"The lady doesn't believe in me. She trusts the other hacker instead." Skeleton stated, complaining about being underestimated.

Desmond frowned at the man's tone. He hated hearing anything to do with Zaria trusting someone else, especially if that person was a man. In his mind, it almost sounded as though she preferred the damned hacker to him.

Not realizing the fire he had set ablaze in his friend's heart, Skeleton looked pleadingly at Zaria. "Why don't you let me try?"

Zaria knew that she would not be able to shake the man off and who knows, he might just start hacking into her phone and computer as a way of bugging her. She could only roll her eyes helplessly. "If you have so much time to waste, go right ahead. Just don't come crying to me if you get your stubborn ass kicked. Cry to Desmond instead."

"I don't want anyone crying to me either. I can only wipe your tears." Desmond ignored his friend and said to Zaria.

"You meanies. News flash, I will not need to cry and neither of you will get the heavenly opportunity to wipe my tears." Skeleton waited to be given the chance to kick the other person's butt.

Zaria smiled and logged into Creszone on her phone to make a voice call. "Zeus, someone wants to contest with you. " She reported as soon as the voice call connected, increasing the call volume to let the two men overhear the call.

"Is that so?" Zeus burst into laughter in his deep voice, sounding like he had heard the craziest joke of the year. Zaria did not say a word, so he realized that she was serious. "Wait. You are serious."

"Yes." Zaria responded, taking note of how enraged Skeleton was for being underestimated before being given a chance to prove himself.

"Let them hack into the city's surveillance system and wreck it for a moment, then get it back to normal. If he can't do it before I do, then he better tuck his tail between his legs and never try to challenge me again." He instructed, then hung up without one more word.

Zaria and Desmond expected to see Skeleton sit and start madly typing on his laptop in an attempt to hack into the city's surveillance system before Zeus did, but instead he looked frozen.

"Uh… did you just say Zeus?" His mouth was gaped in disbelief.

"Yes." Zaria blinked. Did they know each other?

"I give up." He suddenly announced.

"Is he that good?" Desmond asked in surprise when he saw his friend throw in the towel. Skeleton was one of the world's best programmers and hackers, it was not every day that he gave in to another one. Just how good was this Zeus?

"He's the creator of Creszone." Skeleton responded in frustration. He would have wanted to believe that Zaria's Zeus was just another newbie who had named himself after his idol, but he had heard Zeus' voice before. It turned out, this was not the first time that he was challenging Zeus. He had done it before, and the man had given him a stern warning before wrecking his precious laptop with viruses. After hearing the voice of the man who Zaria spoke to, he was certain that he was the very Zeus he knew—Hacker Z.

"No way. The creator of creszone is a woman." Zaria retorted to his claim.

"That doesn't mean she truly created it, right? Perhaps he sold it to her. But I believe him because he is also the secret creator of Crescent, a virus used by the national military system." Skeleton explained.

Zaria was surprised. So, when Zeus made a claim about being Creszone's creator, he was not lying to make himself appear to be a pro. She had even challenged him to prove it, which had him shutting down her laptop for a while. Hearing that he was also the creator of a virus that the military used, it made her wonder just how great he truly was.

Desmond glanced at Zaria in displeasure. Her face was full of admiration. Although it was the same look she had when she talked about her favorite actor, Jupiter—pure admiration, he was jealous and he knew that it was ridiculous.

"There's only one major point in all of this. We have a genius against us." She wondered whether the situation would have been different if she had not spoken to the man the previous night. If she didn't alert him about her intention to help Desmond, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to make it harder for them.

Deciding that it was not the right time to start indulging in self-blame, she slapped her forehead. "What to do now?"

"You have already helped me so much. Don't sweat it, my love." Desmond took her hand.

However, she was not intending to give up halfway when she had already started helping out. "There has to be something he will accept in exchange for the video."

Before she could think about what to offer, her phone chimed with a text message from Zeus on Creszone.

"Trust me, you don't want to ask me for an exchange." He had attached a sly sticker, making her frown.

"Did something happen?" Skeleton asked.

"He is listening to us." Her brows creased.

"We cannot even plan in peace anymore, huh?" Desmond was on the verge of exploding in displeasure. "Doesn't he have a job or something?"

[Tell Desmond that I spend my days lying around and spending all the wealth I've accumulated. I plan to get a lifetime partner, by the way.]

When Desmond saw the text message that had arrived on Zaria's phone, he had the urge to challenge that man to a fight.

He shrugged and walked towards his desk, then tapped a button in his drawer to turn off the surveillance camera in his office, which the Zeus guy must have hacked. For double security, he walked over to a flower pot by the window and threw his jacket over it.

He then returned to the duo who was wondering about his antics and wrote on a piece of paper, "I covered the surveillance camera."

"He reminded us of an important point." She whispered, before sending a [thanks Zeus] to the man. If Zeus could hack into the surveillance cameras in Desmond's office and overhear their conversation, then someone else could do it. What if Jaime hired someone to do it too?

Communicating on paper, they made their way to a conference room that Desmond was certain did not have any surveillance and had a soundproof door and walls.

"Let's go on." Zaria resumed when they had sat down.

"Your phone." Skeleton reminded her.

"He can listen if he wants." Zaria was too tired to deal with him, and she knew that he wouldn't have the time to waste anyway.

"Since we know the truth, we can make plans and trap Jaime." She suggested.

"How will we do that?" Asked Skeleton, who had decided to help out too.

"We can start by trapping Samantha first." Zaria explained her suggestion, knowing that Jaime was lacking in minions. "He is trying to get Natalie and me on his side because Samantha cannot do everything on her own. If we trap her, not only will we deal Jaime a huge blow, but we can also get the truth out of her mouth.

"What a coincidence, I was thinking of starting with Samantha too. The clock is ticking away the seconds left to her death." Desmond's lips curled into a lopsided grin, and he took out his phone to give Samantha a call.

"You son of a bitch!" Yelled Samantha, threatening to shatter Desmond's phone by her shrill screech.

"I didn't know you were fond of calling yourself names, my dear sister?" Desmond responded unhurriedly, his tone calm.

"I will make you pay for what you've done." The woman threatened angrily.

The man laughed at her tone. "Indeed, two siblings, one mind. I was also thinking of making you pay. Who do you think should go first?"

"You will pay for this!" The woman continued screaming, but Desmond cut her off.

___

Natalie woke up in Devonte's arms and he was stroking her skin gently.

"You still want more?" She tilted her head to meet his gaze when his fingers snaked down her belly.

He did, but he shook his head. "I should get going soon. I have a movie to start shooting in a few hours."

"Okay. Should I see you off?" She suggested, understanding that he had a busy schedule.

"Are you certain that you will not get caught?" He questioned, and she sat up then slid off the bed.

"I'll do it secretly." When she stood up, the sheet covering her slid off her skin, leaving behind her exposed body. Her perfect curves were a feast for his eyes and he swallowed.

She was yet to take a step away when he pulled her right back into his arms.

"You said that you have to leave." She asked amid his onslaught of impatient caresses.

He kissed her neck and held her against his bare body. "How do you expect me to leave when you're seducing me this way?"