His innocent wife is a dangerous hacker.-Chapter 563 Evidence

The empty space in their booth suddenly felt much smaller.

"Hello." Nicolas slid into the seat across from them with the casual confidence of someone who either did not notice or did not care that he was interrupting something. He settled back, spreading his arms along the top of the booth, looking every bit the groom to be surveying his kingdom.

Jay’s face stretched into a smile. It was wide. Forced. The kind of smile that hurt to look at. "What’s up, Nicolas?"

Nicolas shrugged, utterly oblivious to the sudden tension tightening around the table like a noose. "Nothing. Just came here to chill, you know?" He waved vaguely at the room, the music, the women, the expensive chaos of it all. "Tomorrow I will be married. And the day after, I will be flying off on my honeymoon with Hazel."

He paused, letting the words hang there, a faint, dreamy smile on his smug face.

"Life happened so fast," he added, shaking his head like he could not quite believe his own good fortune. "I am quite shocked, honestly."

Dom’s jaw clenched.

Audibly.

The sound carried across the small space, a sharp click of teeth meeting too hard. His knuckles went white around his glass. His gaze, previously fixed somewhere in the middle distance, snapped to the tabletop. He stared at the wood grain like it held the secrets to the universe, anything to avoid looking up, to avoid meeting those electric blue eyes in his memory, to avoid the reality of this man sitting here, smug and gloating, about to marry the woman Dom could not stop thinking about.

Leo’s face went ugly.

The set of his jaw hardened. The lines around his eyes deepened. His gray gaze, already cold, turned arctic.

Beside him, Jay’s forced smile had frozen into something that looked almost painful. His eyes flicked to Leo, then to Dom, then back to Nicolas. The calculation was obvious. How fast can I get this man to leave before someone commits murder?

The silence stretched. Heavy. Loaded.

Nicolas blinked, finally noticing that no one had responded. "What? No congratulations?" He laughed, the sound grating. "Tough crowd."

Dom’s grip on his glass tightened further. The glass creaked faintly.

Leo leaned forward slightly, his voice low and smooth, the kind of smooth that preceded something sharp. "Congratulations," he said flatly. It was not a congratulations. It was a threat wrapped in a word.

Jay jumped in quickly, his voice too bright. "Yeah, man, congrats. So exciting. Hazel’s great. You are also here. Great. Awesome."

Nicolas looked between them, his smirk faltering just slightly. "You guys are weird."

"We are tired," Jace offered smoothly from beside Jay, his tone neutral, deflecting. "Long day. Lots of wedding things."

Nicolas accepted this with a shrug, apparently willing to believe anything that allowed him to return to his self satisfied haze. He stood, brushing off his expensive shirt. "Well, enjoy your tiredness. I have women to entertain." He gestured vaguely toward the booth where several ladies waited, watching him with practiced interest.

As he walked away, Dom finally looked up.

"Nah." Dom’s voice cut through the heavy silence, sharp and bitter. He was staring at Nicolas across the room, watching the way the man leaned in close to a woman who was definitely not his fiancée, laughing at something whispered in his ear. "He is so smug. Openly flirting with women right before his wedding. How does your sister marry someone like that?"

Leo’s jaw tightened. His gray eyes stayed fixed on Nicolas, cold and unblinking.

"We told her," he said quietly. "Multiple times. She confronted him about it."

"And?"

"And he said it was just his nature." Leo’s voice dripped with contempt. "Claimed he is a friendly person, that he does not mean anything by it, that he would never actually cross boundaries." A pause. "Hazel accepted it. Believed him."

Dom’s lip curled. "She accepted that?"

"She was never like this before," Leo added, something almost like pain flickering behind his cold mask. "The accident changed her. Made her doubt herself. Made her think she did not deserve better."

The table fell silent again, heavier now.

Dom’s eyes narrowed. He tilted his head, studying Nicolas with new intensity, the easy laughter, the wandering hands, the complete lack of self awareness.

Then, slowly, a smirk spread across his face.

It was not his usual playful grin. This was something sharper. More dangerous.

"Ohhh," Dom said slowly, drawing out the sound. "You told her. But you did not show her."

Everyone at the table turned to look at him.

Leo’s gaze sharpened. Jay’s eyebrows shot up. Jace leaned forward slightly, curiosity flickering in his eyes. Jason, mid sip of his drink, froze with the glass halfway to his lips.

Dom just smiled. Mysterious. Knowing. Absolutely insufferable in his own right.

The silence stretched.

"What?" Jay finally asked.

Dom said nothing. Just kept smiling, his dark eyes gleaming with an idea none of them had caught yet.

Leo studied him for a long moment. Then, slowly, the corner of his mouth lifted, just barely.

"Explain," he said quietly.

Dom leaned back, spreading his hands. "She believes his words because she has not seen his actions. Not really. Not the way we see them." He nodded toward Nicolas, who was now feeding a grape to one of the women, his hand lingering too long on her wrist. "What if she did? What if she saw exactly what he does when she is not around?"

Jason set his glass down slowly. "You are suggesting what? Hidden cameras?"

"Please." Dom waved a hand dismissively. "Cameras are crude. I am talking about evidence. Real, undeniable, time stamped proof of exactly what his nature looks like." His smirk widened. "I am a hacker, remember? Getting into his phone, his socials, his private messages. That is not even a challenge. That is a warm up."

Jay’s eyes went wide. "You are going to spy on him?"

"I am going to document him," Dom corrected. "For educational purposes. For Hazel’s future reference. For..." He glanced at Leo. "...justice."

Leo stared at him.

Silence.

Then Leo’s smile, real, dangerous, and utterly approving, spread across his face.

"Do it," he said quietly.

Dom’s eyes lit up. "Say no more."

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. "We are all going to jail."

"Worth it," Dom and Leo said in unison.

Jay looked between them, a slow grin spreading across his own face. "I want front row seats to whatever happens next."

Across the room, completely unaware, Nicolas laughed loudly and ordered another round of drinks.

His future was about to implode, and he had no idea.