His innocent wife is a dangerous hacker.-Chapter 660 Why her?

Dom picked up the apple again, took a bite, and chewed thoughtfully. The crunch echoed in the quiet room. "Okay," he said after swallowing. "Here’s the plan. We eat snacks. We watch a movie. We forget that anyone wants to kill me."

"That’s not a plan," Jay said flatly.

"It’s a coping mechanism," Dom said, taking another bite.

Jay stared at him. Dom stared back, chewing his apple, looking completely unbothered by the fact that someone had tried to murder him in a garden weeks ago.

"We’re going to need more than coping mechanisms," Jay said finally.

"Then we’ll need more snacks," Dom said cheerfully.

Jay dropped his head into his hands. "I hate you."

"No, you don’t," Dom said, reaching over to pat his shoulder. "You love me. I’m a prince. Everyone loves princes."

"You’re a disgraced prince who eats bananas with his hands," Jay mumbled into his palms.

"Bananas are finger food," Dom said.

"They’re not."

"They are the way I eat them."

Jace was laughing now, quiet but real, his shoulders shaking. "I can’t believe I’m friends with a prince."

"Technically," Dom said, "you’re friends with a disgraced prince who eats bananas with his hands, cries at dog commercials, and has a cousin who wants him dead."

"You cried at a dog commercial?" Jace asked.

"It was a very sad dog," Dom said solemnly. "It needed insurance."

Jace laughed harder.

Jay looked up, defeated but smiling. "Fine. We’ll eat snacks. Then we’ll make a plan."

"Deal," Dom said, holding out the apple. "Want a bite?"

"No."

"Your loss."

Jay watched Dom take another bite, completely unbothered, and felt something shift in his chest. This was serious. Someone wanted Dom dead. Someone had already tried. But Dom was still here, still joking, still eating apples like nothing was wrong. Maybe that was how he survived. The jokes. The snacks. The refusal to take anything too seriously. Maybe that was the only way to keep going when the world wanted you gone.

Jay reached over and took the apple from Dom’s hand. He took a bite, the sweetness bursting on his tongue.

Dom grinned. "Told you it was good."

Jay chewed, swallowed, and handed the apple back. "Okay. Snacks first. Then plan."

"Then we appreciate my bone structure?" Dom asked hopefully.

"Then we appreciate your bone structure," Jay agreed.

Dom laughed, and the room felt lighter. Jace shook his head, still smiling.

"I think there is a way," Dominique said, his voice thoughtful. Jay looked at him with raised eyebrows.

Dom leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his dark eyes serious now. "I think I should make a trip to Umbra. My mom and dad are still waiting for me to come back. They haven’t given up hope, even after all these years. But judging from how angry they were when I left, and how angry they probably still are, they’re going to beat me with their expensive shoes the moment I walk through the door."

Jay’s mouth fell open slightly. "I thought royal families didn’t do that kind of thing. I thought it was all dignified silence and passive-aggressive comments at formal dinners."

Dom shook his head, a small, almost fond smile playing on his lips. "You’d be surprised. My mother has a collection of heels that could double as weapons. She’s not afraid to use them. And my father—" He paused, his smile widening. "My father once chased me around the palace with a rolled-up newspaper because I accidentally dyed the family crest pink for a prank. I was twenty-two."

Jay stared at him, trying to reconcile the image of a king chasing his adult son with a newspaper. "I don’t know what I expected from royalty, but it wasn’t that."

"We’re not as formal as people think," Dom said. "Behind closed doors, we’re just a family. A dysfunctional, occasionally violent, very dramatic family. But still a family."

Jace was listening quietly, his arms crossed, his expression thoughtful.

Dom continued, his voice becoming more serious. "I think I need to take someone with me. Someone who can help calm their anger. Because they’ve been urging me to marry for years. Sending me photos of eligible socialites, arranging ’accidental’ meetings, dropping hints at every family gathering."

Jay’s eyes widened in alarm. "No. No, no, no. You can’t take Bella with you to pretend. Bro will be furious. He’ll—I don’t know what he’ll do, but it won’t be good. He might actually commit murder. And I don’t mean metaphorically."

Dom looked at him speechlessly, his expression caught somewhere between disbelief and exasperation. "Who said anything about Bella Bell?"

Jay blinked. "Then who—"

"I’m talking about your cousin," Dom said. "Hazel."

The room went silent.

Jay’s mouth fell open. Jace, who had been leaning back against the couch cushions, sat up so fast he nearly fell off.

"What!" they said in unison.

"Hazel," Jay repeated slowly.

"Yes," Dom said. "I want to ask her to pretend to be my fiancée. Just for the trip. Just to calm my parents down. She’s smart, she’s strong, she can handle herself. She’s perfect for this."

Jay leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. His expression became unreadable, but something in his posture had changed. He wasn’t amused anymore. He was assessing.

"Hazel," he said again, like he was testing the word. "You want Hazel to pretend to be in love with you."

"For the trip," Dom clarified. "Just to—"

"I heard what you said." Jay’s voice was cold and dark. "But let me ask you something, Dom. Why Hazel? Out of everyone you know, Bella, Scarlett, any of the other women in your life, why her?"

Dom blinked, caught off guard by the shift in tone. "I told you. She’s strong. She’s smart. She can handle—"

"You told me her qualities," Jay interrupted. "You didn’t tell me why her. Specifically her."

The silence stretched. Jace shifted on the couch, suddenly very interested in a loose thread on his sleeve.

Dom opened his mouth, then closed it. For once, he didn’t have a quick answer.