Ariana


    Snuggling into the warmness beside me, I slowly opened my eyes. I fluttered my eyes to blink away sleepiness.


    A smile formed on my lips when I nced at the warmth to which I had been clinging as if my life was dependent on it. My one hand was around Xavier’s torso with my head rested on his shoulder and his arm was wrapped around my shoulders. Laying beside him felt so right.


    Craning my neck up, I gazed at his sleeping face. He looked so peaceful and calm. Events of thest night shed before my eyes. The best night of my life; my first date night, the night on which we both confessed our feelings to each other, the night Xavier asked to give this marriage a chance, the night we slept together for the time, cuddling each other and the night on which I found my hope, my love.


    Slowly, I leaned towards him and pressed my lips on his forehead. A sudden squeal escaped my throat when I was suddenly flipped on my back with Xavier on top of me.


    “I’d have preferred a kiss on my lips. That’d be the best way to wake up in the morning.” He said in his morning husky voice which made my stomach flip in giddiness.


    “You were awake?” I whispered shyly.


    “I woke up the moment you decided to stare at my handsome face.” He said haughtily, making my eyes wide. Heughed at my reaction.


    “Xavier that’s cheating,” I said blushing. He chuckled and kissed my cheek.


    “That’s not cheating. I was just waiting for you to make any move my cute piglet.” He bit his tongue as he said that.


    “What did you say?” I asked.


    “I said I was just waiting…”


    “No, thest word. I couldn’t hear it clearly.” I cut him off, frowning.


    “You didn’t hear?” He sighed. “Then your mistake, I’m not repeating it. It’s top-secret.” He whispered, nibbling my ear, and rubbed his stubble against my cheek.


    “Now, give me my morning kiss.” He inched closer to my lips but I instantly covered my mouth with my hand.


    “No, I haven’t brushed yet,” I mumbled.


    “And I don’t care. Remember we have done it before?” He frowned and pouted like a kid. Aww, he’s so cute.


    “I know but it’s not going to happen today. Now, go away I have to go to my room to get ready for work.” I tried to push him but he didn’t budge.


    “Ariana…” His voice suddenly left yfulness, his expressions became serious.


    “Ariana, from now on you’ll sleep in this room and I’m not taking no for an answer. From today onwards this will be our room. Get that?” He stated, looking deep into my eyes.


    I nodded my head because I didn’t want to be away from him. He’s making me experience new things that are boosting my confidence little by little.


    “Good, I’ll ask Mrs. Molly to transfer your stuff in this room.” He said.


    “No I can do it.. mmmm,” He cut me off by crashing his lips on mine. He took me off guard and deepened the kiss by plunging his tongue in my mouth. And as though he did some magic on me to hypnotize me, my lips automatically moved to respond to his kiss. The intensity of the kiss was making me dazed. He ran his hands seductively on my curves making me moan in delight.


    “What will you say now?” He pulled away and smirked.


    “You’re a cheater, Xavier.” I red at him, catching my breath.


    “Oh, yeah? Then you’re the same because you kissed me back.” He winked, making me blush. I averted my eyes mentally scolding myself. Seriously I have got that desperate that I couldn’t control myself? Goodness, Xavier is making me lose control.


    “Now go get ready if you don’t want to kiss me back again.” He grinned evilly. I immediately pushed him away and ran into my room.


    It was three in the afternoon, I was sitting in my office, doing my work. Daniel and Sean were out for a meeting. So, Xavier asked Mrs. Molly to send lunch to the office and we had our lunch together. I had to make an excuse to my friends for eating with Xavier.


    I wondered till when we’d be ying this hide and seek. I think it’ll take time because it’s just the start of our rtionship. And I don’t have any problem with it. Well, it’s better no one knows because if the media get the hold of this news they’ll not let us live.


    I stood up from my chair to go to Xavier’s office to remind him about a meeting.


    I knocked on the door but no answer came back. I knocked again and this time the answer came in low voice. I entered the office to find him sitting on his chair with his elbows propped on the desk and his face in his hands.


    “Xavier…” I called his name softly, walking towards him. He looked up and my heart almost dropped when I saw glum expressions on his face.


