۞ XXVII ۞

BLACK MAMBA: RUFUS'S DAUGHTER IS EXTREMELY RATIONAL. She thinks too much before saying anything, before doing anything. Even when she is angered, she will be calculated and think of a way to better get back on you. And she always does.

Black Mamba: She faithful and takes loyalty seriously. She is not one to forgive others, neither to forget what you say to her. She also has a photographic memory. A trickster.

Black Mamba: As the oldest out of Rufus's triplets, she was always responsible, and self-sacrificing for those she loves. If you treat her with kindness, she will repay that 2-fold. If you treat her badly, she will repay that 10-fold.

Black Mamba: You will never fully know her.

Black Mamba: This tough time of her life aside, she is a prideful woman, knows her value, does not accept less than she deserves, has a high self-esteem, and is confident in herself. She is perceptive and notices everything that happens around her, even if she pretends not to.

Black Mamba: If she does not like you, she will pick on you at any opportunity she gets. Like master Rufus, his daughter is sarcastic, strong, smart, hard-working, talented. But also like him, she is not to be taken lightly.

Black Mamba: But no matter what I tell you, you still will be unable to understand the beast you are welcoming into your family, Scarlats. If cherish, she will be gold. If not, she will become your worse nightmare.

"Are you sure you are not in love with her?" Nina mocked.

Black Mamba: Humans feel many different types of love, Nina Scarlat. Mine for her is not the carnal love you are imagining. I care for her, because she is all that is left of my master, who was family to me. I take that you understand this concept, no?

Black Mamba: Romanians are known for cherishing family.

Madalina crossed her arms, "We do. And we understand all you said, Black Mamba. You seem worried that we might treat her badly, but you don't need to worry about that. She will be one of us, and we always stick together!"

Black Mamba: I have done my part. But beware that I can and I will destroy you if you cross the line with Rufus's daughter. I am not one to take stuff personally, but I will if you do something drastic.

Black Mamba: If she is married into your family or not!

"Are you threatening us?" Nicolae arched his eyebrows.

Black Mamba: Am I?

Black Mamba: They getting to you.

Black Mamba: He had quite the amusing reaction when he saw the my symbol on all the computers screens contacted to your system, fainting an all. Imagine if people knew the all-mighty Scarlat heir is so scared of snakes.

A second after the message came, Damian and Cornel busted inside the room, furious and wide-eyed. "Black Mamba, that hacker son of a bitch, took control of all the system on all branches of the conglomerate. It's all black with his signal!" Damian yelled with his fists clenched.

"I had to come and get D because he fainted. Did you see it too? I thought he would contact any of us, but he didn't. Not me. Not Damian…" Cornel took in how they were all seated together in front of their father's computer. "What are you doing?"

As they both walk towards them, they saw the last three messages from Black Mamba, which were the only ones in display. "What the fuck?" Damian glared at the computer, and that was when Black Mamba began typing again.

Black Mamba: The prodigal son and the freak are back.

Black Mamba: The unpleasant presences aside, Madalina and Nicolae, it was good to make business with you.

"Wait!" Cornel gasped, but the computer glitched and when it got back to normal, there was no sign of Black Mamba. "Bastard, did he just called me a freak?" He groaned and looked at his family, who was still staring at the screen.

Damian closed the computer, annoyed. "What the hell was that? Mami, papi, did you really made business with him? How did this freak even found us? Fucking bastard!"

"What happened? Why do you look as if you saw a ghost?"

"They hacked us!" their grandmother Keira muttered. "We have no idea when it did it, but it did. It got everything on us because our cyber security is trash. Even our medical records they got their hands on."

Damian stared at the closed computer, "Then he used that to make you contract their services? Hah, if I knew who this bastard is, I would beat the shit out of him!" That is, he we didn't need his services, which we, unfortunately do. Now more than ever, as Rufus Armstrong, who was a tech and cyber genius, died.

His mother let out a sigh, "That's not it, babe. We've been wanting their services for a long time, so, now that they reached out to us, we couldn't let that opportunity pass. You know that, son."

"But they didn't reach out to us because of professional reasons," Nina scoffed, still bitter that Black Mamba had put her down on their list. "They were uncle Rufus's apprentice!"

Both frowned at that, "Rufus was Black Mamba master? Where did you get that from? Did the grey hat told you?" Cornel asked skeptical.

Florentina nodded, "Earlier, aunt Millie called mami to say that Rebecca has some kind of relationship with Black Mamba."

"Some kind of relationship, or is she Black Mamba?" Cornel crossed his arms over his chest.

"No. There's no way she would be Black Mamba!" Their father said firmly. "Black Mamba also made it clear that they have a longa date relationship with Rebecca. And that they were only going to do this for us, because she's going to become part of our familie, and in their eyes, she couldn't be part of a familie with such a weak cyber security."

Natalia exhaled loudly, "But they set a price of 666 million pounds! Fucking thief!"

Not surprising. "That's exactly what Black Mamba asked for the other conglomerates and businesses around the world. It's always 666,666,666.00 in both euro, pound, or dollar," Damian said as he sat down on the chair in front of the couch they were all in. He must be filthy rich by now, that clever bastard. "Our conglomerate is the 66th business he is securing with his impenetrable system. With the money he's getting from us, if he hasn't spend all he got, he must have a net-worth of," he looked at the obsidian ring on his middle right finger for a second, then up to them again, "43,999,999,956.00. That is, if it's all in the same currency. It could be more."

Cornel agreed with his older brother, "That's why he's so famous. No one has any idea of his location, identity, age, gender, nationality. Nothing. And all of this because he popped up out of nowhere four years ago."

His mother giggled, "Is it a jack spot then?" All of them stared at her confused. "We'll be taking in the only person alive who might know their identity. Who might know them. Rufus definitely knew, but he is not around. However, Rebecca sure knows something!"

"I thought Rufus had been the one to build the impenetrable security system around his daughter, but now I'm doubting that," Cornel clenched his jaw. "Did he say something about that? Any comment on how he cyber protected her?"

Nina sighed, "They told us they are responsible for that. They said that they wouldn't allow any of us, or anyone for a matter of fact, to spy on her."

Is Black Mamba an ex-boyfriend then? Damian questioned himself, staring at the window. That would make it easy to push her away. If she's in love with someone else, or if she has loved before.

"Then she has something to hide!" Cornel groaned. "I knew it. I do not care if she's the daughter of your late best friend, papi. I don't trust her. If she doesn't has anything to hide, she wouldn't need such a security hiding everything about her."

Ugh, these two give me such a headache! Madalina got up, "Don't be paranoid, Conny. Rufus would never let his children unprotected, he was a control freak on these aspects. Me and your papi know this. Let's not make premature conclusions before even meeting her, okay? She's going through a lot!"

Damian scoffed, "Everyone goes through a lot!"

His mother glared at him, "You are in no position to say anything, Damian Vlad Scarlat. Your siblings are all still alive, and so are me and your papi. Rebecca only had her parents and her two youngest twin siblings, and they all died at the same time."