CHAPTER 1 - The Lonely Princess

If there is one thing Ashley craves more than anything else in the world, it is the feeling of her fingers against her keyboard while she is coding or hacking into different servers.

She couldn’t help but smirk in satisfaction as she sat in the café hacking into the ZEDD Ltd. server. “They could really use someone like me to help secure their server; it was too easy for me to crack,” she thought to herself, but she knew that it was all wishful thinking.

She knows that her father would never allow her to work for someone. He is too proud of that and believes that Ashley should stay at home until he finds the right man to marry her off to.

She took the coffee mug and brought it closer to her lip as she sipped the coffee inside the jug.

The hotness hit her tongue, which sent thrills down her body. Ashley dropped the mug back on the table and resumed what she was doing.

Ashley knows what she's doing is technically wrong, but she doesn't care as long as she's not harming anyone. Unlike other hackers, she hacks into servers to help several companies and the government solve problems they didn’t even realize they had.

Ashley derives pleasure from seeing them so clueless about what is going on around them, and hacking also keeps her busy with her dark thoughts.

She has only ever been caught once after she broke into the CIA system. A week later, she was offered a job, which she couldn’t turn down because it was either that or she went to federal prison.

Just like that, she became a faceless hacker for the CIA, whom they call whenever they need her help. She couldn’t tell anyone, of course, not like she has anyone to tell, but then, who would believe that Ashley Valencia, the elder daughter of business mogul Richard Valencia and fashion designer Gwen Valencia, works for the CIA?

In her family, there's nothing like love because it's considered a weakness, and happiness is just like an illusion that can be bought with money, and money after money.

She has always felt like she was invisible. No one pays attention to her, and if attention comes, it's always from her younger siblings who never liked her or her parents tearing her down.

She feels like she is just someone that they had to deal with, as she is not truly a Valencia but an orphan that was adopted when she was 3.

Richard and Gwen didn’t really want a child, but Ashley begged Gwen and Richard Valencia to take her, and they did. They wouldn’t stop telling her that story, so she has always felt indebted to them.

So now, her younger siblings see her as a threat, and because of this, Ashley knew that she couldn't do anything that would make her siblings feel like she was trying to take their birthright from them.

Ashley never expects love from her family, so she dares not complain because it will make her look ingrate.

She was always alone, but at home and in school, but she was lucky to be able to find something that makes her feel less alone, which is coding and hacking. She has hacked into her parent's company server multiple times, and she has saved the company from external and internal attacks without their knowledge.

None of her family knew she was a hacker, and she liked it that way. She doesn’t even think her father knew that she studied computer engineering in college.

Life has always been lonely and quiet, and she preferred it that way. She's now used to it.

If attention comes to her and it doesn't come from her younger siblings, it will definitely come from her parents, who will need her to make a public appearance at an event or symposium.

“Do you require a refill?" Blair, a waitress at the cafe, asked her, smiling at her, and she nodded in response. She didn’t even realize that her cup was empty, as she was so engrossed with what she was doing.

She heard someone open the café door and looked up to see Liam Abbot with a man beside him.

Ashley has seen the man and Liam in the news multiple times. He's Liam's friend and lawyer, Isaac Stone. The two of them, together with Liam’s other friend Blake Spencer, have been taking the business world by storm lately, and they are called the “deadly and handsome trio.”

“Oh my God, did they find out that I have been snooping around their companies' servers? Are they here to sue me?” Ashley thought to herself, panicking.

She quickly closed her laptop without shutting it as she packed it inside her back bag with the laptop charger.

She hurriedly zipped the bag and carried her phone, which was charged as she ran out.

On her way outside, she bumped into Liam, and the coffee she held poured on her, ruining the sky-blue shirt she wore, and it poured on him too.

“Sorry,” Ashley mumbled, and she rushed out without waiting for his reaction.

“Weirdo, how could she spill coffee and rush out just like that with a bad apology?” Liam's friend stated, and Liam just glanced at the entrance door to see her entering a cab, which drove away immediately.

He only saw the weird lady for a few seconds, and for some reason he felt drawn to her.

“I really need a strong coffee,” he thought to himself, shaking his head as he walked towards the cashier to place his orders.

“What a safe escape, but I ended up ruining my dress,” Ashley lamented silently to herself.

“Ma'am, your address?”

Ashley called out her home address to the cab driver, who took note of it on the GPS.

She tried to clean the stain off her shirt, but it got worse instead.

“Jeez, it can't be removed,” she mumbled.

Soon, the cab alighted in front of a huge black gate, and Ashley hopped out of the vehicle.

She could tell the driver was wondering why she didn’t drive herself if she was living in such a giant house, but she has always feared cars ever since what happened to her nine years ago.

She paid the cab driver, then went inside the mansion. She entered the main mansion, and everywhere was silent.

Ashley was not surprised, since her parents and younger siblings are always busy. She went upstairs, heading to her room.

She got in, locking the door behind her.

She threw her bag on the bed and took off her shirt. She threw it inside the laundry basket, then went inside the washroom.

Minutes later, Ashley came out looking fresh. She took her bath. Ashley walked towards her closet and brought out baggy sweatpants with an oversized shirt.

She wore it and brought her laptop with her as she charged it, and she always charged her phone.

Ashley turned on the TV to binge-watch the Lucifer series again since she was bored, and she would rather not hack servers; she's not in the mood to do it.

She watched the movie to distract herself from the lonely world and the loneliness she was feeling.

Ashley heard a knock on the door, and she went to open it, sticking her head out, and saw a maid.

“Ma'am, do you need anything?”

“No, I'm fine,” Ashley replied, slowly shutting the door.

She went to sit on the hairy rug and resumed watching the movie series. Slowly, Ashley found herself dozing off, successfully distracting herself from loneliness.