    “What happened Xavier?” I asked, standing beside his chair. He was cheerful all day. Suddenly what happened that made him like this?


    “Ariana…” His voice was full of sadness. I frowned and touched his shoulder but immediately pulled my hand away when the office door burst open. Daniel and Sean strode in, they too had gloomy expressions.


    “Hey Daniel, Hey Sean. Everything’s okay?” I asked, looking between three of them.


    “Ariana, can you please bring coffee for us?” Xavier asked me.


    “Umm… Xavier, I came here to remind you about the meeting.” I said before leaving the cabin.


    “Cancel it.” He replied. Nodding my head, I went out and first canceled the meeting then prepared coffee for three of them.


    “How can this happen?”


    “Ourwork is so secured.”


    “It’s so disappointing. I think someone from our ownpany is deceiving us.”


    These were the arguments I heard when I entered Xavier’s office with coffee. They all were sitting on the couch.


    “I’m sorry if I’m intruding but can you tell me what’s happening? You all look angry.” I asked hesitantly after giving them coffee.


    “No, you’re not intruding. Xavier, Sean… I think she should know what’s happening. She’s also working day and night with us on that project.” Daniel said. I sat on the single-seat couch.


    “Princess, it’s about Chris Silva, our business rival,” Daniel said.


    My eyebrows touched when I heard that name. Chris, I had heard this name somewhere. Suddenly, I remembered him; the man who approached me at the XDS AUTOTECH sess party had the same name. Confusingly, I looked at Xavier, he clenched his jaw and averted his eyes. It confirmed my suspicion, he was the same man.


    “Chris? What about him?” I asked.


    “Don’t utter his name from your mouth.” Xavier snapped abruptly. I sighed and faced Sean and Daniel.


    “Ariana, that bastard Chris has stolen our France manufacturing unit n which we were working on,” Sean said, gritting his teeth.


    “What?!” I asked shockingly. He cursed but I ignored it this time.


    “How do you know that? And how did he get ess to the n? How can you be sure that he has stolen your n?” I asked. Daniel came forward to exin the issue to me.


    “Today when we were in a meeting, Chris was also there. He was basically sitting beside me; hisptop was open, my eyes mistakenly fell on the screen and I saw the folder titled the same as the name of our project. He was stupid to open that screen in my presence but his stupidness worked for us. And when he left the meeting to attend a phone call I secretly essed hisptop which gave me the shock of my life. The same folder had our full n which we are going to represent in France to im thatnd.” Daniel exined.


    I got shocked after hearing that. Our best team worked day and night to win thatnd for what? To get their hard work stolen by someone? That was such a cheap move.


    “I think someone is deceiving us. Someone from ourpany gave this information to Chris. And I’m guessing it’s someone from the IT department.” Sean said.


    “What if he hired someone to hack our systems? We can’t just me our employees without any proof.” Xavier said.


    “Then what should we do? We have to present that n in France in two days. And above all, his name is before ours in the presentation list that came from France. That means he’ll present first and I’m sure he’ll present our n then what will we do? Who will believe that it was our n and our team worked on it?” Daniel asked, looking distraught.


    “I think we should hire a professional hacker to get into Chris’spanywork. I know we have one in our IT department but right now we can’t trust anyone.” Sean said.


    I was sitting there, listening to them. They were worried and devastated. I didn’t me them, they had surely worked hard to win thatnd in France. It’s their dream to establish their business in France. They needed help and I agreed with them in this situation, they couldn’t trust anyone right now.


    And the most important thing was… I could help. But how should I tell them that? Would they believe me?


    “What if we send someone in hispany to delete that information,” Sean suggested.


    “I can help.” I butted in.


    “No!” Daniel


    “Not gonna happen!’ Sean


    “We are not sending you there!” Xavier


    Three of them shouted in unison. Not their fault.


    “Who said anything about going there?” I frowned.


    “Ariana, stay out of this. We’ll handle it. It’s aplicated situation and I don’t want you to get involved in this situation.” Xavier said.


    Okay then…


    “I can hack hisputer,” I said confidentiality.


    “You what?” Three of them stood from the couch with lightning speed.


