DANTE
She froze.
The second she realized I was the one interviewing her, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her blue eyes widened, and I smirked.
Yeah, I came to Vortex on purpose the moment I overheard her say she had an interview here. I had no intention of letting our first encounter be the last-not after she threw a kick at me in the middle of the street and nearly took my head off with her rage.
She stormed in wearing a latte-stained shirt, a wrinkled black skirt, and smudged lip gloss that made my thoughts stray fast and hard. The way her mouth moved while yelling? Let's just say I've got better uses in mind for it.
She's wild. I'll give her that. Most people would've changed or gone home, but she? She strutted into the building like she owned it. Bold. Unapologetic.
I own Vortex, though no one knows it but a few. To the world, it's under Luca's name-my second-in-command and best friend. But I'm the one pulling the strings. So showing up unannounced? That's my right.
She started ranting and poking my chest like I was a waiter who spilled her food. I could proudly say very few people live after trying something like that with me. But her? She wasn't scared at all.
Even Luca still flinches around me sometimes. But this girl? She scolded me like I was a damn schoolboy.
And I let her.
For thirty minutes, I sat there and listened-didn't interrupt once. Her voice had a weird effect on me. Calmer than the wind hitting my face during a night ride. Softer than the silence that followed the shootout yesterday.
She didn't know it, but she made the weight of that failed mission ease, just a little.
Her eyes were drawing me in, and for a second, they felt familiar. Like something from a dream or a past life. I shook it off.
When she finally went silent, I caught her checking me out. Her eyes roamed from my arms, to my tattoos, to my face-then she quickly looked away.
Cute.
If Mr. Smith hadn't walked in, I would've teased her until she admitted it.
After the guy left, she scoffed and glared at me. "You jerk. Why didn't you tell me you were the one interviewing me? You made me waste my time!"
I didn't say anything.
She huffed and picked up her laptop. "You know what? I'll save us the awkwardness. If I don't get this job, I'll easily get accepted somewhere else. I've got options."
Confident. Cocky. Hot.
I tried to school my face, but I was sure she saw the surprise and amusement that slipped through.
Just as she reached for the door, I spoke.
"Miss Raven."
God, her name melted off my tongue like butter.
She paused. I continued.
"You came all this way, and I did make you late... The least I can do is give you a proper interview."
She looked at me, uncertain for a second, then walked back and sat a few seats from me. Her posture shifted-serious now. All fire and focus. Like flipping a switch.
She really was a Pandora's box.
I started the interview, throwing out technical questions that would've thrown most freelancers off.
But not her.
"Explain how you'd detect a breach in a closed internal system."
"What's your method for tracing a ghost proxy?"
"Ever reverse-engineered a brute force decoder?"
She nailed every answer-flawless, clean, confident. Her brain moved fast, and it was clear she wasn't just freelancing-she lived and breathed this. And yet, she kept it hidden so well. People thought she was just "playing with code." But I knew the real game she played.
She wasn't just good. She was lethal with a keyboard.
When it was over, I leaned back.
She passed. She already had the job. But I wasn't done testing her.
"One last thing," I said.
She blinked. "There's more?"
I nodded. "Someone breached our firewall last month. No one's been able to figure out how they got through."
Her lips parted slightly. I saw the spark light behind her eyes.
"You want me to find the breach?" she asked.
I smirked and leaned forward, voice low and teasing.
"If you can trace the entry point and mend the wall... the job is yours. With full clearance."
Then I added:
"Do you accept the challenge, Little Storm?"
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