Chapter 4:The man in the window
📖 Omega Reawakens
Aria couldn't sleep again.
The glowing lines beneath her skin had vanished… but she still felt them. Like they were watching her from inside her veins.
She sat on her window ledge with a cup of cold tea, watching the street below. Empty. Still. Except for a single figure standing beneath the streetlight — back straight, face shadowed, unmoving.
Her breath caught.
Even after all this time, she recognized the shape of him.
Liam.
She pressed her palm to the glass. Not from longing. From disbelief.
She'd imagined him before — in mirrors, in voices, in the firelight. But this time, he didn't vanish.
And then he looked up.
His eyes met hers through the darkness. A spark passed between them — not warmth, not softness. Recognition. Warning.
He didn't move.
He just stood there, letting her see him.
Letting her know:
I see you too.
---
🌙 Flashback Fragment
She saw herself on a lab table again. Wires. Lights. A voice in her ear.
You will forget,you must forget,your heart makes you weak.
Another voice.
Softer,male.
Then I'll remember for her
Her head jerked up.
The voice. It was his.
Liam.
He had been there. Inside the lab. The night she was almost erased.
---
🌒 Present – Aria's POV
By the time she ran out the front door, he was gone.
But a white envelope had been placed on the hood of a car across the street.
She tore it open with shaking hands.
Inside: a USB stick.
And a note.
Don't open this unless you want the truth.
And once you open it, there's no going back.
She looked around.
Nothing but shadows.
Nothing but silence.
---
🔥 Meanwhile – Liam's POV
He watched her from the rooftop now. Cloaked in night. Just like before.
He didn't want her to open it not yet.
But she deserved the truth. She deserved to choose.
Because what was inside that drive wasn't just a file.
It was the moment he failed her.
The moment he chose to walk away while they strapped her to the table.
---
🧬 Back at Aria's Flat
She plugged in the USB.
The screen stayed black for a second…
Then flickered white.
A video began to play.
Her on a metal table. Eyes wide, mouth screaming without sound. A woman in a lab coat said her name, over and over.
Omega Three. Aria Rothschild. Begin reset."
She looked around the room — inside the video.
There near the back.
Him.
Liam,frozen fists clenched saying nothing.
Watching.
Tears ran down the Aria in the video's face. The real Aria… just watched herself cry.
Then the screen went black.
---
Aria stared at the screen long after it died.
Behind her, the lights flickered.
Her heart beat like a war drum in her chest.
And from the kitchen, her phone began to buzz again — once. Twice. Over and over.
Unknown Caller.
She picked it up slowly.
Voice on the line: cold, female, precise.
Omega,you're awake.
Now come home.