    Yes, that’s something no one knows about me.


    “This isn’t a joke, Ariana,” Sean said with a serious expression. I stood up from the couch and faced them squarely. That’s the only thing I’m confident about in my life.


    “I’m not joking. I think you don’t know that I have a degree in software engineering. And apart from that, I have done a professional diploma in Ethical Hacking which no one knows about.” I said.


    Three of their eyes went wide in surprise and they looked at me like they were looking at an alien.


    “That’s new. Have you ever hacked any system on a professional level?” Daniel asked, shing a smile.


    Okay… I was asked to keep that secret but I think I have to tell them to gain their trust. They won’t tell anyone. Right?


    I bit the inside of my cheek and scratched below my ear.


    “Err… I kind of have worked as a professional.. hacker in.. New York Cyber Crime Branch.”


    Their jaws dropped on the floor and their eyebrows went up the ceiling.


    “When?” Why are they asking questions in unison?


    “It was contract-based. I have worked with them for 6 months, one and a half years back. Actually, they approached me when they got to know about me from my colleague, whopleted his diploma with me. At that time he was working with cybercrime branch.” I exined.


    “Please don’t tell anyone. It was supposed to be kept secret. Cybercrime branch told me strictly not to disclose this to anyone. I just told you because you needed to know this” I added. In no time, I was pulled into a bear hug by Daniel.


    “Goodness, Princess, you seriously shocked us today,” Daniel eximed happily.


    “We have a talented person between us and we don’t even know?” Sean said, hugging me.


    Xavier came and stood in front of me. His eyes were showing admiration and he had a hint of a smile on his lips but he didn’t smilepletely.


    “How will you do that?” Xavier asked. Ohkay, he’s testing me. Acting like a hard nut to crack? Then let’s show him.


    “I can get root ess to theirwork by creating a back door. I just have to find an unused ount that will help me gain ess to theirwork. Once I find the ount I’ll remove it & re-install it under the same name. In this way, my identity will remain anonymous. And I can fluctuate IP address so they won’t know from where the ount is being essed.” I exined.


    “How much time will it take. What if their system administrator gets to know about it during security check?” Sean asked.


    “Finding unused or disabled ounts will take time and during this, they will not know that their system is being essed by someone else. After I gain ess to the ount it’ll take some more minutes to check the wholepany’s data. And before they’ll know I’ll be out of thework.” I said confidently, looking at Sean.


    “What if they involve cops after knowing that their system is hacked?” Daniel asked.


    “We have nothing to be scared of, it’s our n that he stole,” Xavier said.


    “He won’t dare do that. What will he tell the cops? That someone broke into hisputer to steal the n which he stole from someone else? He must be stupid but I don’t think he’ll dare to do anything which will expose him & will ruin his own reputation.” I said.


    Xavier Knight


    My jaw dropped on the ground floor. She’s so Damn smart.


    Just how manyyers has she been hiding? In how many ways she’ll surprise me? Or rather, in how many ways she’ll give me shock?


    I knew that she has a software engineering degree but I didn’t know she had worked for Cyber Crime Branch? That’s a shock of my life.


    She spoke so confidently, she looked different while talking about that. I had never seen her so self-assured about anything else before.


    “I think we should give her a chance. We don’t even have any other option for now.” Sean said.


    “I trust her on this,” Daniel said.


    “Me too,” I said, looking at Ariana.


    “What will you need to do that?” I asked her.


    “Just myptop.” She replied.


    “Then bring it on,” I said. She smiled widely and ran out of my office to bring herptop.Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.


    “I told you she’s a gem.” Sean patted my back. Indeed she is.


    “And she’s my sister. I’m so proud of her.” Daniel added proudly.


    When she came back with herptop I let her sit on my chair and let her do her work. Three of us sat on the couch, away from her because she said she needed concentration. She projected herptop screen on the TV hanged on the wall so that we could see what she was doing.


    She typed furiously on herptop and we watched everything on TV;mands were running at high speed. Three of us looked at each other, obviously not knowing what she was doing. We weren’t getting anything shown on the screen. Thosemands were going above our heads.


