Episode10:When the Mask Slips
583 Words
The darkness did not last long.
The lights came back on slowly, one by one, like the house itself was waking up again. But something had changed. The calm that once filled the rooms felt thinner now, stretched tight and fragile.
Aria stood still.
Her heart was racing, but her mind was clear.
Jack Loosa was no longer hiding.
“You see,” Jack said quietly, adjusting his cuff like nothing had happened, “panic clouds judgment.”
“You turned the lights off,” Aria replied.
“Yes,” he said. “And you’re still standing. Still safe.”
She stared at him. “You wanted to scare me.”
“I wanted you to listen,” Jack corrected.
Aria shook her head slowly. “That’s not protection.”
Jack sighed, as if she had disappointed him. “This is what protection looks like when people refuse to be careful.”
For the first time since she entered his house, Aria felt something settle firmly in her chest.
Certainty.
“You’re afraid,” she said.
Jack looked at her. “Of Sebastian?”
“No,” Aria replied. “Of losing control.”
The words landed harder than she expected.
Jack’s expression changed. Not anger. Not rage. Something colder.
“You think this is control,” he said softly. “This is restraint.”
She took a step back. “You keep saying that. But you decide where I go. Who I see. What I know.”
Jack stepped closer. “Because you don’t see the full picture.”
“Then show me,” Aria said. “All of it.”
Silence.
Jack studied her for a long moment. “Not yet.”
That night, Aria couldn’t sleep.
She waited.
When the house finally fell quiet, she slipped out of her room and followed the hallway toward the study. Her hands trembled, but she didn’t stop.
The door was locked.
That was new.
She pressed her ear against it.
Voices.
Jack’s voice, calm and low.
“She’s resisting more than expected,” he said.
Another voice replied. Male. Unfamiliar. “Then accelerate.”
Aria’s breath caught.
“She’s important,” Jack continued. “Sebastian will move soon.”
A pause.
“Make sure she doesn’t,” the other voice said.
Aria stepped back silently, her heart pounding.
She returned to her room and locked the door.
Across the city, Sebastian sat beside Lena, his face tense.
“She’s in danger,” Lena said weakly. “Jack doesn’t like losing.”
Sebastian stood. “Then I stop him.”
Victor entered the room. “We traced the calls. Jack’s moving assets. Preparing.”
“For what?” Sebastian asked.
Victor met his eyes. “For war.”
Back at Jack’s house, Aria packed a small bag. Only essentials. Only what she could carry.
She reached for the door handle.
It didn’t open.
She tried again.
Nothing.
Jack’s voice came from behind her.
“You’re not leaving tonight.”
She turned slowly.
“You said I was free,” she said.
Jack nodded. “You are. But freedom doesn’t mean escape.”
Her voice shook. “Let me go.”
Jack’s eyes softened in a way that scared her more than anger ever could.
“You’ll thank me later,” he said.
Outside the house, a car pulled quietly into the street and stopped.
Sebastian stepped out into the night.
And inside the locked room, Aria realized the truth.
Jack Loosa had stopped pretending.
- Writer
