CHAPTER 2 — "THE TEST"
(≈ gripping, emotional, full of tension and danger)
---
Aria barely slept.
She lay on the thin mattress inside the safehouse the agency gave her — a room so plain it looked like it had been erased. White walls. A single chair. A desk with no drawers. No clocks. No distractions.
It wasn't meant to be comforting.
It was meant to be invisible.
She stared at the ceiling while the memory replayed over and over:
Luciano DeLuca leaning down, his breath warm against her skin—
"I don't know what you are. But I want to find out."
A chill ran down her spine. She hated the way those words lingered inside her like a bruise.
Get a grip, Aria. He's not a man. He's a mission.
She forced herself up, dressed in black jeans and a fitted dark hoodie, tied her hair tight, strapped her encryption drive to her thigh, and slipped out into the freezing pre-dawn darkness.
The city was just waking up — trucks rattling through the industrial district, neon signs flickering off one by one, the hum of electricity filling the silence.
Aria walked fast.
Today mattered.
Today she would see if she could survive inside Luciano's world… or if she'd already been marked for death.
---
The Warehouse — 5:42 AM
Most mafia operations slept late.
Not the DeLucas.
The warehouse was alive when she arrived: men carrying crates, tech runners rebooting servers, guards watching everyone with dead eyes.
Aria stepped inside.
And felt it instantly.
Eyes on her.
Not just curiosity.
Surveillance.
Judgment.
Suspicion.
Her presence was a stone dropped into a still lake — ripples everywhere.
Marco waved her over, dark circles heavy under his eyes. "Boss is in early. He said you're to report to him as soon as you get here."
Aria nodded, keeping her expression neutral. "Any idea why?"
Marco stared at her like she was insane. "No one asks why when it comes to Luciano."
Fair.
Aria walked toward the back hallway — toward the only door guarded by two men in matching black suits.
Luciano's office.
One guard knocked. The other sized Aria up like she was something caught in his teeth.
"Go," the guard said.
Aria stepped inside.
---
Luciano's Office
Luciano stood by the wall-length window, jacket off, dress shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows again — as if he'd worked straight through the night.
He didn't look tired.
He looked dangerous.
"Vesper," he said without turning. "Sit."
Aria sat.
He didn't move.
Didn't speak.
He just stood there, staring at the sunrise bleeding across the sky.
"So," he finally said. "I did some digging."
Aria's pulse tightened.
"And?"
Luciano turned.
His eyes were darker than yesterday. Sharper. He held a slim folder in his hand — her fake file. The one the agency had built for her. The one that was supposed to be airtight.
Supposed to be.
He dropped it on the desk.
"Your file is clean," he said. "Too clean."
Aria held still. "Maybe I've been careful."
"No." Luciano leaned forward. "You've been erased. Like someone wiped you off the map."
Her heart skipped.
"You know what that tells me?" he asked quietly.
Aria forced her voice steady. "What?"
"That you're not a criminal."
He paused.
"And you're definitely not ordinary."
Luciano's gaze pinned her in place.
"And that means you're hiding from someone."
Aria swallowed softly. "Or something."
Luciano's lips twitched.
"You're quick. Good."
He gestured to the chair beside his desk.
"Come here."
Aria hesitated only a second before moving.
Luciano sat and turned the laptop toward her. A series of encrypted files blinked on the screen.
"You're going to break into this system," he said. "Simple."
Aria scanned the interface. "Government-grade encryption."
He nodded. "Exactly."
Aria shifted. "Breaking into federal servers is—"
Luciano cut her a look so cold she felt it physically.
"You're in my world now. We don't talk about laws. We talk about results."
She inhaled. "What exactly am I retrieving?"
Luciano tapped the screen.
A name appeared.
ENZO BIANCHI.
Aria froze.
She knew that name.
Everyone in the criminal world did.
Head of the Bianchi Syndicate.
DeLuca's rival.
More brutal.
More unpredictable.
More lethal.
"Bianchi's men raided one of our docks last week," Luciano said. "Killed two of my people. I want to know what he's planning next."
Aria nodded slowly. "You want me to hack his communications."
"No. I want you to walk into his system, steal his plans, and walk out without leaving a single fingerprint." Luciano folded his arms. "Can you do that?"
Aria's pulse quickened.
She could.
But that wasn't the problem.
The problem was that hacking the Bianchi network from inside DeLuca headquarters could expose her agency encryption signature.
If Luciano detected it…
She would be dead before she hit the floor.
Aria sat back.
"I need direct access to your network's root system."
Luciano raised a brow. "You're asking for the highest-level clearance in my entire organization."
"Yes. If you want me to hack Bianchi without getting traced, I need it."
Luciano stood slowly, his chair sliding back on the marble. He walked toward her, each step deliberate.
"Do you know what happened to the last person who asked for that level of access?" he asked.
Aria didn't blink. "Something unpleasant."
Luciano's eyes glinted. "He tried to betray me. So I killed him."
A chill flickered down her spine.
"Do you still want that access?" Luciano asked quietly.
Aria held his gaze.
"Yes."
