Palermo, Italy. 2023.

In a dimly lit room filled with the hum of machinery and glow of screens. The walls were lined with shelves, stacked high with programming books. A massive curved monitor dominated the desk, displaying lines of code in a prism of colors.

In front of the monitor is a comfortable worn leather chair, adorned with a few scattered pillows and a fuzzy blanket. On it sat a young man with pale skin and a pair of glasses adorning his small feminine face. His brown eyes scrolling through the surface of the monitor. His hand is adorned with a sleek, high tech smart watch, its screen glowing with subtle notifications. His long fingers manicured to perfection hover over the keyboard with a sense of urgency and control.

Behind him stood a towering figure whose presence commands attention. His gaunt frame exudes strength like a razor's edge honed to perfection. His black hair was slicked back, revealing a chiseled face with sharp angles and a resolute jawline. Piercing blue eyes, like glaciers seem to bore into the hacker's screen.

The crisp white formal shirt he was wearing was not buttoned to the neck, revealing a toned hairy chest and if looks could destroy, the hacker's screen was supposed to have broken into pieces.

“Fuck!” The young man who was seated on the leather chair shouted in frustration, slamming his fist onto the desk, making the keyboard and monitor jump.

His eyes flashed with annoyance and his jaw clenches.
“It must have been a professional black-hat hacker.” He added. His gaze rose from the screen and locked unto the figure behind him, his lips set in a firm line.

“Shut the fuck up Andrea.” The gaunt man said coldly and with a sudden swift motion, raised his hand and striked Andrea, making his head jerk forward, his gaze snapped back to the screen with an ‘ouch’.

Soon enough, the room was filled with the sound of fingers hitting keyboard again. It persisted for a few minutes before it reduced. Andrea huffed before he gazed up at the aloof man behind him who was staring at him with a rise of his elegant brows in a questioning way.

“Chillax, I'm trying to get past his firewalls.” Andrea hurriedly said, and looked back at the monitor's screen which was filled with colourful codes.

He started hitting the keyboard again, then suddenly, he leaned closer to the screen, his eyes glinted in excitement which made the aloof man behind him lean closer too before Andrea let out a questioning frustrated sigh.

“Little red?! To hell with this!” He shouted frustratedly, slamming his fist into the table before he sprang from the leather chair he was sitting on.

“I was… I …was so close to grabbing him. Like damn!” He shouted, throwing fists into the air. “See, Enzo, just call Alessia already!” He added while glaring at the aloof man, Enzo.

Andrea had been working for the Profaci Mafia since when he was young and as the best hacker the organization had, he found it embarrassing about not being able to get past a screen name. He kept pacing round the room and glaring at the monitor's screen at regular intervals.

Enzo snorted and brought out his phone.
“Come to the basement.” He said to the person on the other side and was about to hang up when Andrea rushed to him, mouthed ‘cold ass prick’ and snatched his phone.

“Lexi dear, can you please come to the basement. We… I really need your help.” He hurriedly said the last part and with a shaky hand, handed the phone back to Enzo who was glaring at him, his bravado washed away like sand writing.

Andrea paced the room with his hand dipped in his pocket for a while before he stood frozen, his eyes fixed on the door as it slowly creaked open. Alessia, who they'd been waiting for peeked through the door, her grey eyes swept the room before locking eyes with Andrea. She stepped further into the room, the suddenly, her nose wrinkled with mock distaste.

“Ugh, what's that amazing smell?” She asked. “It's like a war between coffee and tea in here.” She added, glaring at Andrea before she turned to Enzo.

“Hi frosty.” She said, grinning from ear to ear making Enzo's glare turn colder. Undettered, she turned back to Andrea.

“Seriously though, how do you survive in this caffeine fueled chaos?” She asked, gesturing to the entire room with a dramatic flush.

Andrea hurriedly walked closer to her with pleading eyes. He placed her hand on her shoulders, and shook her petite frame wildly.

“Lexiiiiiiii-”

“Get your fucking hands off me bitch.” She shouted, pushing him away. “Don't ruin my hair.” She added with a snarl and raised her hand to her crown, smoothing any strands of her perfectly gelled black hair back into place.

“Now, why'd you called me here. I told you I don't like your ‘fragrant bouquet of productivity’.” She said, mimicking the last part in Andrea's voice.

“Come with me.” Andrea said, dragging her to the leather chair in front of the monitor and pressed her on the chair, making Enzo glare at him coldly.

