Chapter 6: First Day Under the Devil

Elliot quickly learned that living with a billionaire meant one thing.

Schedules.

Very strict schedules.

He discovered this at exactly 7:00 a.m.

A soft electronic chime echoed through the bedroom, followed by the curtains automatically sliding open to reveal the bright morning skyline.

Elliot groaned and buried his face in the pillow.

“No,” he muttered.

The chime rang again.

“Go away.”

Another chime.

Elliot grabbed the pillow and threw it toward the window.

“Okay, I’m up!”

Silence.

He sat up slowly, squinting at the sunlight flooding the room.

“This place has alarms now?” he muttered.

Dragging himself out of bed, Elliot wandered into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face.

When he finally stepped into the main living area, he immediately noticed something strange.

Someone had already been working for hours.

Timothy sat at the long glass table with several holographic screens floating in front of him. Financial reports, company statistics, and security data moved across the displays as he calmly reviewed them.

He looked perfectly composed.

Dark suit.

Perfect posture.

Coffee in one hand.

Elliot stopped in the middle of the room.

“You’ve been awake for a while, haven’t you?”

Timothy didn’t look up.

“Since five.”

Elliot blinked.

“Five in the morning?”

“Yes.”

“That’s illegal.”

Timothy finally glanced at him.

“You’re late.”

Elliot looked down at himself.

“Late for what?”

“Your first day.”

Elliot frowned.

“You never told me when it started.”

“Seven.”

Elliot gestured toward the clock.

“It’s 7:12.”

Timothy took a sip of coffee.

“Late.”

Elliot stared at him.

“You’re kidding.”

Timothy closed the holographic displays with a single gesture.

“We’re leaving.”

“Leaving where?”

“The office.”

Elliot crossed his arms.

“Isn’t this already the office?”

“No.”

Timothy walked toward the elevator built into the penthouse.

Elliot followed reluctantly.

“Just out of curiosity,” he said, “do all your employees live with you?”

“No.”

“Good.”

The elevator doors opened.

They stepped inside.

As the elevator descended through the building, Elliot watched the floor numbers flash past.

“Okay,” he said slowly, “I have a question.”

Timothy waited.

“What exactly am I supposed to be doing today?”

Timothy’s answer was simple.

“Working.”

“That’s very vague.”

“You’ll understand soon.”

The elevator stopped on a lower floor.

When the doors opened, Elliot froze.

The room beyond was enormous.

A massive open workspace filled with advanced technology, giant screens, and rows of powerful servers humming quietly.

Employees moved quickly between desks, typing rapidly or analyzing complex data streams.

The moment Timothy stepped into the room, the entire atmosphere changed.

People straightened.

Conversations stopped.

Everyone suddenly looked very focused on their work.

Elliot leaned closer to Timothy.

“Do they always act like they’re in a horror movie when you walk in?”

Timothy ignored the comment.

He walked directly toward a large workstation near the center of the room.

“Sit.”

Elliot sat down slowly.

Several employees nearby glanced at him curiously.

Whispers began spreading quietly through the room.

That’s him.

The hacker.

Mr. Blackwood brought him here?

Elliot noticed the attention and leaned toward Timothy.

“I feel like a zoo animal.”

Timothy activated the workstation in front of Elliot.

Three massive screens lit up.

Rows of security data appeared instantly.

“This is the Blackwood core security system.”

Elliot leaned forward.

His eyes widened.

“Oh.”

Seeing the full system displayed like this was breathtaking.

Thousands of connected networks.

Advanced encryption layers.

Autonomous defense programs.

It was one of the most sophisticated digital infrastructures Elliot had ever seen.

And also…

“…Wow,” Elliot said slowly.

“What?”

“This thing is a mess.”

Several nearby employees froze.

One woman dropped her stylus.

Timothy looked at the screen.

“Explain.”

Elliot began pointing.

“Your outer defenses are incredible. The firewalls are adaptive and the AI detection systems are impressive.”

Timothy waited.

“But?”

Elliot leaned back in the chair.

“But your internal routing structure is inefficient.”

He started typing.

Code began appearing rapidly across the screen.

“If someone bypasses the first two layers of security—like I did—they could move laterally through the system way too easily.”

Timothy watched closely.

“What would you change?”

Elliot grinned slightly.

“Everything.”

The room went silent as Elliot’s fingers moved faster.

He rewrote sections of code.

Reorganized system architecture.

Closed hidden vulnerabilities.

Within minutes the entire security map began restructuring itself.

Employees nearby stared in shock.

One engineer whispered quietly,

“He’s rewriting the entire system…”

Timothy’s gaze sharpened.

Elliot finished a block of code and leaned back.

“There.”

The system recalibrated.

Defense layers shifted.

New protocols activated.

Even Timothy could see the difference immediately.

The network had become stronger.

More efficient.

More dangerous.

Elliot stretched casually.

“That should stop anyone from repeating my little stunt.”

Timothy studied the screens for several seconds.

Then he looked at Elliot.

“You did that in twelve minutes.”

Elliot shrugged.

“Thirteen, technically.”

The room remained silent.

Timothy spoke again.

“You understand that what you just did would normally take a team of engineers several weeks.”

Elliot looked confused.

“Really?”

Timothy didn’t respond.

Elliot scratched the back of his neck.

“Well… I guess that explains why your system had holes.”

A few employees gasped quietly.

Elliot noticed.

“What?”

Timothy’s voice remained calm.

“You’re confident.”

“Someone has to be.”

Timothy studied him for a moment longer.

Then he spoke quietly.

“You wanted to challenge my system.”

Elliot raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah?”

Timothy stepped closer.

His voice dropped slightly.

“Now prove you deserve to touch it.”