The Devil's Sweetheart

Devin barged into the office in ferocity. Not many of the employees were loitering since it was the weekend. Harley dashed towards Devin as soon as she saw him.

"How is Leena? Did you tell the truth? Did she initiate a breakup with you?" Harley demanded. His anger was affirming his actions when he barged in and Harley instantly assumed the meeting with Leena didn't sit well.

"Breakup?" He barked. "What kind of nonsense you are spouting?"

"I_I am sorry. I held the wrong end of the stick." Harley went weak in the knees with Devin's malignant stares. She spoke up in a fervor not thinking about the aftermaths.

"If I sew your mouth shut, will you still take the words out of your mouth?" He was already under stress with all things that unfolded today and now Harley's statement was turning him into a frenzied demon.

"I_I am sorry, Devin." Harley awkwardly scratched her forehead. With Leena's temper, she thought that she would not tolerate such an illicit affair and broke up with him. But she was glad it did not turn otherwise.

"Did you find any clue?" Devin ignored her pleas and strolled into his room.

"We have contacted the hotel and restaurant you visited. But they informed that someone has hacked into their systems and erased the data yesterday."

"Was it only a section of recordings that got erased?" He now understood Regina has prepared everything before releasing the pictures to the media. It was no use in zipping up the media when the photos have already leaked. The world would think that he has poached and falsified the statement and used it according to him. He needs strong evidence and that could only be the CCTV footage or her pacts who were is involved with her.

"Whatever the data that was stored has been erased," Harley explained.

"Strange." Devin puzzled. Even if a hacker tried to barge into the security, the hotel owner should get an alarm signal if they try to tamper with it. How did the data got erased so easily?

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"Call Adney. I want his presence within ten minutes. Drag his body if he refuses to come." Devin added.

"Okay." Harley tried to reach his mobile but he was not picking up. She tried one last time before going home to yank that idiot to the office, but he picked up the call and after talking with him, she waited for him at the entrance.

"What took you so long, Ad?" Harley asked when she saw him stepping down the car.

"I was getting ready to flirt with your employees, Harls." He winked laying a hand on Harley's shoulder.

"Today is the weekend, dingleberry." Harley jerked his handoff. "Flirty fellow, there is no on working."

"Don't call me, dingleberry. I am fine with any other name except that." Adney spoke up. Only one person calls him by that name and he has reserved exclusively for that non-binary.

"Scratch with your names. Devin is waiting for you. Hurry up before he kills you." Harley dragged him to the office room while explaining the weight of the catastrophe they are facing.

"So, the rumors are true then and my brother is not single anymore." He cried. The moment he woke up in the morning after Harley's call, his inbox was flooded with messages from his 'girlfriends' asking the rumors about Devin's relationship status. His dad and grandfather are flaring up in anger in the home while his mother was eating a delicious breakfast as if she is not worried about his son at all.

"Don't bring the topic in front of him." Harley hushed him and took him to the IT room.

"I will bring." Adney childishly added and opened the system. He hacked the network with the IP address of the hotel and restaurant in a few minutes but there was no footage in either the hard drive or a copy that was secured in the cloud. He chuckled at the person who dared to block the ways for his brother. Soon they are going to face his wrath.

"There is no way we can find the recordings now" He closed his laptop when he knew it would yield no results.

"What!" Harley screamed. That was the only source to prove that Devin doesn't have any relationship with Regina. "What do you mean you can't find. You are a hacker, Ad."

"Even a hacker can't find if the data is overwritten, Harley." He declared. The person is one step ahead and even got the admin name of the owner to delete the data. If the information was erased, they could still retrieve it but it was overwritten to the point of no turning back.

"Are you sure there is no other opinion, Ad?" Devin asked. He doesn't want to leave the final hope even if there is a slight chance.

"No." He added. "But I have a top-notch non-binary hacker friend."

"Non-binary?" Harley asked in confusion.

