THE PEAK OF DAWN'S SUNLIGHT peered through the wooden blinds, and I squinted as I took shelter beneath the humid covers. With no recollection of last night, all I had was a raging migraine and the lingering taste of alcohol in my mouth. Chapped lips, a sore throat, and the forsaken scent of puke in the air were enough for me to visualize how the night went. And despite how starved I felt, I didn't have enough willpower to leave the bed.
"Pick up your goddamn phone, Laelia!" Hissed Simone in agony, pressing her head against two pillows. "It has been going off for two hours straight!"
Tired eyes searched for my phone, and I couldn't help but sigh in relief when the ringing finally stopped. But to my dismay, it seemed to ring even louder. I scratched my head in exhaustion and yawned before answering the call, "Laelia! I have been trying to contact you for over two hours! Immediately, I pulled my phone away from my ear, feeling the pulse of my heartbeat through my head.
"Must I remind you I'm on vacation for another week?" I hoarsely mumbled with irritation, fighting the lingering urge to spew a series of colourful words.
With the way she ignorantly spoke, it was hard not to. "You are expected to return by midnight tomorrow." And there was no room to fight with her demands.
"I'm on vacation," I paused, emphasizing the word ever so carefully and slowly.
"And it would be unfortunate to see your brother behind bars," she coyly trailed off, and I wished that I could strangle the daylights out of her.
I remained silent, "I'll be there tomorrow," I gritted out. "But threaten me again, and you should be focused on increasing your home security. You surely don't want to return home with your husband's dead body hanging, right?"
My words were never empty threats. Since I was a hacker—and a damn good one at it, I always had someone willing to do my bidding. I preferred to keep my hands clean unless I was provoked or someone crossed the line.
Although the woman never answered, I was aware of how deep my message went. In fact, it was loud and clear. After hearing a click of the line, I laughed at how intimidated she was, rubbing my eyes as I tossed my phone across the room.
Her boss and my current employer was a corrupted man but paid extremely well for my services. For a distinguished businessman like him, there was a limit to what I was capable of doing. It would be easy for him to take everything Antonio successfully built for him—for us when our parents had abandoned us as children. To live, he surrounded himself with dodgy individuals and even become one. He sacrificed everything just so I could grow up without worrying about if I could go to school. I had never once feared living expenses because Antonio had it covered. With all of that in mind, it didn't matter how far I would have to go because as long as Antonio was safe, it was all that mattered to me.
THE DIVITAE'S WERE a secret organization for the wealthy—befitting of the Latin name. Despite starting as an ethical hacker, my work gradually shifted until I was neither a good nor bad person. I simply did things that benefitted and paid me the most. Money was what made the world go round.
It was a hidden building beneath my employer's building, which I had thought was the stupidest idea I had ever heard in my life. But nevertheless, it wasn't any of my concern. The chances of someone like me getting caught were slim to none. My responsibility laid in the networks, information, and the chain of illegal money circulating. While preventing risks and malware to the database, I was also the one distributing it. And oftentimes, out of boredom, I would toy with any haughty hackers that tried.
That was how I was spending my night, upgrading and security system and obtaining information within the worldwide criminal syndicate. I twirled in the swivel chair, lounging lazily in a pair of leggings and an oversized sweatshirt I had stolen from Antonio earlier.
Sipping on a cappuccino mocha that was keeping me alive for this long, I leaned back, yawning and waited as the data began downloading on the USB. Once this was completed, I could finally sleep. With the unspoken rule of curfew, only a complete idiot would wander the streets this late. Although I preferred to be in the comfort of my own bed, I would have to tolerate the insufferable couch.
And then a loud notification from my phone immediately broke me out of my daze of exhaustion. It was of an attempted security breach, and it happened to be from the other side of the door of the room I was in. Clicking the lockdown button, I heard a faint sound of curses. This room was sound-proof, which meant that they couldn't hear me, but I could hear them vividly. "Fuck, this piece of shit just shut me down," whispered the aggravated voice.
I scolded myself, slamming my palm down on the table when I realized I had left my laptop in the apartment, and it was going to be hell if I was going to try to out-hack him with my phone. My eyes trained on the download that was ninety-eight percent complete, then switching as I hastily ceased the hacker's advances. Noticing that the files were finally completed, I pocketed the USB. For my carelessness and a moment of distraction, he had managed to get through, and the hour that I held him off had gone down the drain. "Shit," I bit out, wiping out the computer and shutting it down.
