explicit about the blackmail."
"That's the con," Reagan said. "We play the desperate victim while we're actually setting a trap."
"Multiple traps," Wade corrected. "We hit her from different angles. Financial, legal, social. Make it so she can't recover."
Tom pulled up a new screen, started typing. "I can keep digging into her background. Find other victims. Maybe get some of them to talk once they know they're not alone. Build a case that law enforcement can't ignore, though I think that’s a long shot."
"I'll handle surveillance," Wade said. "Track her movements. See who she meets with. Find out if she's got backup or if she's operating solo."
"I'll work social media," Piper offered. "Analyze her followers. Find the most influential ones. Figure out how to flip public opinion when the time comes."
"And I'll coordinate," Reagan said. "Make sure all our pieces move together."
"For now, I’ll play the distraught victim," Cara announced. "I keep Blaire focused on me. Make her think she's winning. String her along until we're ready to spring the trap."
"And the endgame?" Wade asked.