"I have no idea non-binary is a man or a woman. So, I call it with that name." Hackers only maintain code names and they don't disclose their identity unless necessary.

"Who is it?" Devin asked. Even Leena is a top-notch cyberpunk but he doesn't want to stress her for the moment. He was sure her crazy brain would come up with a solution when they are running out.

"Elysian."

"Elysian!" Devin muttered the name under his breath, his nerves throbbed, and collapsed on the chair holding his head as if a thousand volts of electric current passed through him which he has never experienced. At a stance, it triggered a fleeting memory into his mind when he heard the name.

.....

"Hey, mighty Zeus. It's been a long time you texted me."

"Why did you name me, Mighty Zeus, piggy rabbit."

"Because I got the first text from you while watching Zeus in real steel movie."

"Quite a logic, piggy rabbit."

"Mighty Zeus! Don't call me a piggy rabbit when I have named you with such a beautiful name. Even, I want an impressive one."

"Hmmm. Let me think. How about I answer it tomorrow?"

"No. I can't bear piggy rabbit until then."

"How about Elysian? It means_"

"Wow! I am in love with the name and I am least bothered about the meaning. Thank you, Zeus."

....

Devin jerked with a start when Harley and Adney held his shoulders.

"Are you ok, Devin?" She asked with worry. She was terrified to see him tumbling. How much stress he is withstanding she knew.

"Brother, we will go to hos_"

"I am fine. A little under the stress." He got up but internally he was searching for the memory that got abruptly vanished. Was it a deja-vu? Whose memory was that? Everything was blurry and he did not see any faces. He doesn't remember anything that happened to him in the past like today. The name Elysian felt foreign to him yet close. He brushed past the dream when he has a more pressing matter to look for. "Whoever that Elysian is. Contact him immediately."

"I will try but I can't promise because Elysian is not a normal hacker." Like thin air, that non-binary evaporates when people try to find him. In instant, he changes the location. After shaking the technology world like a withered leaf, he left. Adney was glad that he was able to make friends with that Numen six years back. He can make the impossible hacking to possible. Adney wouldn't wonder if the overwritten data can be retrieved if Elysian agrees to the proposal.

"You are talking as if he is some kind of deity, Ad." Shaking his head, Devin got into the work.

"He is." He whispered under his breath. Adney considers Elysian as the hacking God and he was his inspiration.

....

A woman was sobbing slumping on the floor while trying to control her whimpers. "Please calm down, dad."

"Why didn't you tell me that you loved him? After all the commotion happened, he is not even acknowledging the relationship with you?" Regina's father screamed. When Victor informed that his daughter has been involved in a scandal, he wanted to wring her neck for engaging in an adulterous activity but he mellowed out when he saw that it was Devin. Everybody knew Devin's name speaks to the power and he wants such kind of son-in-law. "Did you talk with him?"

"Can you give him a little time?" Regina added. "He is currently busy with_"

"It's your reputation in question, Regina" He tilted his head to his assistant. "Contact Wang family. I demand an explanation and I want them to get engaged as soon as possible."

"Yes sir." Victor politely bowed.

When Regina's father was out of sight, with a sly smile, he glanced at the woman who was wiping away her tears.

"Now he can't escape from your clutches." He bellowed. Even if Devin was against the proposal, his father and grandfather will pressure him to announce the relationship officially in no time.

Regina was on cloud nine thinking that the day has finally come. Even if it is a forced relationship, she did not care as long as Devin belongs to hers. She wanted to win his heart but at the same time, she wanted revenge and make that bitch Leena cry.

Devin could try every possible way but he will never be able to retrieve the security footage. Even if he tried to poach the media who has leaked the video, it lacks strong evidence that she was the one who framed it. Wang's family hold esteem in society and he would be eventually compelled to accept her.

Only one side of the coin was visible to her delusional eyes and she forgot that there is another side that is also waiting for its turn.