Chapter 58 Too Close

Chapter 58 Too Close
Nobody moves for half a second after Patrick speaks. The rain continues tapping softly against the windows, steady and quiet against the sudden tension settling through the kitchen, while everyone seems to lock into place at once.
Mike shuts the front door immediately.
“What kind of movement?” Josh asks.
Patrick’s attention stays fixed on the phone in his hand. “Security flagged someone near the east fence line.”
Jake’s expression tightens. “One person?”
“Unknown.”
That single word lands badly.
Mike steps closer. “How close?”
Patrick finally looks up. “Close enough.”
The room changes after that.
Not panic.
Preparation.
Josh reaches for the tablet on the counter, already pulling up camera feeds while Mike moves toward the hall closet without another word.
Jake exhales sharply through his nose. “You think they’re trying the property now?”
“Yes,” Patrick says calmly.
The certainty in his voice settles cold inside my chest.
Drew shifts closer beside me, his hand brushing lightly against my back again before he heads toward the stove and turns it off without looking away from the room for long.
Like he’s preparing for impact while pretending he isn’t.
Mike comes back a second later, carrying one of the lockboxes from the office, setting it heavily onto the counter before looking at Patrick.
“You're calling your people.”
“I already did.”
That lands hard, too.
Not because it’s surprising.
Because it means Patrick expected this to escalate before today was over.
Josh glances up from the security feed. “Camera six just cut.”
Silence.
Sharp.
Jake straightens immediately. “Cut how?”
“Black screen.”
Mike mutters something under his breath before grabbing the tablet from Josh’s hands.
“That’s not weather interference.”
“No,” Patrick agrees quietly. “It isn’t.”
The pressure inside the room tightens another degree.
I set my coffee down carefully before my hands can tighten too hard around the mug, the ceramic rattling faintly against the counter despite my effort to keep steady.
Patrick notices instantly.
His attention shifts toward me for only a second, but it’s enough.
“Emmy.”
“I’m fine.”
The words come too fast this time.
Everyone hears it.
Drew steps closer immediately, grounding and warm at my side while Jake’s expression softens briefly before hardening again toward the windows.
Josh zooms in on another camera feed. “Wait.”
Mike looks over sharply. “What?”
“There.”
The entire room focuses on the screen.
For a second, I don’t understand what I’m looking at, just rain streaking across dark trees and blurred fencing until movement cuts across the far edge of the frame.
A figure.
Gone almost immediately.
But there.
Jake swears quietly under his breath.
Mike’s jaw tightens hard enough to show. “That’s deliberate.”
Patrick’s expression stays unreadable.
Too unreadable.
“What are they doing?” I ask quietly.
Nobody answers right away.
Because they don’t know.
And somehow that’s worse.
Josh leans back slightly from the counter. “They wanted the camera to catch that.”
“Yes,” Patrick says.
Mike folds his arms tightly across his chest. “This is turning into intimidation.”
“No,” Patrick replies evenly. “This is escalation.”
The distinction settles heavily over the room.
Again.
Because escalation means movement.
Progress.
Closer.
Rain continues hitting the windows while tension spreads through the house in slow, tightening waves.
Jake drags a hand through his hair before looking toward Patrick again. “Tell me we’re not staying passive through this.”
Patrick finally sets the phone down.
“We’re not.”
Something about the calm way he says it immediately shifts the atmosphere.
Mike notices, too. “You’ve got something.”
“I’ve got enough.”
Josh studies him for a second. “Enough for what?”
Patrick’s gaze flicks briefly toward me before returning to the others. “To stop waiting.”
The words settle hard into the room.
Mike straightens slightly. “Meaning.”
“Meaning if he wants proximity, we give him a controlled version of it.”
A chill slides slowly down my spine.
Jake’s expression tightens. “Patrick.”
“He’s pushing because he thinks we’re reacting,” Patrick continues calmly. “The second that changes, so does the leverage.”
Josh crosses his arms. “You want to bait whoever’s outside.”
“I want them exposed.”
Silence follows. Not disagreement. Consideration.
Drew’s hand settles lightly against my shoulder again. “And Emmy.”
Patrick looks at me fully then.
Steady.
Focused.
“She stays here.”
“No.”
The word leaves me immediately.
Mike closes his eyes briefly, as if he expected that answer.
Patrick’s expression doesn’t shift. “Emmy.”
“I’m not sitting upstairs while everyone else handles this.”
“You wouldn’t be upstairs.”
“Then where?”
His gaze holds mine for a second too long before he answers.
“With me.”
Something low tightens in my chest at that.
Not fear.
Awareness.
Jake looks between us before speaking carefully. “You really think bringing her closer to this is the safer move?”
“No,” Patrick says honestly.
The room is still. Then, 
“I think separating her from us is worse.”
That lands differently, because I know he means it.
Josh exhales quietly before nodding once. “Then we tighten the perimeter and control movement.”
Mike grabs the tablet again. “I’ll start rerouting the exterior feeds.”
Jake pushes away from the counter. “I’m checking the east side myself.”
“You’re not going alone,” Josh says immediately.
Jake rolls his eyes slightly. “I wasn’t planning to.”
The movement around the room starts again after that, fast and focused, everyone sliding into place with the kind of practiced coordination that only comes from years of trusting each other completely.
Patrick steps closer once the others spread out again, his hand settling briefly against my waist.
“You okay?” Not a question about fear. About steadiness.
I nod once. “Yeah.”
His thumb brushes slowly against my side before falling away.
“You stay near me.” The words are calm, Certain. Not controlling.
Protective in a way that somehow feels more dangerous.
Outside, rain continues to fall steadily against the windows while, somewhere near the edge of the property, someone waits in the dark, close enough to cut cameras and test boundaries.
Close enough to matter.
And for the first time since this started, the danger no longer feels distant.
It feels like it’s already inside the gates.