Chapter 40 *
Damon’s POV
"The truth is, I wanted to believe I could have a family again. They disappointed me."
Something tightened in my chest. Hard and painful.
She wanted a family. They threw her away. And now she thinks she's alone.
I stood there looking at her. At her small frame curled up on that bench. At the way she was trying to make herself invisible.
I was angry. But not at her. At them. At the Romano family who'd done this to her.
And I was angry at myself. For not realizing how much she was hurting.
I thought she was strong enough to handle this. I forgot she's just a girl who needs to belong somewhere.
I walked over to the bench. Sat down next to her.
My voice came out softer than I intended.
"Scarlett. Did you forget you're married now?"
She looked up at me. Confused.
"Did you forget you're carrying our child?"
She blinked. Still not understanding.
I needed her to hear this. To really hear it.
"Where I am, that's your home. You're not alone anymore."
Her eyes went wide. Completely shocked.
She stared at me like I'd just spoken a foreign language.
What is she thinking? Does she still think this is just a business arrangement?
That confused look on her face is driving me crazy.
I rubbed my temples. This was harder than I'd expected.
She probably didn't understand what I was trying to say. And forcing the issue wouldn't help.
Getting her to trust me is going to take time.
"You probably don't understand what I'm saying. Just remember this one thing."
I looked directly at her. Made sure she was listening.
"Whatever happens, you can talk to me about it."
"Okay."
That was it. Just okay. Then she looked down again. Back to that defensive posture.
I felt frustrated. Defeated.
This girl. I can't lecture her. I can't scold her. Nothing gets through.
"Fine. Go to bed."
She stood up immediately. Started walking toward the house.
I stayed sitting on the bench. Watched her disappear into the darkness.
The smell of yogurt and stale beer still hung in the air. Sour and unpleasant.
I let out a long breath.
Scarlett's POV
I sat cross-legged on my bed, scrolling through my phone. My finger moved faster and faster as I watched the disaster unfold.
X was on fire. Instagram was exploding. TikTok was having a field day.
#RomanoFamilyDrama was trending. #SATScoreReveal was trending. #PlazaHotelScandal was trending.
Great. Just great.
I clicked on one video. Someone had filmed the entire confrontation with Madison. The slapping. The kneeling. Everything.
Three million views in six hours.
I clicked on another. This one showed me handing Viviana those three gold coins. The audio was crystal clear.
"After these three coins are spent, we're done. Completely."
Five million views.
Kill me now.
I threw my phone onto the nightstand. Rubbed my face with both hands.
This was exactly what I didn't need. Attention. Publicity. My face all over social media.
I spent years being invisible. And now I'm trending on three platforms.
I grabbed my laptop from the desk. Opened it. The screen lit up.
Time to fix this.
I got up and poured myself a glass of water from the pitcher on my dresser. Took a long drink. Rolled my shoulders.
I sat back down. Cracked my knuckles. Placed my fingers on the keyboard.
The familiar rush hit me immediately. That electric feeling. The one I'd missed more than I wanted to admit.
Let's see if I still remember how to do this.
I started typing. Fast. My fingers moved across the keyboard automatically. Muscle memory kicking in.
Port scanning. Vulnerability assessment. Looking for weak points in the security architecture.
X first. Then Instagram. Then Facebook.
My goal is simple. Delete every video, every photo, every post about last night. Make it like it never happened.
The code scrolled across my screen. Green text on black background. Beautiful.
I've missed this. God, I've really missed this.
I was halfway through scanning X's backend when something weird happened.
A line of code appeared on my screen. One I didn't write.
I froze. Stared at it.
What the hell?
Someone else was here. In the system. Scanning the same vulnerabilities I was scanning.
Did I just run into a system administrator doing security patches?
At two in the morning?
Yeah, right.
Then my screen flashed. A program started deploying. Not mine.
Someone was trying to plant a trojan.
Oh, you've got to be kidding me.
I immediately deployed my own counter-program. Blocked the trojan. Started tracing the source.
My program launched successfully. For about three seconds.
Then it got deleted.
What?
My hands moved faster. I deployed another one. This time with better encryption.
Gone. Deleted in five seconds.
"Son of a bitch," I muttered.
Who the hell is this?
I deleted their trojan. But before I did, I downloaded it. Saved it to my hard drive.
Let's see who you are, mystery hacker.
I opened the downloaded file. Started analyzing the code structure. The signature. The way it was written.
My blood ran cold.
No. No way.
I knew this coding style. I knew these patterns. I'd seen them before.
Multiple times.
In my worst nightmares.
Helix.
My hands started shaking. With anger. With disbelief.
It's him. It's actually him.
Of all the hackers in the world. Of all the systems to break into. I had to run into HIM?
Helix. My mortal enemy in the hacking world. The one person who'd ruined my life more times than I could count.
Three years ago. The cruise ship incident.
Pirates had hijacked a luxury cruise liner in international waters. Ten thousand passengers. Hostages.
I'd been working as a contractor. Hired by a private security firm. My job was to track the ship's location. Find it before the pirates could make their demands.
I'd spent three days. No sleep. No food. Just me and my laptop.
I was close. So close. I'd narrowed it down to a fifty-mile radius.
Then Helix showed up.
He hacked into my system. Started attacking my programs. Deleting my work.
I thought he was helping the pirates. I fought back. We went to war in cyberspace for hours.
While we were fighting, a rival hacking team swooped in. Stole all my research. Took the credit.
The hostages got rescued. But I lost the contract. My team got blamed for the delay.
All because of Helix.
Two years ago. The Pentagon contract.
My team had won a major security upgrade contract. Classified systems. High-level clearance. Big money.
We spent weeks building the security architecture. Testing everything. Making it perfect.
Then came the final review. The Pentagon sent their best people to test our work.
Helix broke in.
He got through every layer. Every firewall. Every defense we'd built.
And he left a message in the code.
Two words.
"Amateur work."
The Pentagon was furious. We lost the contract. We lost our reputation. We lost future opportunities.
All because of Helix.
I thought I'd never see this bastard again. I retired. I got out of the game.
But here he is. In the same system. At the same time. Working on the same target.
Why does the universe hate me?
I cracked my knuckles. Time to teach this asshole a lesson.
I broke through his program. Left a message in the code.
"Will you ever stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong?"
The response came back immediately.
"Long time no see, Nyx."