Chapter 4: A Glimpse Through Glass
1200 Words
The morning sun painted golden streaks on the polished floor of the Sterling & Blackstone skyscraper. Liam walked with quiet authority, the click of his leather shoes echoing down the glass hallway. Assistants straightened up as he passed, nodding respectfully, but his mind was elsewhere.
He hadn’t been able to sleep.
Since that encounter at the café.
Her eyes.
There was something haunting about them. Familiar… but not in a way he could place. It gnawed at him—like a half-remembered dream you can’t shake.
He stepped into his office, greeted by towering windows that offered a view of the city’s steel bones. But the skyline didn’t calm him. He loosened his tie and dropped into the chair behind his desk, opening his laptop with a sigh.
Then he paused.
There it was again. Her face. A flash in his mind.
Where had he seen her before?
Not just yesterday… before that.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, frustrated. “Get it together,” he muttered.
Meanwhile, in the bustling corner café two blocks away, Anna wiped a smear of jam from her son’s cheek.
“Micah, slow down,” she said gently. “You’re wearing more of the toast than eating it.”
The five-year-old giggled and took another exaggerated bite. Beside him, his brother Malachi balanced a paper airplane on his nose, earning an eye-roll from their babysitter, Emma.
Anna watched them with a soft ache in her chest. They were her whole world.
Her miracles.
Her secrets.
She hadn’t expected him—Liam—to walk into her café. Hadn’t expected to feel the air get sucked from her lungs the moment she looked up from the counter.
And he hadn’t recognized her.
It was both a blessing and a knife to the heart.
She had seen him again. After all these years. The man she had tried to forget… and the father of her children.
But now… what did she do?
She couldn’t tell him.
Not yet.
Not when the twins were everything to her—and nothing to him.
Micah reached across the table and tugged at her sleeve. “Mommy, you’re doing it again.”
“Doing what, baby?”
“Staring off into space like your brain’s flying away.”
Anna blinked and smiled weakly. “Just tired, sweet pea.”
Emma gave her a look. “Tired or haunted?”
Anna offered no answer.
Later that afternoon, Liam sat in a dimly lit conference room during a marketing presentation, barely listening. His phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen.
A photo.
Sent from his assistant.
It was the café again. A stock photo of their location for the new campaign.
But in the background… there she was.
Anna.
Frozen in motion, tray in hand, laughing with a customer.
Something inside him jolted.
“I know her,” he said aloud.
The room quieted. Heads turned.
His COO raised a brow. “Excuse me?”
Liam’s mouth opened, then closed. “Sorry. Just… continue.”
But he couldn’t focus. The pieces were falling into place. That laugh. Those eyes. That night.
Could it be…?
He stood abruptly and walked out of the room, leaving confusion behind.
He needed to know.
He needed to see her again.
Anna wiped down the counter with trembling fingers. Her heart hadn’t stopped racing since yesterday. Every time the bell above the café door jingled, her breath caught.
But he didn’t come back.
Not yet.
Not that she wanted him to.
Not that she could handle it if he did.
Her mind was a maze of what-ifs and half-buried memories. She barely remembered his name after that night, but the image of his face—those intense eyes and the way he’d held her like she was the only thing that mattered—was seared into her soul. And now, all these years later, fate had brought him to her door… again.
“Earth to Anna,” Emma whispered, nudging her gently. “You’ve wiped that spot like, ten times.”
Anna blinked. “Sorry. Just… distracted.”
Emma studied her. “Is it about that guy from yesterday?”
Anna looked away. “You saw him too?”
“I saw how pale you went. And how fast you disappeared into the back room. Anna… who was he?”
She hesitated. Then whispered, “The twins’ father.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “Wait. That was him? That guy who looked like he walked out of a GQ magazine shoot?”
Anna nodded slowly. “We had a… one-night thing. I never even knew his full name. And now he shows up here, all billionaire and perfect, like he didn’t leave a storm behind.”
Emma’s mouth opened and closed. “So… he doesn’t know about Micah and Malachi?”
“No. And I don’t plan to tell him.”
“Anna—”
“I can’t,” she said, her voice cracking. “I’ve built a life around protecting my boys. What if he tries to take them? What if he wants nothing to do with them and walks away again? I can’t go through that.”
Emma sighed but didn’t argue. “Just promise me something.”
“What?”
“If he comes back… don’t run. Just… talk to him.”
Anna nodded, though her heart screamed otherwise.
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Across the city, Liam was pacing his office like a man possessed. His assistant, Jordan, stood awkwardly at the door.
“You’re sure this is the same woman?” Liam asked, showing the blurry photo again.
Jordan squinted. “Well, not a hundred percent. But she looked familiar. Same café. Same aura.”
“Aura?” Liam muttered, raising an eyebrow.
“Okay, weird word choice, but she had that… presence. The same energy from—” he paused. “That night you never talk about.”
Liam didn’t respond. He stared out the window, jaw tight.
He never told anyone what happened that night.
How he woke up in a hotel suite with the scent of vanilla still lingering on the sheets.
How he spent weeks afterward trying to remember her name.
How he kept dreaming about her… only to wake up alone.
And now… could it really be her?
That evening, Anna tucked the boys into bed. Malachi curled up with his superhero plushie while Micah babbled about rocket ships.
“Mommy,” Micah asked sleepily, “do we have a daddy?”
Anna froze, the storybook still open in her hands.
“I mean… other kids talk about theirs. Where’s ours?”
She forced a smile. “You have someone better.”
“Who?”
“Me,” she whispered, kissing his forehead. “You’ve always had me.”
But as she turned off the lights and walked out, tears stung her eyes.
Outside, the wind picked up, brushing through the trees like secrets carried on the breeze.
And in the distance, under the glow of a streetlamp, a black car idled.
Inside, Liam watched the café from the shadows. He wasn’t ready to confront her yet.
But he would.
He had to know the truth.
Even if it broke him.
- Writer