It would take less than thirty seconds for them to get past all the defences. Since the room was filled with dozen desks, it was unlikely one would look under the one I was hiding beneath.
When the metal door clicked open, there was a sigh of relief and several footsteps roaming around stealthily. "Transfer the money to the encrypted account, and hurry. We have over a hundred thousand filthy bastards to go through."
And when a large statured man paused in front of me, I held my breath and held the switchblade tightly. Gradually as he walked away, my phone blared with another notification that the order of my favourite chocolate cake was ready to be picked up. "Aw, fuck."
A head popped down, sadistically grinning. He reached forward and grabbed a chunk of my hair, and I took this moment to hide the blade behind me. I allowed him to roughly handle me, "What do we have here?"
It nearly made me laugh at his pathetic effort of trying to intimidate me. He was double my height and size, bald and tattooed to the bone, but I had met with others much scarier. I had dealt with worse when Antonio got caught up years ago. With the man's head covered in tattoos, it had come off as tacky than threatening. "Let go of my hair with your filthy hands, or you'll lose both your hand and sight. You have three seconds," I let out breathily. It had been a while, and I was rusty. "One," I counted, watching how his eyes lit out in entertainment. "Two," and he had responded by laughing out to his associates. "Three."
And in a split second, I revealed the blade in my right hand. I pierced straight for the wrist that had held onto my hair until it made my scalp sore. Once his grasp loosened momentarily, I shot my knee up to his stomach. When he stumbled back, I pivoted forward and whipped the blade diagonally to his right eye.
His screams of pain bounced off the walls, and with a futile try of lunging for my neck, I pointed the tip of my knife to his adam's apple. He gulped and froze.
And that was when an arm wrapped around my neck, forcing me to my knees. Pressed to the crown of my head was a smooth and cold sensation. One wrong move would kill me. Her foot crushed my hand with the blade, cutting my palm in the process. I hissed out, and the more I resisted, the hardest it dug. "You think you're clever, huh?" The female mocked out, tapping the firearm at the top of my head. "Too bad you're about to die."
When the lights flickered on, the man furthest from his two accomplices gasped. My eyes skimmed over to find a scrawny figure shaking in fear. He was pointing at me, unable to utter a word but paled. He stepped back, only to lose his balance, stumbling into the row of chairs. "S-Sam, please, put the gun down!"
"I'm in charge of this goddamn mission. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? I'm going to kill this bitch," she snapped, pulling me up by the hair, and when she turned me around to face her, she aimed the gun to my right arm. And she pulled the trigger with a prideful smirk as she watched his expression drop.
"Laelia Valentine," he repeated in a monotone. "I remember those described eyes." He added, and I realized that I hadn't bothered to put my contacts in. After all, I didn't expect a situation like this to play out.
The pain wasn't immediate, and it had happened in a blink of an eye that I didn't notice I had been shot. I cried out, shutting my eyes as I held onto the wound. Bitting the insides of my cheeks until they bled, I felt as though I had forgotten how to breathe. "H-How the hell do you know my name?" I rushed out. "You're going to fucking regret this."
All I could think about was how bad I wanted to see this woman beg me not to kill her. I wanted to see her in this vulnerable state the way she put me in. Don't think about it, and it won't hurt, was what I recited in my head. It was a chant.
When I saw her eyes connect with mine, she dropped the gun, and I saw this as an opportunity I should welcome. If it wasn't for the fact I was ambidextrous, I would have been fucked in this situation. I lunged, using all the strength I could muster in my left arm and felt the satisfaction when my knuckles connected to her temple.
Although it hadn't completely knocked her out the way I hoped, it was enough for her to lower her guard. I grabbed a handful of her hair, holding my breath when my right arm burned in pain. I slammed her head against the desk, "Do you understand how pissed off I am?" I practically yelled. "My goddamn employer called me back when I was on vacation, and the moment I get back, I've gotten shot. So you can understand my anger, right?"
And when she didn't answer, I slammed her head again. And before I could utter a handful of curses, the metal doors swung open, and a pair of hysteric eyes found me. "My adorable big brother, Antonio," I grinned with a tilt of my head, then leaning down to earshot, "If I'm put on house arrest, I'll come back to get you." And I slammed her head one last time. Letting go, I watched her body collapse to the ground and fell to my knees of how lightheaded I felt. Down I go, I thought.