The Olympian's Concubine

Chapter 1

Click. Scroll. Tap. Click again, and again, and again.
That's the only sound I hear late at night in my small apartment. As a hacker, I barely sleep. It's been five years now. I sigh as my phone buzzes, drawing my attention. I blink several times, adjusting from the dark background of my command and hacking system to the bright light of my phone screen. Tapping to open the message, I read:

"Girl, I need your help."
It's from my best friend, Alkmini Eva Stavros—the first girl who accepted me when I moved to this city.

Theonopolis. An amazing city filled with myths, mysteries, and advanced technology. It's a paradise for those lucky enough to reach it, like a modern Atlantis—a hidden haven in the world. It's the perfect place for someone like me, even if I rarely leave my apartment. I'm too busy trying to hack one of the eight largest companies in the city. Which company, you ask? Well, your girl here is trying to hack Olympus Dynamics—the biggest of them all.

Rumor has it that the Greek gods are real and scattered throughout these eight companies. That's why I, one of the best hackers around, is trying to crack them, starting with the largest. Word is that the CEO is a god. I know—I'm way too curious for my own good, and yes, I'm probably doomed if the rumors turn out to be true. But honestly, who cares? I certainly don't.

"What do you need?" I type back, taking a deep breath.
"I accidentally messed with the website of Warfront Enterprises, and I don't know how to fix it," she replies.

At that moment, I want the ground to open up and swallow me whole.
"Don't worry, I got you," I text back, though what I really want to do is send her to hell.

Warfront Enterprises—another one of the eight companies. This one specializes in defense and security solutions, including military-grade tech, cybersecurity, and strategic consulting. In short, my friend is seriously screwed. Luckily for her, she has me. I start typing commands into my control panel, diving into one of the toughest websites in the world to hack. I'm pretty sure they know I'm in their system by now. My body tenses—getting caught would mean trouble with Adrian Mars, Warfront's famous Director of Wildlife Preservation. No one who's crossed paths with him has lived to tell the tale.

But I'm in too deep to stop now. After two hours of tapping away at my keyboard, I finally breach their website. Nice job, Aurora. Now to fix the issue. Scrolling and tapping to pinpoint the problem, I realize it's worse than I expected—my friend accidentally placed a polymorphic virus on the site. Lucky for her, a polymorphic virus doesn't mess with the original code, but it makes my job three times harder. The virus rewrites my code and flags any fix as a failure, meaning I'm up against the legendary "fail tab" virus.

I have to move fast to erase this thing before it causes even more damage.

Typing as fast as I can, I start attacking the virus. feeling sweat forming on the back of my neck. Just as I'm about to finally erase it, my computer suddenly closes the command system tab. A video call pops up in its place.

I jump out of my seat, swallowing hard. I look at the screen, and a shiver runs through me. By the gods—the man on the screen has eyes made for violence. Is that Adrian? Because if it is, I'm screwed. Completely screwed. We spent what felt like an eternity just staring at each other—or rather, I was staring at the screen. With a shaky hand, I finally picked up the call. He didn't waste any time before scowling at me.

"So, you're the one fucking around with my website," he remarked. It wasn't so much an accusation as it was a statement. His tone immediately set my nerves on edge, like a slap in the face with how intense he was.

"I wasn't fucking with your website, I was fixing it," I snapped back, feeling the need to defend myself. In response, all I got was an impressively deep growl. After a brief silence, he spoke again.

"Fixing what exactly?" he asked, sounding a bit calmer—or at least willing to give me a chance to explain.

"My friend, who I assume works for your company, accidentally placed a polymorphic virus on the site. Since she's too scared to tell you, she asked me to fix it," I explained. Was I throwing my friend under the bus? Yes, but she got me into this mess, so a bad day wouldn't kill her.

"Your friend's name?" he grumbled. I started to wonder if this man was capable of speaking without growling. I'd been sitting in my chair, holding my breath for what felt like 20 minutes. How could someone make me so tense just by staring, was beyond me.

"Alkmini Eva Stavros," I answered quietly, impressed with myself for managing not to show my fear—or at least, I thought I was doing a decent job until the beast on the other end of the call spoke again.

"So you're the friend she's been fawning over—the so-called hacker. Then fix it, before I decide to show up at your apartment door," he said. At that, my blood froze, and a shiver ran down my spine. I nodded like an obedient child, praying to any god in this good green earth that he won't see how much fear I was feeling. With that, he hung up.

I finally let out the breath I didn't realize I had been holding. Great job embarrassing yourself, I silently taunted myself. Deciding to focus on the task at hand, I turned back to my work, this time with extra determination, after what felt like an eternity, I finally managed to fix the problem and as a bonus, I sent a message to my dear friend, cursing her for the mess she had dragged me into. All I got in reply was a painfully repetitive, "I'm sorry," repeated a thousand times in the same message. My anger subsided a little when she texted that she would bring me my favorite lunch for three days straight.

Feeling exhausted I closed my laptop and closed my eyes for a minute or so, focusing on my breathing. After a tense two-minute pause, I decided it was time to finally step outside and check if my friend had gotten into any trouble. It's a long walk from my apartment to the city center, so if I wanted to make it in time for lunch, I needed to get going. With the chaos of the call and everything that followed, it was already morning.

Getting up from my seat—which probably had the shape of my ass imprinted on it by now—I headed to the bathroom. As I walked, I peeled off the baggy clothes I had been wearing. Stepping into the shower, I stood there for a few seconds before turning the water on, and immediately jumped out of the way. By the gods, I forgot it started freezing cold!. After what felt like an eternity of cautiously testing the water with my foot, I finally stepped back under the running water, sighing in relief as the warmth spread over my skin. I practically melted under the shower, soaking in the heat for a good five minutes before I finally started scrubbing my skin with a sponge. I was determined to scrub until my skin was red and raw—considering I could barely remember the last time I showered. Well, that's a lie, I did remember, but it felt like days ago.