In a Heartbeat (1st book of Heart Series)

Chapter 7

My fingers are tapping on the penthouse kitchen table, another hand digging into my hair as I study the codes that I am using to create a new analytical method for an improved business analysis.

I am stuck for almost two hours now. I cannot find an accurate coding method to make it work.

Aden walked out of his gym, kissed my cheek then double take me, "Stuck?"

Aden is wearing his pants a little too low, showing his sexy V shape with his abs. I sighed at this sight, crunching my nose. "Yup. And you decided to distract me with your half-naked body,"

He laughed, pour himself a glass of water then joined me by the island table. He caged me in between his arms, his chin on the top of my head, "Let me take a look,"

As the boss of a technology company, Aden's coding skill is definitely better than me. I watched him coded a few software. Well, let's put it this way; I probably need another ten years to catch up on his skills.

"No," I frowned, as he read my codes. He knows I hate it when he try to interfere in my work. "Aden, I will figure it out."

"Mmhmm, I know you will," Aden smiled, "But you've been stuck on this for two hours now. Let me help you." Once again, without my consent, he started coding a section for me then I watched his pinkie finger tapped on the ENTER key to submit the code.

It worked.

Ugh.

He got it done in less than five minutes and here I am struggling with it for two hours.

I read the codes, my mouth agape. This coding looked freaking familiar. It is just brilliant. I turned to Aden, pulling his head down, our tongues tangled. He chuckled, "You're welcome, Sierra. Now, can we please put our work aside so that I can spend more time with you?"

"Mmhmm," I bit his lips, turned back to my laptop, "Give me an hour more. I want to finish this up, then we can go for dinner."

He sighed, heading to his office, "In a heartbeat, baby."

Aden and I just got back from dinner when Sloane called me, "Sierra, are you watching the news?"

I looked at Aden who is looking at his phone. I went to the TV, switched it on to the news channel, "I'm looking at it now,"

Then I saw his face.

Christopher Winston.

My father.

I heard Sloane blabbering but my attention was focused on the TV, "I'll call you back,"

I felt Aden's arms wrapping around me as I adjusted the TV volume.

"Christopher Winston. Wanted for sex trafficking, murdered ten young girls and admitted to killing his accomplice Kurt Henderson. He is caught in another identity in Thailand. He will be facing a life sentence. ASA has managed to use their latest facial recognition technology to locate a wanted fugitive for 7 years..."

He is caught. He is facing a life sentence. It felt like the weight on my shoulder has been lifted up. I relaxed in Aden's arms, my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat, "Aden,"

"I know," Aden kissed the top of my head, "I know. It's over now. I've recreated a new profile page for you and burned the old profile into ashes. You're safe now, Sierra."

.......

I was reading the latest data in my office when I heard a knock on my door, I lifted my head up to see one of our programmer — Ethan, who is finishing up the new analytical method that Aden had helped me with.

"What's up?"

"Um," Ethan pushed his black rimmed spectacles up, "Can I talk to you about the coding?"

"Yes, sure. Something wrong?"

"Sort of," He cleared his throat, "I noticed you've input the vice code in this new method. This code is created for the..."

Ethan was pointing out the code that Aden has done for me. I looked at him as he trailed off, "For?"

Ethan scratched the back of his head. "For ASA,"

"ASA?" I frowned at that term then I remembered the news said ASA caught Christopher Winston. "Special Agent?"

"No," Ethan snorted, "Secret Agents. Nobody knows who are their operatives. They just used ASA for everything. Anyway, ASA has this very insane white hat hacker. He goes by the name Vice."

Ethan began typing in the search engine on Google and I saw the symbol. The ASA symbol. I knew I saw that symbol somewhere.

"They are freaking bad ass. Anyway, I was reading your codes then I found similarities in your code and Vice code. In our programmer world, our school had us studied the basic of Vice code. However, there are certain rules to input the vice code. Like yours, you placed it in between sections that cannot be easily found. The sequences are tightly secured. Even though it look like basic coding but vice like to hide his signature move,"

Ethan placed the cursor over two small dots and a v, "this,"

My head was buzzing.

Aden was the one who put this there.

I didn't think about checking it since the method worked.

"Your point?"

Ethan cleared his throat, pushed his spectacles up, "I was thinking did you get approval to use the vice code on our software?"

I thought about Aden and then I nodded, "Yes, I did. Don't worry about it."

After making sure Ethan has gone back to his cubicle. I picked up my phone and dialled Aden. I could almost hear him smiling over the phone, "Hey baby, my meeting just ended,"

"Can I come up to your office?" I asked, the vice code swimming in my head.

"Of course. Is everything alright?" He asked warily.

"I don't know, you tell me." I said, getting out of my office and heading towards the lift, "Can you send the lift down for me?"

Aden was standing by the lift when I reached his office. He looked at me with a small frown, "Did I do something wrong?"

"Aden, my programmer came to talk to me about the vice code,"

I watched Aden's frown left his face and it was replaced by a nonchalant smirk, "Is it? Do you want coffee?"

"No, I don't want coffee, Aden. Are you vice?"

Aden looked away from me, his back facing me as he work on the coffee machine, "The vice code is the basic in coding world, Sierra. It worked on every software that I've coded. Don't worry about getting caught. I have documents to prove we got approval."