Her gaze moved to the screen which was still flashing with a myriad of colors before she gave Andrea a questioning glare.

“Okay, okay, waittttt. I called you here because, you know, this whole stuff is kinda similar to your method. And basically, you know I don't really know how to by-”

“-shut up.” Enzo said, interrupting the sputtering Andrea.

“Alessia, I need you to bypass the black-hat’s screen name. Andrea couldn't…”

Andrea's eyes narrowed, his gaze flashing with a mixture of annoyance and indignation as he shot Enzo a glare.
“Excuse you?”

“... But I know you can. Get me me their location. Personal favor.” Enzo continued, disregarding Andrea's glare.

Alessia turned to Andrea, her eyes flashing apologetically in a mocking way before she hurriedly drew the keyboard closer to herself. Her slender fingers began to move with rapid grace. It was like they were dancing.

The room was filled with the sound of fingers hitting keyboard once again. Enzo's cold gaze was fixed on the monitor's screen, as if aiming to bore holes into the screen, his left hand resting on the chair’s backrest making him tilt slightly to the left.

Suddenly, he leaned closer to the screen which was flashing with a myriad of colors. Even Alessia’s fingers halted as she stared at the screen with bated breath.

Although, Andrea is the best hacker in the Profaci Mafia, Alessia is the second best and her own hacking prowess is more geared towards black-hat hacking, something she'd mastered just for fun and out of curiosity.

The screen flashed, revealing ‘little red’ before going back to how it'd been before which made Andrea's eyes twitch.

He was a little relieved that Alessia didn't get it on her first trial. He gazed up at Enzo who was glaring at him. He smirked and gave him a ‘you see’ look.

Alessia dropped on the backrest, a sigh escaped her lips.
“Can you get me another keyboard please?”

Andrea hesitated before moving and passing her the keyboard. Alessia connected the keyboard to the monitor and placed it on a platform under the table on which the monitor was placed. She took off her knee-length shiny boots, baring her feet and hoovered it on the keyboard.

She then gazed at Enzo, signalling with her eyes for him to push the chair she was sitting on forward. All the while, Andrea looked, openly confused.

Then, Alessia started. Her slender fingers moved on the keyboard that was on the table with grace and her feet moved on the keyboard that was under the table with an odd clumsy grace.

She kept typing away and after a while, it brought the screen name ‘little red’ again. However, this time, Alessia didn't stop, she kept typing the codes. The room was filled with times two of the keyboard’s sounds.

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into an hour, and an hour turned into several hours but the room was still filled with the keypads sounds.

Andrea had long grown bored and flung himself on a fluffy three seater chair in the corner, snoring away.

Enzo had gotten himself a chair and was glaring at the monitor's screen.

Alessia was sweating. Her previous slender fingers were glistening with sweat, sometimes, slipping to the wrong key on the board. Her legs and feet also felt wobbly, but she knew she couldn't stop now, unless she wants to go back to the start.

Suddenly, her eyes flashed and she brought her forehead to her leather jacket, aiming to wipe away her sweat but it did little to nothing. A smile bloomed on her face like a flower as she suddenly shouted while glaring at Enzo.

“Get me fucking pen and freaking paper!”

However, instead of Enzo to stand up and get the pen and paper, he simply sat there. With a flourish, he dipped his hand to the back of his belt and brought out a black shiny gun that visibly glistened in the dim lightning. Then, with practiced precision, aimed it at a wall near the snoring Andrea.

The bullet hit the wall and the room shook from the loud boom. Andrea scurried to his feet fidgeting. His face was filled with sweat and he was panting. He hurriedly dipped his hand into his shoes and brought out two guns like he was unsheathing a sword while glancing at the room wildly in alert.

“Drop the gun and go get a pen and paper.” Enzo said lowly in a threatening way.

“And that's why you ruined my pretty sleep? Bastard.” Andrea muttered angrily then turned and left.

He came back with a paper and a pen held firmly between his hands and stood beside the typing Alessia.

Alessia still had that ‘you-are-doomed’ smile on her face before she turned to Andrea and gestured him to place it on the table.

“Now write.” She said, her fingers still typing away on the keyboard as she leaned closer to the screen which was slowly revealing some letters. She read it out, Andrea writing it down and when she was done, dropped on the backrest of the chair with a satisfied smile as she brought up her shaky fingers to her face.

Enzo's chair screeched loudly as he stood up angrily, the paper crumpled in his hand.

“Fuck it! We are going to Paris!”