His innocent wife is a dangerous hacker.

Chapter 663 Investor

When Nicolas saw the investor finally step out of the elevator, a wide grin spread across his face.

The man who emerged was striking. Brown hair swept back from his forehead, sharp and clean, catching the fluorescent light in a way that seemed almost deliberate.

His eyes were a pale, piercing blue, the color of glacial ice, cold and distant behind a pair of thin-framed glasses that added an air of scholarly precision to his otherwise imposing presence.

His suit was dark, perfectly tailored, hugging his broad shoulders and narrow waist, the fabric expensive enough to whisper wealth rather than shout it.

His shoes were polished to a mirror shine, and his hands were gloved in black leather, thin and elegant. He looked like someone who had never waited for anything in his life. Like someone who made others wait for him.

Nicolas stepped forward, his hand extended, his smile bright and eager, the kind of smile he had practiced in the mirror for weeks. "Nice to meet you, Zeke."

The man, Zeke Sinclair, looked at Nicolas’s outstretched hand for a moment, then back at Nicolas’s face. His expression didn’t change. Cold. Unreadable. His lips barely moved when he spoke.

"We are not that close," Zeke said, his voice low and smooth, like silk over steel. "Call me sir."

Nicolas’s smile faltered. A flash of anger flickered in his eyes, quick and hot, there and gone. His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly, and for a moment, his hand hovered in the air before he dropped it back to his side.

But he was too desperate for this deal to let his pride get in the way. He forced his smile back into place, wider now, almost sickly sweet, the kind of smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

"Sorry, sir. My apologies." He stepped aside, gesturing grandly toward the conference room, his arm sweeping through the air like he was presenting a throne. "Please, follow me. I came personally to fetch you."

The words carried an underlying meaning: I came to fetch you. I am being gracious. You are being difficult. Remember who holds the power here. But Zeke didn’t seem to care.

He walked past Nicolas without acknowledgment, his long strides eating up the carpet, his eyes fixed straight ahead, taking in the office around him with an expression of mild boredom.

Nicolas’s grin tightened. He followed, his hands curling into fists at his sides, his knuckles white. The hallway was quiet now, the employees having retreated to their desks after the earlier chaos.

The carpet had been vacuumed, but small shards of glass still glittered near the baseboards, catching the light. The bloodstain had been scrubbed, but a faint pinkish shadow remained, visible if you knew where to look.

The smell of cleaning solution hung in the air, sharp and chemical, undercut by the faint sweetness of the dying flowers in the conference room.

•••

Zeke Sinclair had no interest in being here. No interest in Nicolas Vale, in his desperate ambition, in his delusions of grandeur. If it hadn’t been for Dom, he wouldn’t have wasted his time on this good-for-nothing fool.

Dom had called him weeks ago, explaining the situation. A girl he cared about, Hazel. Her ex-fiancé, a cheap scum who couldn’t take no for an answer. The ex-fiancé was targeting her cousin’s company, trying to destroy Leo.

Dom needed help. He needed someone who could play the part of a wealthy investor, someone who could trap Nicolas in a deal that would leave him with nothing.

Zeke had agreed without hesitation. Ruining a man like Nicolas Vale didn’t sound like work. It sounded like entertainment.

He had thought it might be risky. He had prepared for pushback, for scrutiny, for Nicolas to question the details of the deal. He had prepared to defend his decisions, to explain his motivations, to justify his investment.

But Nicolas was a fool. The man couldn’t see the loopholes in his own business plan, let alone the ones Zeke had carefully woven into the contract.

He was so blinded by his own ambition, so desperate for validation, that he had signed every document Zeke placed in front of him without reading the fine print.

The deal was structured to look like a massive investment, but in reality, Zeke was putting up very little of his own money. The rest was leveraged against Nicolas’s assets, assets that Zeke would gain control of if the deal went south. And the deal was designed to go south. Every clause, every condition, every seemingly minor detail was a trap, carefully laid, waiting to snap shut.

The profit for Zeke came from the penalties and fees hidden in the contract, the ones Nicolas had overlooked in his haste. Every missed deadline, every unmet condition, every small failure would cost Nicolas money, money that would flow directly into Zeke’s accounts. And the deadlines were impossible. The conditions were unmeetable. The deal was a noose, and Nicolas had already put his head through it.

Nicolas would lose everything. His money, his influence, his company. And he wouldn’t even see it coming until it was too late.

Zeke smiled inwardly as he walked into the conference room, taking his place at the head of the table.

The flowers were drooping, their petals brown at the edges. The champagne sat warm in its bucket, the ice long melted into water.

The crystal glasses were smudged with fingerprints. A faint smear of something that might have been blood marred the carpet near the wall, and the smell of cleaning solution was stronger here, mixed with the cloying sweetness of the dying flowers.

He didn’t comment. He simply sat, folded his hands on the table, and looked at Nicolas with those cold, pale blue eyes. His glasses caught the light, hiding his expression for just a moment before he adjusted them, revealing the ice beneath.

"Let’s begin," he said.

Nicolas nodded eagerly, his earlier anger forgotten, his future already sealed. He didn’t see the trap. He didn’t see the danger. He only saw the opportunity. The chance to finally defeat Leo, to win back Hazel, to become the man he had always wanted to be.

He sat across from Zeke, spreading his hands across the table, launching into his presentation with the fervor of a man who had rehearsed this moment a thousand times.

Zeke listened. He nodded at the right moments. He asked questions that made Nicolas think he was interested.