Luciano studied her — really studied her. His eyes traveled from her face to her hands, then back to her eyes.
"Most people tremble when I stand this close," he said.
"I'm not most people."
His jaw flexed.
A charged silence filled the room — thick, sharp, dangerous.
Finally Luciano exhaled.
"Good," he said softly. "Because if you were lying to me, you'd already be dead."
He reached into his desk and placed a black keycard on the table.
Aria stared.
Root access.
To the entire DeLuca system.
No one outside his bloodline had this.
Luciano watched her expression carefully.
"You're either the bravest hacker I've ever met…"
He leaned in closer, voice a shadow.
"Or the stupidest."
Aria slid the keycard toward herself. "I guess you'll find out."
Luciano smirked.
"Oh, I intend to."
---
The Mission Room — 8:10 AM
Aria sat alone in a sealed room lined with servers, armed with nothing but a laptop and the most dangerous access credentials in the criminal underworld.
She slipped the keycard into the port.
Instantly, the system bloomed open.
Firewalls
Vaults
Encrypted archives
Financial streams
Weapon routes
Trafficking logs
Kill orders
Surveillance feeds
Every beating organ of the DeLuca empire pulsing in digital form.
Aria inhaled sharply.
This wasn't just access.
This was power.
And Luciano gave it to her willingly.
Stupid.
Reckless.
Or something else entirely.
She touched the first line of code.
Her screen flashed.
UNAUTHORIZED SIGNAL DETECTED.
Aria froze.
Then—
AUTHORIZATION GRANTED: L. DELUCA OVERRIDE
Her chest loosened.
Luciano had pre-approved her.
He hadn't told her he'd done it.
Why?
Trust?
Or control?
Aria sank into the chair and began.
---
The Hack
Breaking into Bianchi's system was like navigating a digital minefield built by a lunatic.
It wasn't elegant.
It was violent.
But Aria was better.
Faster.
More precise.
Her fingers flew as she bypassed intrusion traps, tunneled through encrypted nodes, and disguised her digital footprint with agency-grade ghost signals.
One mistake and she'd trip Bianchi's security — and Luciano's.
She worked for an hour.
Then two.
Then three.
Sweat gathered at her temples.
Finally—
BREACH SUCCESSFUL.
Aria exhaled shakily.
Lines of communication files streamed across her screen. She scanned rapidly.
Smuggling routes.
Assassination orders.
A planned hit.
Then—
Her blood ran cold.
TARGET: LUCIANO DELUCA
STATUS: CONFIRMED
DATE: IN 36 HOURS
Aria's pulse stopped.
Bianchi wasn't planning a simple attack.
He'd organized a full hit on Luciano.
Coordinated.
Funded.
Armed.
A death sentence.
Aria stood so fast her chair scraped the floor.
She grabbed her drive and ran.
---
Luciano's Office — 12:27 PM
Luciano was on the phone when she burst in. His head snapped up, eyes narrowing.
He covered the receiver.
"Vesper. What—"
Aria slammed the drive on the desk.
"Bianchi is planning to kill you."
Silence.
Luciano slowly lowered the phone, ending the call without a word.
His face didn't change.
But his eyes did.
Cold turned to ice.
"How sure?" he asked calmly.
"One hundred percent."
Luciano picked up the drive, inserted it into his laptop, and read the files with unblinking focus.
Aria watched him.
Most men, reading a plan for their own assassination, would panic.
Luciano didn't.
He didn't even breathe harder.
When he finally closed the file, he looked up at her with an expression she hadn't seen before.
Not anger.
Not fear.
Calculating danger.
"You just saved my life," he said.
Aria shook her head. "That's not why I—"
"Doesn't matter," he cut in. "You did."
Luciano stood, walked to her, and stopped inches away. Aria's breath hitched — not from fear, but because being near him felt like standing on the edge of a cliff in the dark.
"You realize what this means?" Luciano asked quietly.
"What?"
"I can't afford to let you out of my sight."
Her heartbeat thudded.
"Why?" she whispered.
Luciano stepped closer, lowering his voice until it sank straight into her skin:
"Because I don't trust easily, Vesper…
But now?
If someone wants me dead, the first person I'm watching—
is the one who knew before I did."
Aria's throat tightened.
"You think I'm involved?"
"I don't know."
His eyes burned into hers.
"And that terrifies me more than any hitman."
Aria swallowed. "What are you going to do?"
Luciano's jaw flexed.
"I'm keeping you close," he said. "From now on—"
He reached out and touched her wrist lightly, possessively, almost unconsciously.
"—you're coming with me everywhere."
Aria's breath caught.
"Everywhere?" she echoed.
"Yes." His voice dipped. "I don't care if you're my best asset or my worst mistake. I need to know what you are."
"And until I do…" He leaned in.
His breath brushed her ear.
"You're mine."
A shiver shot through her so violently she almost stepped back.
But she didn't.
Because she couldn't.
Because Luciano DeLuca was no longer just watching her.
He was pulling her into his world
—one step at a time—
until she wouldn't be able to walk out even if she tried.
And Aria realized something terrifying:
The mission hadn't trapped her.
Luciano had.