Episode9:Cracks in the Calm
573 Words
Jack Loosa had always believed that control worked best when it was invisible.
But Aria was no longer blind.
It began with small things.
She noticed how often Jack corrected her memories. How he finished her sentences. How he spoke of her fear as if it belonged to him instead of her. The gentleness was still there, but something else had crept into his voice.
Impatience.
“You’re quieter lately,” Jack said one morning as they sat across from each other at breakfast.
“I’m thinking,” Aria replied.
Jack smiled. “About Sebastian.”
Her fingers tightened around her cup. “About myself.”
Jack watched her closely. “You were never this tense before.”
“That’s not true,” she said. “I was. You just explained it away.”
For the first time, Jack didn’t answer immediately.
The silence stretched.
“You’re safer when you trust me,” he finally said.
“And if I don’t?” Aria asked.
Jack leaned back in his chair. “Then you remember what’s waiting outside these walls.”
The words were calm. The meaning was not.
Later that day, Aria asked to visit the hospital.
Jack refused.
“You’re not ready,” he said.
“I didn’t ask if I was ready,” she replied. “I asked to go.”
Jack’s jaw tightened. “Sebastian is unstable right now.”
Her heart pounded. “You don’t get to decide who I see.”
Jack stood. Slowly. Deliberately.
“I decide what keeps you alive.”
The room felt smaller.
That night, Aria did something she hadn’t done since arriving.
She tested the doors.
They weren’t locked.
But the cameras followed her.
At the hospital, Sebastian stood beside Lena’s bed, barely breathing.
Her eyes were open now.
Clearer.
Stronger.
“He came back,” Lena whispered.
Sebastian leaned in. “When?”
“After Marianne,” she said. “After she refused to stay quiet.”
Sebastian felt his stomach drop. “What did he do?”
“He took everything,” Lena said. “Then he waited.”
Sebastian closed his eyes.
Jack Loosa had never rushed destruction.
That evening, Aria found a phone hidden inside her drawer.
Not hers.
Jack’s.
It was unlocked.
Her hands shook as she scrolled.
Messages. Names. Locations.
Her name appeared more than once.
With notes.
“She’s pulling away.”
“Sebastian is moving.”
“Prepare next phase.”
Aria’s breath caught.
She wasn’t being protected.
She was being managed.
The door behind her closed softly.
Jack stood there.
“I wondered when you’d find that,” he said.
Her voice trembled. “You’re tracking me.”
“I’m planning,” Jack corrected.
She stepped back. “Let me go.”
Jack’s calm finally cracked.
“You don’t know what happens if you walk away,” he said sharply.
“Then tell me,” she demanded.
His eyes darkened. “People get burned.”
The words settled like ash between them.
At that exact moment, Sebastian stood in a parked car across the street, watching Jack’s house.
Victor’s voice whispered through his earpiece. “We’re ready.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened.
Inside the house, Aria looked at Jack and made her decision.
“I’m leaving,” she said.
Jack smiled.
But it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Not tonight,” he said.
The lights went out.
And somewhere in the darkness, a door unlocked.
- Writer
