Forbidden Deception (Deception)

35

S irens around the house wake me up.

“Rafael, a security threat has risen. The house is going into complete shutdown. All members are present in their rooms and are notified of the situation.” My AI robot’s voice vibrates through the speakers, and I faintly hear the shutters sliding down over the windows and doors.

I leap out of bed, only to realise Venezia is beside me.

For a moment, I can’t move.

Here, in my bed, lies the first woman to ever steal my heart.

A woman who has inspired in me a level of trust and emotion no one has ever achieved.

Venezia has shown me that I could be loved despite my flaws. She has shown me that I don’t have to be my very best to be loved. I can relax, sit down, and focus on fixing the problem and not be in fear of losing anyone.

She has shown me support in a way that I didn’t realise I needed.

Venezia is my woman.

She’s my end goal.

She’s my happily ever after.

Walking up to her, I push back her hair to reveal her face, and my heart melts at the sight. Venezia is everything I have ever wanted, and I didn’t even know what I wanted. Life said you need someone, and we have the perfect match, then placed her in front of me.

I bend down and place a soft kiss to her lips, then grab clothes and throw them on while I walk downstairs to the control room in the basement.

What could have prompted my house to shut down?

I stop in my tracks once a thought hits me.

Remo.

Has Remo finally found out about everything? Where I keep my files? But how?

That can’t be possible.

Venezia and my family are here. It would be the perfect opportunity to destroy and put me to my knees, wouldn’t it?

I step into the control room, the left wall full of monitors of CCTV cameras and a big screen to its left with codes. Eiran is clicking away on the keyboard. Khyros looks absolutely enraged, and Mikko seems to be ready to murder everyone on the spot.

“What the fuck is going on?”

They all look up at me but remain silent.

“Can someone tell me what the fuck has happened?”

Khyros sighs and looks at Eiran’s screen, which looks tainted red instead of the usual black and white. That only can happen in one room and that is—

“The files and electronics were about to combust, but Eiran stopped it in time.” Khyros pinches the bridge of his nose and takes several deep breaths.

Inside my closet, there is a secret door hidden behind a mirror that opens to a room with hard drives filled with files of powerful people from this country, including some politicians. And that room was about to burst into literal ashes.

“When?” I look at Eiran this time. “When was the threat discovered?”

“Just now, and it shows that someone has been trying to break down the firewalls since last night, since Venezia and you came in.”

I frown at Eiran’s words and look over at Mikko, who sighs.

“It has been going on for over twelve hours?” I ask, pushing past them all and sitting down in front of the computer.

Mikko leaves, and Eiran follows him, but I sit for the next hour with Khyros standing behind me as I try to build and strengthen the wall once more. If Remo has been able to infiltrate my home like this, it means there is a weakness in my system that wasn’t there before.

It means a bug has been planted.

We have a—

“Traitor,” Khyros answers for me.

I look over my shoulder to see his eyes stuck on the footage of us in our dining room from earlier tonight.

We are all laughing and talking.

This has never happened.

Until… Venezia walked in.