Chapter 41 *
Scarlett’s POV
Oh, so he recognized me. Good. That'll make this more satisfying.
I typed back.
"Nobody asked to see you. Get lost and don't interfere with my work."
"I've got my own work to do. Let's stay in our own lanes."
I stared at the screen. My eye twitched.
"Your lane is anywhere I'm not. Leave. Now."
"Can't. I've got a deadline."
"Not my problem."
"Then we work side by side. Like professionals."
"I'd rather eat glass."
"Dramatic as always."
I'm going to kill him. I'm actually going to track him down and kill him.
I deployed another trojan. This one was meaner. Designed to corrupt his system.
He deleted it. Within seconds.
He deployed his own. I deleted that too.
Back and forth. Attack and counter-attack.
For thirty minutes straight.
My fingers were flying across the keyboard. I was barely thinking. Just reacting. Trusting my instincts.
He's good. Damn it, he's really good.
But I'm better.
I changed tactics. Stopped attacking him directly. Started working on privilege escalation instead.
If I could get admin access, I could just kick him out of the system completely.
I found a vulnerability. A tiny crack in the authentication protocol.
Exploited it. Hard.
My screen flashed green.
"PRIVILEGE ESCALATION SUCCESSFUL"
Yes!
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Grinned at my screen.
Take that, you smug bastard.
I used my new admin privileges to terminate his connection. Immediately. No warning.
Kicked him right out of the system.
I leaned back in my chair. Stretched my arms over my head.
"That's what you get for competing with me," I said out loud.
God, that felt good.
I got back to work. Used my admin access to do what I'd come here for.
Added my name to the platform's keyword blacklist. Added every variation of "Scarlett Romano." Added "Plaza Hotel party." Added "Romano family."
Any account that tried to post content with those keywords would get suspended within ten minutes.
Then I created an automated script to scrub existing content. Every video. Every photo. Every post about last night.
Gone. All of it.
I moved to the next platform. Instagram. Same process.
Then Facebook.
Damon's POV
I stared at my computer screen. My hands lifted off the keyboard.
Lines of code scrolled past. Completely fucking annoying.
This was supposed to be simple. Delete some videos. Scrub some posts. Basic cleanup work.
Instead, I'm dealing with HER.
I leaned back in my chair. Rubbed my temples.
The entire reason I was sitting here at two in the morning was Scarlett. The Plaza Hotel disaster had gone viral. Videos everywhere. Photos on every platform.
My wife's face trending on three different social media sites.
Not good. Not good at all.
So I'd decided to handle it myself. Use my... specialized skills to make the problem disappear.
Except I wasn't alone in the system.
Nyx was here.
My mortal enemy in the hacking world. The one person who'd ruined more of my operations than I could count.
Of all the systems. Of all the times. I had to run into HER.
I stood up. Walked to the bar in the corner of my bedroom. Grabbed a glass. Filled it with ice water.
Downed the entire thing in one go.
The cold hit my stomach. Spread through my chest. Cleared my head slightly.
Think. Focus. Don't let her get under your skin.
I walked back to the computer. Sat down. Flexed my fingers.
She announced her retirement two years ago. Said she was done with this life. Why the hell is she attacking civilian platforms now?
What's her angle?
The screen flickered. A notification popped up.
INCOMING MESSAGE
I clicked it.
Nyx: "Still here? Thought you'd have given up by now."
My eye twitched.
This woman's mouth is still as vicious as ever.
I typed back quickly.
Helix: "Just getting started."
I deployed a trojan. Sophisticated. Multi-layered. One of my best.
It launched successfully. Started infiltrating her defenses.
For about five seconds.
Then my screen flashed red.
TROJAN DELETED
A new message appeared.
Nyx: "Nice try. But you'll have to do better than that."
She'd left something behind. A counter-program. Embedded in my system.
Bold move.
I isolated it immediately. Started analyzing the code structure.
Her signature style. Aggressive. Efficient. Elegant.
I hate that I can recognize her work instantly.
I deleted her program. Cleaned up the traces. Rebuilt my defenses.
Another message popped up.
Nyx: "What's the rush? Can't wait for me to finish?"
I raised an eyebrow. Typed back.
Helix: "Sorry. Time-sensitive."
Nyx: "That's why I'm asking if you're in such a goddamn hurry."
She's in a mood tonight.
Helix: "Personal business. None of yours."
Nyx: "Personal? YOU? Since when do you have a personal life?"
Since I got married and knocked up my wife. Not that you need to know that.
I kept my response short.
Helix: "Since now."
Nyx: "Bullshit."
I could practically hear her voice through the screen. Sharp. Mocking.
We've been enemies for years. But I've never actually met her in person. Never heard her real voice. Never seen her face.
The screen flickered again. My programs started glitching. One by one.
She's attacking.
I switched to defense mode. Reinforced my firewalls. Deployed counter-measures.
But she was fast. Faster than I remembered.
She's gotten better. Damn it.
My chat window lit up.
Nyx: "It's been a while since we went head-to-head. Let's see if you can crack what I'm leaving behind."
Nyx: "Later."
Then everything went black.
My screen. My connection. Everything.
She'd kicked me out of the system.
That bitch.
But she wasn't done.
My computer started freaking out. Fans spinning at maximum speed. Hard drive grinding. Screen flashing.
She was attacking me directly now. Trying to break through my personal defenses.
Pop-up windows exploded across my screen. Hundreds of them. Warning messages. Error codes. System alerts.
FIREWALL BREACH ATTEMPT
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED
MALWARE SCAN IN PROGRESS
THREAT LEVEL: CRITICAL
I watched the chaos unfold. My automated defenses were holding. Barely.
She's not trying to actually break in. She's just making a point.
"I could destroy you if I wanted to. But I'm choosing not to."
Arrogant. Infuriating. And completely accurate.
I let out a long breath. Closed my laptop.
She's better than me. In pure technical skill, she's always been better.
I could sit here for hours trying to break through whatever she left behind. Or I could accept defeat and move on.
Time to be practical.
I stood up. Straightened my shirt. Ran a hand through my hair.
A knock on my door.
"Sir, the prenatal supplements are ready."
Arthur's voice. Right on time.
I walked to the door. Opened it.
Arthur stood in the hallway holding a tray. Expensive bottles. Designer labels. The best prenatal vitamins money could buy.
DHA. Folic acid. Organic multivitamins. Calcium. Iron.
I'd ordered everything the doctor recommended. Plus extras.
"Thank you, Arthur."
I took the tray from his hands. He nodded and walked away.
I headed upstairs. Toward the guest wing. Toward Scarlett's room.
She's probably still awake. She always stays up late.
I reached her door. Noticed it was slightly open. Not fully closed.
I pushed the door wider. Stepped inside without knocking.