10 10. For 24 Hours
Luca's POV
"Are you stupid or something? I can't believe you right now Luca!"
I sighed knowing I should've not said anything.
"All I'm saying is you don't even know her like that. Me and you both know naturally optimistic people piss you off and I think instead of outwardly expressing your displeasure towards her you should ignore the chick."
She grumbled and continued to punch the sparring pads on each of my hands with incredible force.
"It's more than just her irritating optimism! She's hiding something Luca...I don't know what it is yet but I'm going to find out one way or another! In fact you're going to help since you seem to have a crush on her."
She grabbed my wrists leading me away from the sparring ring.
"But I like you," I mumbled to myself.
"Did you say something?"
I'm sure my face turned red, "I didn't say anything!"
She smiled, a rare occasion I was always happy to witness. "Come on weirdo, I'll need you if this plan is going to work!"
Camryn's POV
I had a feeling that I should be somewhere but I couldn't pinpoint where; this bed was just too comfortable.
After last night's encounter with Kai and the Don, I had gone to my room and-
OH MY GOD! The Don, 4 am, Shit!!
I shot up from my blissful state looking at my clock to see it was 6:45 am! Not only was I late to my meeting with the Don but late for breakfast and training!
I threw the covers from my body and started running towards my closet when I heard it. The one voice I was regretting to hear.
"Did you sleep well?"
Was he mad or is he actually being genuine? I couldn't tell. Wait more importantly he was in my room!!
"Excuse me-"
"I asked you a question and when I ask, I expect an immediate answer Miss Reed."
Nope, mad. Definitely mad.
"Um, I slept alright...I guess."
He nodded as if satisfied with my answer.
"Please take your time," he said, giving me a smile, though it wasn't a pleasant one.
I ran to my closet not knowing where or what we'd be doing so I grabbed a tight fitting white racerback, some black leggings and paired it with some white sneakers. Not bothering to make myself look nice like I usually would, I just brushed my teeth and tied my hair into a half assed ponytail, exiting the bathroom.
The don exited the room without uttering a word, and I followed closely behind not bothering to ask any questions. The last thing I needed was to make him even more upset.
We had walked to a deeper part of the house that I have yet to explore, and for a good reason too. A sign read: Access Limited.
My heart picked up its pace slightly at the thought of what could be behind the door and why we had come here.
He enters a password into a keypad and presses his left hand on a screen pad; the door opens.
Inside are hundreds of computers with people glued to their screens. They all type away at lightning speed, some screens blinking red followed by a fist slamming on the keyboard.
"This is where our best hackers work, mainly securing the database and any important information we don't want getting out. I'm sure Angello already tested your physical abilities but today we're testing your mental capacity. Have you ever learned code or dabled in hacking?"
I smiled, "I've read a book or two."
He leads me over to an unoccupied computer and starts to ramble on about what I'm supposed to do but I instantly get to work sitting down in the empty chair.
My fingers glide across the keyboard effortlessly typing away at lightning speed. Green numbers and words fly across the screen as several files begin to reveal themselves to me, and I notice there is a problem.
"Well for starters your firewall is one of the weakest I've ever seen which is surprising because you have all these hackers to keep your security up to date. I managed to hack your base in less than a minute, easily accessing your numerous bank accounts, police reports, and anything that has to do with your mafia."
I continued to type while I explained to him everything I was doing.
"Besides the fact that your base was easy to hack into, I also detected numerous bugs and threats in the programs and clearly there are several people not from your servers who have attempted to access all your info. Luckily I just rebuilt your firewall, and created an entirely new system that changes the password to your information every 5 seconds. But to even get as far as entering the password, anyone trying to hack in will have to avoid the virus I've set up that infects the computer the moment they try and crack into the mainframe."
I clicked the enter button on the keyboard and the computer began to download all the changes I made.
"A book or two huh?"
I smiled; for the first time while I was here I was able to show what I was made of. I looked around the room of other "hackers" and their jaws had dropped at the feat I had just made.
"How can I be sure that this security measure you took actually works?"
I tried hacking into the database once again and like I explained a virus had started to consume my computer. I knew the only way to defeat it was to type faster than the virus could spread which even for me proved difficult. But like I expected not even I could hack it.
"Great work, you're not as useless as I thought. As for the rest of you," he said, turning around the face of everyone else in the room, " all of you are fired and will report to Angello's office for reevaluation and will be assigned a new task better suited to your skills since clearly this isn't one of them."
Without an utterance they all stood up and left, some of them wearing shocked faces, others looking at me with malice.
"Now Miss Reed, follow me. Although you managed to show great work ethic just now I cannot tolerate your mishap this morning. You're the first person to ever make me wait in my own home, you have some nerve, and now you will be punished."
I continued to follow him through the mansion until we came to a stop in front of a set of iron doors. The same iron doors I came out of a little over a week ago when I swore my soul to this devil.
We made our way through the hallway of iron doors till we stood in front of the one on the very end. He opens the door to reveal a room full of water.
"What is this!"
He didn't answer; pushing me in.
I fall into the room of water without warning and to my distaste it's cold. I come to the surface for air and watch as he stands there emotionless.
"How's the water?"
"Fucking cold! "
"Good. You'll be staying in here for the next 24 hrs. Once this door closes the lights in this room will go off. You'll be left to swim in a dark room with nothing to grab onto. This is your punishment for being truant. I don't like to be kept waiting Ms. Reed hopefully this will make sure it never happens again. See you in 24hrs, maybe more if I feel like it."
My heart rate quickened as I tried to swim over to the door but he closed it before I could even get there.
He was right, there wasn't one thing I could grab onto. Even the door was made to seamless align with the wall as if there wasn't one there to begin with. The room was dark like he said and the water seemed even colder now.
My body trembled and I wish I had chosen warmer clothes. I continue to tread water for what seemed like hours, my breathing slowly becoming labored and uneven.
My eyes were heavy and my muscles screamed to have even just a minute of rest. I tried not to panic at the fact I couldn't see anything and instead tried to focus on my breathing.
10 hours later…
I could barely keep afloat; my head dunking under water ever so often. I lifted my body onto my back and started to float, finally getting the relief my muscles needed but I had to be sure not to sway from my focus.
I was tired, slightly out of breath, cold, hungry, and if I wasn't careful I would fall asleep and potentially drown.
I need to conserve energy.
5 hours later…
Cold. Darkness. Everything around me feels heavy. It's so dark I can't tell if my eyes are opened or closed anymore.
My chest begins to burn and my head feels like pressure is being put on it. I try to breath in but it isn't oxygen that enters my lungs.
My body jerks as I realized I had been underwater and I fight to find the surface in the never ending dark.
I breach the surface as I cough the water out of my lungs. My body was in so much immense pain right now and I'm not sure how much longer I could do this for.
I cry and scream, I couldn't take much more.
4 hours later…
My eyes were closed, I think I'm starting to hear voices.
I could hear the sound of people in the distance as they talked. And then for the first time I saw light in what seemed like forever.
I opened my eyes hoping the light that I saw wasn't just some illusion and it wasn't!!
There stood the devil himself, Mr. DeRicci.
He seemed unamused as he looked at his watch and said, "huh, I'm surprised to see you still alive."
He starts to close the door, but I don't have the energy to move. I couldn't even speak, my throat was so coarse.
How much longer?
6 hours later…
I couldn't do this anymore.
I slowly closed my eyes, willing to fully accept whatever happens next.
Suddenly my body began to feel weightless and warm, I smiled, was I dead?
If so it felt better than being alive.
