He set it carefully on the doormat outside the back glass doors. Then, he pulled a folded piece of paper from his jacket and wrote in thick, block letters:
“I can get closer than you think.”
He weighed it down with the pacifier so it wouldn’t blow away. From inside, through the sheer curtains, he saw a shadow move one of Rio’s security guards doing his rounds. Jake smiled to himself, then melted back into the shadows where Darren waited.
“Creepy,” Darren muttered as they jogged back to the SUV. “Even for you.”
“That’s the point,” Jake said. “I want her thinking about me every second she’s in that house.”
It was close to midnight when Rio’s head of security, Marco, appeared at the sliding glass doors to the bedroom. His knock was sharp enough to wake Kylee from the shallow sleep she’d fallen into beside him.
Rio sat up instantly. “What is it?”
Marco’s face was grim. “We found something on the back patio.”
Kylee felt the air shift in the room thick, charged. Rio climbed out of bed, pulling on sweats, and gestured for her to stay put. But she followed anyway, pulse hammering in her ears.
They walked down the hall, past the darkened rooms where the kids slept, to the living room. The curtains were drawn open to the moonlit backyard. On the doormat, under the soft pool of a motion light, sat the pink pacifier. Kylee froze, her breath catching in her throat.
Beside it was a folded sheet of paper, weighed down so it wouldn’t blow away. Marco knelt to pick it up, glancing at Rio before unfolding it.
His jaw clenched. “You’re gonna want to see this.”
Rio took the paper and read it aloud, his voice low and lethal.
“I can get closer than you think”.
Kylee’s knees nearly gave out. She grabbed the back of the couch for balance. “That’s” her voice cracked. “That’s Kayla’s pacifier. From home.”
Rio’s face went cold. The kind of cold that meant danger. He handed the note back to Marco. “Run the cameras. Every single feed. I want eyes on the perimeter now.”
Marco nodded and left at a brisk pace, barking orders into his earpiece. Rio turned to Kylee, stepping close, his hand warm against the side of her face. “Baby, listen to me. He was here. He touched our house. But he’s not going to touch you, or the kids. Not while I’m breathing.”
Kylee’s voice shook. “He’s not going to stop, Rio. He’s going to keep coming until..”
“Until I stop him,” Rio interrupted, steel in his tone.
Within minutes, more guards arrived armed, in plain clothes, blending into the shadows around the property. Two SUVs with blacked-out windows pulled up and stayed parked at the gates. Rio didn’t just increase security. He locked the place down. Kylee stood at the window, staring at that pacifier still sitting in the pool of light, and felt something shift deep inside her. Fear, yes but also anger. A quiet, burning rage at the man who thought she’d be easy to intimidate.
Behind her, Rio’s voice was quiet but firm as he spoke into his phone.
“Yeah. It’s time. I want him found.”
From the far end of the winding hillside road, Jake sat in the passenger seat of Darren’s rented SUV, the headlights off. The glow of Rio’s mansion stood out
Against the dark like a beacon, its massive glass windows now mostly obscured by newly drawn blackout curtains.
Jake smirked bitterly. “He’s scared.”
Darren leaned forward, binoculars in hand. “They’ve beefed up the perimeter. That’s at least six extra guys. SUVs at the gate, two walking the grounds.”
Jake lit a cigarette, the ember briefly illuminating his face. “That’s fine. Security’s just a wall. And walls can be climbed.”
“You’re not going to get in there now,” Darren muttered. “Not without getting shot at.”
Jake ignored him, eyes fixed on the mansion. He could almost see her Kylee, walking barefoot on polished floors, tucked safely behind Rio’s millions. It made him sick.
“She thinks she’s untouchable,” Jake said, his voice low, dangerous. “She’s wrong. They all are.”