    “Yes,” Ariana screamed, making all of us jump on our feet. We ran towards her.


    “I got ess to thepanywork. Now I just have to run amand to check for your work.” She eximed happily. We stayed quiet, we stood at a distance from her, watching her do her magic.


    “I found it. And you were right, he indeed stole your work. What you want me to do now?” She asked.


    “We just want our work to be entirely deleted from hisputer or hiswork. Nothing else.” Sean replied.


    “Done. Now there’s no single file that’s simr to your work.” She said after clicking the button on hisptop.


    “Done? Just like that?” Daniel asked surprisingly. My jaw was noting up from the ground floor.


    “And here, I’m out of their system. They’ll not even know someone even broke into their system.” She said, typing on theptop. After shutting theptop, she stood up and faced us.


    “And one more thing, I simultaneously ran a security check in yourpany’s system and I found out that someone broke into the system passing the firewall. None of your employees betrayed you. It’s like Chris Silva hired some extremely professional hackers to crack thepany’s firewall and it’s not easy for random hackers to do so. It needs high skills which are not provided to engineers during their studies. That’s why your security administration didn’t get hold of the loop.” She said nonchntly like it was not a big thing that she hacked our ownpany’s system in front of our eyes without letting us know.


    “You hacked our system too?” Sean and Daniel gaped at her. She rubbed the back of her neck and smiled sheepishly.


    “Sorry…”


    “Sorry? Are you crazy? Goodness, Princess. You blew our mind away. I’m so, so, so proud of you.” Daniel enveloped her in a bear hug.


    This time I couldn’t hold it, a proud smile broke on my lips. My chest puffed with proudness. She proved herself today that she’s not arm candy. She has her own worth. She’s smart, sharp, and intelligent. She totally stands out of the crowd.


    “I don’t even understand why are you even working as this dumbass’s P. A when you have this mind-blowing talent?” Sean said approaching her and embraced in a hug.


    “I’m so proud of you,” Sean said to her. When Sean backed away, Daniel again hugged her.


    “Okay, that’s enough,” I said and pulled Daniel away from her.


    “You have made me so proud today. You didn’t let our hard work go in vain.” I appreciated her. She must know that what she did is worth appreciating.


    I saw her eyes started glistening up with moisture.


    “Hey, hey, what happened? You really did a great job. You should be proud of yourself. Why tears?” I asked cupping her face.


    “What happened Ariana?” Sean asked.


    “Why are you crying, princess?” Daniel asked as well.


    “Nothing, It’s just… It’s been ages since someone appreciated me.” She gave a forced smile.


    Her father…


    I immediately pulled her in my embrace. No one ever saw her worth. Even I was a fool not to know this. It feels like her so-called family never gave importance to her.


    Daniel and Sean patted her back tofort her.


    “Okay, I think we should go and have a talk to our IT team about the matter. Let’s go, Daniel.” Sean said.


    “Oh,e on, I want to watch this beautiful scene here. It’s not always you see Xavier caring for someone like this.” Daniel whined. I red at him and in response, I got a wink from him. He leaves no single chance to tease.


    Ignoring Daniel’sment, Sean dragged him outside. At least Sean is a bit mature.


    “One thing is bugging me that when my father gave me a file of your details, nothing was mentioned there about your work. You have a great talent then why you never worked? Many big IT firms would love to have a talent like you.” I asked when I let her free from my embrace.


    “I wanted to but… Mr. Smith never allowed me.” She said hesitantly.


    “Why?” I asked, clenching my jaw.


    “H.. he never wanted me to be recognized so Inded a job in a small IT firm to stay unnoticed.” She replied, looking at her feet.


    That scumbag Andrew took her dreams away from her. He kept her at the back, never let her free, he cut her wings. But her talent was bigger than anything that the New York Cyber Crime Branch recognized her.


    I was no different from Andrew. I also forced her to work with me not recognizing her worth. But she did her job as my P. A very efficiently like she had experience in that. But I knew what I did and I’ll correct my mistake.


    I’m here to give her what she was kept away from. I’m here to make her every dreame true. I’m here to make her recognized.


    “It’s time to fly Ari,” I whispered and kissed her forehead.