Chapter 65 *
Scarlett’s POV
I'd been trained by the best. Had survived missions that would break most people.
And I was supposed to just sit here and let some anonymous assholes destroy me?
No.
I wasn't the kind of girl who hid behind her husband.
Wasn't going to cry in the dark and wait for someone to save me.
I closed the door. Locked it.
Walked over to my desk.
Opened my laptop.
Time to find out who wanted me dead.
And make them regret it.
My fingers flew across the keyboard. The screen filled with code.
The information aggregation platform loaded. The biggest one in America. The source of all those retweets. All those shares.
Every single "Scarlett Romano is a cheater" post traced back here.
I cracked my knuckles.
"Let's see what we're working with."
Their security was decent. Better than most.
But I'd broken into CIA servers before. This was child's play.
Five minutes. That's all it took.
Admin access. Full backend privileges.
I was in.
I started scanning the system. Looking for anything unusual.
Found it immediately.
My protection program was gone. Someone had deleted it.
And replaced it with something else.
I opened the code. Started reading.
Oh.
Oh, this was bad.
Every search query for "Scarlett Romano" was being manipulated. Redirected. The algorithm was pushing "cheating scandal" to the top of every result.
Someone had hired a serious hacker to do this.
I felt my jaw clench.
"Who the fuck are you?"
I started downloading the malicious program. Wanted to study it. Figure out who wrote it.
My screen flickered.
Then went black.
"What—"
New text appeared. White on black.
[Nyx?]
I froze.
Someone was in my system. Right now. In real-time.
Reverse hacking me while I was hacking them.
My hands hovered over the keyboard. This person knew my hacker alias.
I typed fast.
[Who the fuck are you?]
The response came immediately.
[Is this your work?]
I stared at the screen.
Which work? The protection program I'd planted before? Or the current smear campaign?
I typed back.
[You know it's me and you still came? You got a death wish?]
A pause. Longer this time.
Then:
[Name your price. Tell me who hired you.]
I almost laughed.
Almost.
[I want to know who hired YOU. Name YOUR price.]
[Nobody hired me. I'm just doing the right thing.]
Oh, for fuck's sake.
A vigilante hacker. My blood was boiling now.
[You don't know shit about what happened.]
[I know enough.]
I wanted to punch my screen.
[Who are you?]
The cursor blinked. Once. Twice.
Then:
[Helix.]
My stomach dropped. Fucking perfect.
[We can work together,] he continued. [Just give me the name of who's paying you. I'll make it worth your while.]
I stared at the screen.
This asshole thought I was getting paid to smear myself.
My fingers slammed into the keyboard.
[You're the one getting paid, you shallow piece of shit. I do what I want. When I want. Nobody tells Nyx what to do.]
I kept typing. Faster now.
[Want to know who's behind this? Fine. Find me in person. Then I'll tell you.]
I hit send.
Then immediately started shutting down the connection.
But my mind was spinning.
Helix.
Someone had hired Helix to take me down.
This wasn't some random troll. This wasn't Zelda paying a few thousand for bot farms.
This was serious money. Serious power.
Only someone with connections could hire Helix. Someone who moved in very specific circles.
The Romano family couldn't afford him. Not even close.
So who?
My screen flickered again.
[You really think I can't find you, Sable?]
The blood drained from my face.
Sable.
My assassin codename.
Helix knew.
He knew who I really was.
I forced myself to stay calm. Typed slowly. [What makes Scarlett Romano so special that you'd come after her personally? Who wants her gone? ]
His response was instant. [Who the hell could hire YOU?]
I blinked. Wait. [Nobody hired me.]
[Bullshit.]
[I'm serious. I was just checking who had the balls to delete my protection program.]
[You're saying you didn't plant the smear campaign?]
[Why the fuck would I smear a college student???]
A longer pause this time.
Then: [Did you delete the protection and add the search manipulation?]
[No...]
Another pause.
[Not me either.]
I stared at the screen.
We'd both been played.
Someone had hired Helix to "stop" a cheating scandal.
Someone had deleted my protection program and framed me for the smear campaign.
Someone wanted us fighting each other instead of finding them.
[Fuck,] I typed.
[Yeah,] came the response.
We sat there. Two of the world's best hackers. Both realizing we'd been set up.
[So if it's not you...] Helix started.
[And it's not you...] I continued.
[Then who the hell is it?]
That was the million-dollar question.
My shoulders dropped. The tension I'd been holding for the past hour finally released.
Thank God.
Helix wasn't my enemy. He wasn't the one trying to destroy me.
Which meant... he might actually be helping?
I typed fast.
[Hold up. Why are you even involved in this? Who hired you to help Scarlett Romano?]
The cursor blinked for a few seconds.
[No idea who hired me. Just needed cash. Took the job off a darknet forum.]
I almost laughed.
Of course. The great Helix. Legendary hacker. Terror of government agencies worldwide.
Taking random jobs on the darknet like some kind of freelance Uber driver.
[You're telling me you're doing charity work now? How noble.]
[Fuck off. I charge plenty.]
[Sure you do. I'm touched. Really.]
[Are you always this annoying?]
[Only to people I like.]
There was a pause.
[We're not friends.]
[We are now. You helped me. That makes us best friends.]
[I'm blocking you.]
[You won't. You're having too much fun.]
Another pause. Longer this time.
[You're insufferable.]
[Thank you.]
I was actually smiling now. First time all night.
My screen flickered.
Different pattern. Different signature.
Oh shit.
[Someone's coming in hot,] I typed fast.
[I see it,] Helix responded immediately.
The attack came from nowhere. Massive. Coordinated. Professional.
Not like the bot farms. Not like the amateur smear campaign.
This was real power.
My fingers flew across the keyboard. Building defenses. Redirecting traffic.
[This is them,] I typed. [The real enemy.]
[Agreed. You distract. I'll counterattack.]
No discussion. No argument. We just moved.
I launched a series of decoy programs. Made it look like I was panicking. Running.
The attacker took the bait. Followed my trail.
Meanwhile, Helix was circling around.