Aria's POV
The hum of the Manchester city, London filtered through my apartment window, but I barely noticed it. My name is Aria Vale, highly intelligent, introverted, cautious, observant, I was alone, as always, surrounded by screens and the faint scent of cold coffee that had gone forgotten on the corner of my desk.
Code scrolled endlessly under my fingers—patterns and logic that made sense, unlike people.
I liked it this way. Invisible. Silent. Untouchable.
The world outside could chase its glittering chaos. Me? I preferred shadows, the predictable hum of servers, the thrill of breaking through firewalls no one else dared to touch. Emotions were messy, unpredictable—dangerous. That's why I kept my distance.
The hum of the city outside was a constant reminder that life was loud and messy—and I preferred to stay as far away from that noise as possible. My apartment was my fortress: dim lights, the glow of screens, and the soft whir of my computers. That was my world. Safe. Predictable. Calm
At least, mostly.
I own a cybersecurity firm/ underground hacking alias known as (Ciphershade Security)-- provides high level digital security solutions ( legit front).
I own another branch in Edinburgh, known as (GhostNet) – my hacker alias for more secretive operations.
Yes,I'm a CEO, a rich and low-key one at that.
There was Lina, my best friend since high school, who insisted on popping into my life like an alarm clock I never asked for. She was the opposite of me in every way—loud, vibrant, outgoingandcheerful. She called me "Ghost"—I didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or a complaint. She had this habit of leaving snacks on my desk, then texting me a hundred times to make sure I'd noticed them. I tolerated it. Mostly.
Then there was Mara, my sister, or more like my personal life coach and bodyguard combined. She had a way of worrying that made my hair stand on end, but I knew she cared. Mara hated that I spent more time talking to servers than to people. She didn't understand the thrill of breaking through a firewall or tracing a hacker halfway across the globe. She only saw that I was… alone. And maybe she feared I'd always be that way.
Also there's Eli Mercer, the only other person I trusted. He'd taught me everything I knew about cybersecurity, guiding me through the labyrinth of code and chaos. Patient, meticulous, and quietly protective, he reminded me that even someone like me didn't have to navigate the shadows entirely alone. But trust was earned, and I was stingy with it.
I wasn't lonely—not really. My world was carefully curated: people I could rely on, walls I could control, and routines that made sense. But sometimes… sometimes Lina's laugh or Mara's constant worrying made me wonder if maybe a little chaos wasn't the worst thing in the world.
I just didn't expect that chaos to walk into my life in a tailored suit with a grin that could disarm even the most guarded system…
I pushed my chair closer to the monitors, the glow reflecting off my glasses. Lines of code streamed like a river, each one a puzzle piece, a lock waiting to be opened. My world made sense this way—clear, logical, controllable.
My alias (code name), Ghost, was known only in whispers in certain corners of the web. To most, I was nothing more than a ghost in the system, a phantom who could vanish without a trace. To me, it was freedom. Freedom from the chaos of people who didn't understand, freedom from mistakes and emotions that made everything messy.
Tonight, like every other night, I worked alone. Until a new alert blinked on my screen—an intrusion attempt. Someone was probing one of Dante Moreau's corporate servers. My fingers hesitated. He was everywhere in the news—luxury parties, media scandals, the kind of man everyone whispered about but no one truly knew.
Careless, arrogant, untouchable.
Normally, I wouldn't touch this. Not my problem. But something about the sophistication of the intrusion made me pause. This wasn't a casual hacker looking for fame or cash. This was someone who moved with intent, precision… and maybe arrogance.
I leaned closer, scanning the code. Whoever was behind this wasn't just testing the system—they were daring someone to notice. And for reasons I didn't fully understand, I wanted to rise to that challenge.
The news ticker on the corner of my screen flashed his face again: Dante Moreau. Wealthy, infamous, untouchable.
I shook my head. Keep your distance, Aria. That was the rule. No distractions. No mistakes.
And yet… as my fingers danced over the keyboard, I couldn't ignore the tiny spark of curiosity that had nothing to do with code.
Somewhere, somehow, he was about to enter my world. And nothing about that was going to be simple.