Chapter 5: Golden Dawn Academy [3]

"Young Master. I am at your service."

The man stood with the kind of posture that came from years of formal training. Not military—something more refined. More calculated.

I studied him for a moment.

A professional secretary. How quaint.

"Is there something you need?" he asked, his voice perfectly neutral.

"Nothing."

I moved past him toward the elevator, and as we walked down the hallway, I couldn’t help but observe. The way he scanned his surroundings without making it obvious. The precision in every step. The expensive suit designed to be forgotten the moment you looked away.

Of course a Riina secretary would be exceptional. It was only natural.

Outside, a black sedan waited at the curb—sleek, unmarked, the kind of car that didn’t stand out because it was designed not to.

"At your service," he said, opening the back door.

I slid into the back seat and reached for my phone.

That’s when I remembered. Ever since my synchronization with Lorenzo completed at 100%, an app had appeared on my phone. I’d discovered it this morning but there hadn’t been time to investigate.

[City of Overlords]

The game. Except it wasn’t a game anymore—it was more like a digital save file containing information about this world, about what City of Overlords had become.

I opened the app.

[Lorenzo Directory (N)]

Only two entries were active. My father. Myself. Everything else was locked behind question marks.

’What is this interface?’

Then a notification appeared.

Zzzzing–

[Lorenzo Directory Update]

A new person added. Enzo Prank.

I clicked on his profile and the information filled the screen.

[Name: Enzo Prank]

[Affiliation: Riina Organization | World Government Intelligence]

[Status: Executive Assistant to Lorenzo Riina]

[Description: Deep-cover operative. Assigned to monitor successor’s development and integration into academy system...]

I stopped reading.

The World Government Intelligence? My own secretary was a government spy?

’Of course he was.’

If I was the heir to a criminal organization, the government would naturally place someone close to me. It would be reckless not to. They needed to watch. Needed to measure. Needed to determine whether the heir to the Riina empire would be an asset or a liability.

My headache returned with a vengeance.

The pieces were falling into place now. I could see the game unfolding around me just as clearly as it had in my previous life.

"Is there a problem, sir?" Enzo asked, keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

I forced my voice to remain steady. Casual. As if I hadn’t just discovered his true allegiance through an app that shouldn’t exist in any normal world.

"No. Nothing." I paused, watching his reflection in the rearview mirror. "I just died while playing a game."

It was a test. A small one. I wanted to see how he’d react.

In the mirror, I caught the faintest flicker in his eyes. Recognition? Or just professional concern?

"That’s frustrating," he said mildly, turning onto the main street toward the academy. "Were you far along?"

’So he doesn’t know that I know.’

"Just a waste of time, really," I replied,

Anyways, I needed more details. Only after that I should be able to decide to kill him or make use of him.

I clicked on [World Government Intelligence] on the app and a new interface appeared on screen.

[Enzo Prank.]

[Codename: Sentinel-7]

[Years in Service: 8]

[Success Rate: 94%]

[Previous Assignments: Monitoring Families Cortesi, Moretti, Gambino]

[Current Assignment: Monitor Lorenzo Riina - Assess threat level, potential for cooperation, likelihood of defection from Riina Organization]

I read the last line twice.

[Potential for cooperation. Likelihood of defection.]

The government didn’t just want to watch me. They wanted to flip me. They wanted to turn the heir to the Riina empire into one of their own.

It was bold. Ambitious. And completely predictable.

Every mafia heir with S-rank talent was the same target to them. Every one of us represented a possibility—the chance to compromise a criminal organization from the inside, to have an awakened warrior of exceptional potential working for the state instead of against it.

The question was whether Enzo believed I could be turned.

I scrolled through more files. His assessment reports on previous assignments. His success rates. His methods.

Enzo didn’t use force. He was patient. He built relationships, found leverage points, discovered what motivated his targets. Then he applied pressure slowly, methodically, until they either broke or complied.

He was a professional manipulator. A master of psychological warfare dressed up in the suit of a helpful secretary.

’nteresting.’

I looked up from my phone and studied his reflection in the rearview mirror again. His hands were steady on the wheel. His breathing was even. He showed no signs of stress or urgency.

He believed he had time.

He believed I was still just a seventeen-year-old boy with a government spy as his secretary, completely unaware of what he was or what he wanted.

"The traffic is moving well," Enzo said casually. "We should arrive at the academy in about twenty-five minutes now."

He was attempting small talk. Building rapport. Establishing trust.

It was textbook.

I could respond in one of several ways. I could play the role of the ignorant heir—act spoiled and oblivious, let him believe his deception was working.

I could confront him directly and see how he handled being exposed. Or I could do something far more interesting.

I could use him.