Tangled in My Enemy's Arm

A blood-red warning light flashed in the corner of her screen: Breach detected at Sector Four Port. "Who the hell is this?" Sigrid whispered, her voice chilling enough to raise goosebumps. Sector Four was the secret logistics gateway for the Viper Syndicate, the largest mafia organization in Oomera, which she ran. Her fingers flew across the keys, launching military-grade defense protocols. But before she could counter-hack the attacker's device, the connection was cut from the other end, leaving behind only a gray iron logo on her screen. "The Iron..." Sigrid muttered, narrowing her eyes. "A foreign syndicate from the North. Bold of them to mess with my turf." Sigrid Victory leaned back, twirling a pencil between her fingers inside the cyber unit office at Vertex Corp, a major IT firm in Oomera, trying to figure out why this foreign syndicate was poking around. "Sigi! How many times do I have to tell you?!" Ronald, the IT supervisor, shouted, shattering the room's silence. "The finance division's network encryption report was supposed to be on my desk before lunch! Are you trying to make me look like an i***t in front of the director?!" Several coworkers stopped typing, turning to watch and suppressing smirks at the scene. "S-sorry, Mr. Ronald," squeaked Sigrid Victory, aka Sigi. Awkwardly, she pushed her thick glasses back up the bridge of her nose. "The server was lagging because port data traffic was crazy high this morning, sir," she added, her fingers trembling. "I'm clearing the cache and re-encrypting the data right now." Ronald slammed a thick stack of documents onto her desk, rattling her teacup and spilling it across the wood. "Don't give me your stupid technical excuses! If your uncle hadn't begged HR, I would've fired your ass in week one. A girl like you belongs in the basement archives, not in Oomera's cyber division!" "Right away, sir. I'll finish the report now," Sigrid replied, bowing her head low and pretending to hold back tears. Ronald turned and strutted back to his office. The second the glass door clicked shut, Sigrid slowly raised her head. Her posture snapped upright with cold poise. Behind the smudged lenses, her dull eyes flashed sharp emerald green. If you only knew I could wipe out every single asset you own with a snap of my fingers... you’d be begging on your knees, she cursed inwardly. Still, Sigrid held back. The "Timid Sigi" persona was the perfect cover for tapping directly into Oomera City's main fiber-optic grid. She turned back to the monitor, her fingers blurring across the keyboard as she mapped out alternate encrypted pathways. Suddenly, the burner satellite phone in her bottom drawer buzzed. Grabbing it, she faked a panicked look and scurried toward the restrooms, keeping her head low as she hurried past her coworkers. Once inside, she locked herself in the end stall and answered. "Talk to me, Gideon," she ordered. Her tone had completely flipped—cold, commanding, and dangerous. "Viper, we've got an emergency," Gideon, her right-hand man, said over the encrypted line. "Oomera Tax Authorities and Federal Intelligence are launching a massive asset audit across the city." "What's the damage?" Sigrid asked flatly. "All of the organization's core assets are tied directly to your name as the Victory family heir," Gideon explained tensely. "If investigators find out an underpaid IT intern is moving billions through offshore accounts, your cover is blown." Sigrid gripped the edge of the sink until her knuckles turned white. "What's the play?" "You need a legitimate domestic shield to stabilize your public profile, fast," Gideon replied. "If you legally marry a clean-record foreign professional, the audit system will automatically flag your cash flow as merged expat household assets. It's a solid legal loophole that buys us three years." "You want me to get married?" Sigrid let out a dry laugh. "To who? Some regular guy who'd pass out the second he sees me holding a knife?" "We need an outsider who doesn't know what the name 'Victory' means in this city," Gideon continued. "I've already screened a few new expats. One of them is a foreign tech executive who just relocated to the central district." Sigrid closed her eyes, swallowing her irritation. On one hand, The Iron was trying to hijack her port; on the other, the feds were closing in. "Send their profiles to my private server tonight," Sigrid commanded coldly. "I'll pick the pawn for this stupid marriage myself." "Understood, Viper. Sending the files now." Sigrid hung up, checked her expression in the mirror, and adjusted her glasses. The fragile, naive Sigi stared back at her once more. "Marriage, huh?" she whispered to her reflection with a venomous smirk. "Let's see how long this foreigner lasts under the same roof with a viper before he realizes his life isn't his anymore."