Chapter 1 The Meeting

Nessa Sims

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“We’ll be late if you don’t come down right now,” Ellie screamed at me. She was downstairs waiting for me to get ready for the hackathon event Tech Titans was hosting. Ellie knew I always took forever to get ready and I honestly expected her to be used to it by now.

“I’ll be down in five minutes.” I applied the last of my makeup and put my hair into a bun. I was already dressed. Ellie had to drive me because she was the one with a car and I had always been her passenger princess.

I went downstairs along with Liam because we were going to drop him off at my Mum’s house first. I locked up the house and we went to the car.

“When are you ever going to change?” Ellie came at me before I could even sit down properly.

“Maybe when I find the love of my life.”

“How does it even relate?” She laughed and hit me softly.

“You’re allowed to laugh but not to hit me.” I slapped her hands away from my body.

The ride over to my mum’s was fun. Well, whenever it was a combination of me and Ellie in the car, we always had the time of our lives. Liam sat at the back with his face glued to the iPad throughout. He was sad I wasn’t taking him with me but he was only 3, and children weren’t allowed there.

“Bye Mum.”

“Bye baby, see you at 6.” He slammed the car door and ran to hug his granny. I didn’t say anything to her as we still had our issues but thank goodness she didn’t have any with my son. I mean, who would’ve helped me babysit him? I didn’t fancy the idea of a random babysitter around my child.

We drove to the event. We were already 10 minutes late and my phone had been blowing up with calls from my other teammates.

“I’m so sorry, I got caught up in traffic.” I lied. I took my name tag from one of the organizers.

“Shut your lying ass.” Ariana teased me. “We all know you’re never early.” She was my favorite teammate and she made my work with them more interesting and bearable.

My manager came into the room we were all in. I didn’t like him but I had to put up with him because I needed him to get us to competitions and the prices were really helpful.

“Y’all will be up in 10 minutes, so get ready and don’t flop.” He scoffed at us. We were all grown up, so I didn’t understand why he had to act the way he did.

“Okay, boss.” Everyone else echoed in unison.

We went to the arena, everything was already set up for the competition. Different teams trooped in looking all confident and ready. Although I wasn’t fazed, I knew I was good and my teammates were also good hackers.

“Remind me what’s the price again?” Ellie snapped me out of my thoughts.

“10k.” The price wasn’t really all that compared to all the other competitions we’ve had, but important and powerful people were coming to watch us in action. The event could open new opportunities or even land us new jobs.

“Okay girl, bring that money home.” She kissed me goodbye.

“You’re leaving? Who would drive me home?”

“The new man you’ll flirt with after you win.”

“How are you so sure I’m going to win?”

“I know my girl, don’t disappoint.” She winked at me. “Ouuu, who’s that handsome boy I see.” She walked towards him. Ellie has always been the one to fantasize about boys, they never lasted though because she had commitment issues. I wish I could say the same for myself, I fell in love with someone who later ended up complicating my life.

“Alright, welcome everybody. I’m going to state the rules and y’all have only 30 minutes to complete the task.” The first presenter announced.

“You have to hack into a computer system without leaving any trace of the intrusion. The goal is to gain access to the system's files and data without being detected by security software or leaving any digital footprints.” The second presenter added.

That was an easy task. I expected it to be more challenging. I was just curious about who the important people would be. Maybe I would land a good-paying job to take care of my child.

“Your time starts now.”

Ariana, our other teammate, and I began coding, looking for ways to gain access to the system without leaving traces. Our eyes darted across the screen, looking for flaws in the system we could exploit. I found an unpatched software and in 20 minutes we could hack into the system without leaving traces.

“And done!” I screamed in excitement. The two presenters came to see what we had done and announced us as the winners.

“Hey, my boss wants to speak with you.” I turned around to see a strange man with an all-black outfit.

“Who’s your boss?” Different thoughts were running through my head because his outfit was suspicious.

“Over there.” He pointed to an isolated corner. I wondered who the mysterious person would be. I wanted to ask him who his boss was again but he was already gone.

I hesitated for a moment, but my curiosity got the best of me. I walked towards the corner. I didn’t know if I should be worried or scared. I acted calm because I knew I hadn’t done anything bad, maybe it was just a guy that was in love with me.

I saw the most handsome man on earth. He was tall with a chiseled jaw and hazel eyes. His tailored suit hugged his body in all the right places, highlighting his broad shoulders and strong arms. He was the type of man who would make you weak in the knees with just a glance.

“What would this man want from me?” I thought to myself.

“Nessa Sims.” He cut me out of my thoughts. His voice was deep and smooth. How did he already know my name and what did he want from me?

“Yes?” I said with all confidence. I was clearly faking it because I had never been a confident person.

“I need you.” He walked closer to me. I held in a gasp as I started imagining our lives together. “I need you to come work for me.” He added.

I was so disappointed. It was for work. I snapped out of my delusion. “What kind of work? And who told you I needed a job.”

“I saw your hacking skills earlier, you are what I’ve been searching for.” His presence was commanding and he made it seem like I didn’t have a choice.

“So you have a company or what?”

“I need you to be part of my mafia group, we need a hacker.”

“No.” I wasn’t going to involve myself in something as dangerous as that. My life was already complicated as it was. “I have a son to take care of, I don’t want me or my family to be in danger.”

“I know you have a son, and trust me you wouldn’t be in danger.”

“My answer remains the same, and if you’re done, I’d like to leave.”

I could tell he was surprised by my reaction even after he had told me he was a part of the mafia. He definitely expected me to be scared. I was but I didn’t show it. My dad had always taught me to fake my confidence and act like I wasn’t bothered so people wouldn’t take advantage of me.

“Think about it.” He tossed his card into my slightly opened bag and left with his guards walking beside him like he was some sort of emperor.

I stared at the card that read Vito Giancana. I had heard about him several times. He was a powerful mafia don in New York. He wasn’t going to let me go so easily. A chill ran down my spine when I realized the situation I had gotten into.

***

"Ellie, you won't believe my day." I collapsed onto the bed. Our ritual, trading stories after a long day.

"Wait, did you win the money or not?" She glanced up from her phone with curiosity in her eyes.

"Yes, but there's more..."

“Can you just say it?”

“I met Vito Giancana.”

“Next joke please.” She didn’t take me seriously. I had always been delusional and she thought it was one of my many jokes.

“I’m for real.” I tossed the card at her.

“What does he want from you? The biggest drug dealer in New York wants my friend.” She jumped off the bed and did her little embarrassing happy dance.

“Stop celebrating, he just wants me for my hacking skills, nothing more.”

“Oh.” I could tell she was disappointed.

“That’s how I felt too, I don’t know what to do, I don’t want to be involved in that kind of life.”

“Well, what did you tell him?”

I told her about how everything went down and how he tossed his card into my bag.

“You still have to get your man girl.” She resumed her happy dance.

“My man? Don’t be silly.” We laughed about it and went on with our daily lives.

I went over to my Mum’s house to pick up Liam. I wanted Ellie to go because I wasn’t ready for another pep talk but she refused.

“Hey, Mum.”

“Nessa.” She replied faintly. “He’s out back playing with the neighbors.” She didn’t even look up at me.

I could not hold back a scoff. “Are you going to act like this forever? Will you ever let it go?” Before she could answer, if she even wanted to, my phone rang immediately. It was an unknown number. “Who’s this?”

“Vito Giancana.” His voice sent chills down my spine once again. Why was he calling me?? And how did he even get my number??