Chapter 40
Nash
Nothing I said had deterred Ren from coming with us.
She proclaimed that it was her idea, and she was done hiding behind us. As much as I loved her strength, I really would prefer it if she just used us as a shield.
We stopped in front of Zigzag’s door, and I looked down at her.
“Last chance to leave this to us,” I said.
Her lips pressed into a hard line, and she shook her head. God help me, she was going to make me prematurely gray. Lifting my hand, I knocked hard. There was no answer, so I knocked again, louder this time.
“Hold on,” someone yelled.
There was a click, and then Zigzag opened the door. He was wearing only boxers, and as soon as he spotted Ren, he practically jumped behind the door.
“What…what is happening,” he asked, eyes wide.
“You’re going to help me,” Ren said, and pushed the door open enough to walk inside.
Liam smirked when I glanced his way. Well, okay then.
We followed her lead, and I flipped on the light as we invaded Zigzag’s private space. He was alone, which was good for us. Zigzag ran to his desk chair and grabbed a pair of jeans hanging over the back of it. Yanking them on, he marched to his dresser and pulled on a black rocker tee.
“Ren, I swear, I didn’t hurt Ivy,” he said.
She crossed her arms and tilted her head.
“That sounds like an admission of guilt, Zigzag. You want to tell me why those are the first words out of your mouth?”
“You aren’t here because of Ivy?”
Ren stepped toward him. His eyes shot to us, and he moved back until he was forced to sit down on his bed.
“I wasn’t, but now I want to know. Why was Ivy here?”
He swallowed hard.
“To talk. I swear that’s all we did,” Zigzag said.
I sat down on the edge of his desk. Ren lifted an eyebrow at him.
“Okay, fine, I may have kissed her, and things got a little heated, but I swear I didn’t hurt her.”
She shook her head and ran a hand down her face.
“Why do you keep saying that?”
His eyes bounced around the room, and I could see him praying for an exit.
“Cause she left crying. You really aren’t here about Ivy?”
“No.”
“Oh. Then forget I said anything.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” I said, laughing and making the rest of the guys smile. One thing we had all learned with Ren…she didn’t let anything go. “I’ll be having a chat with Ivy. Word to the wise, Zigzag. Let the people at the door tell you what they want before you open your mouth.”
He wet his lips.
“Okay…then why are you here?”
He still looked like a rat with his tail caught in a trap.
“I need you to find out who is texting me.”
Ren pulled out her phone and handed it over.
Zigzag looked at it like it was a bomb.
“I can’t do this.”
“Why not?”
“I’d have to hack the telephone company,” he said.
“And,” Ren asked, putting her hands on her hips. “Are you saying you don’t have the skill?”
It was a good thing I didn’t have a drink in my mouth because it would’ve gone everywhere. Princess always had a pair on her, but now she had an edge that was as hard and icy as the color of her hair. I fucking loved it.
Zigzag’s jaw dropped. Rolling out his shoulders, he slowly stood.
“No, I didn’t say that. But this is like federal-level, get myself arrested and locked away for years kind of shit. I can’t get caught doing that.”
“So, you are saying you’re not good enough not to get caught,” Ren said, and he narrowed his eyes. “That’s fine, I know someone else who can do it,” she said, turning away, and effectively threw the gauntlet at his feet.
Guys like Zigzag lived for the rush of the hack, and respect was earned by the level of their skill. To be dismissed for someone else was not only a massive insult, but it was better than any threat. It was the equivalent of dropping fresh meat in front of a lion.
“Wait, I didn’t say I couldn’t do it,” he said.
Ren slowly turned around to face him.
“That’s what it sounds like to me.”
Swearing under his breath, he cracked his fingers and then pulled out his laptop, which was oddly under his mattress. He walked over to the table in the corner and sat down.
“What do I get for doing this,” he asked.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to convince Ivy to go on a date with me,” he said.
Ren shook her head.
“You had your chance, and you blew it by dumping her. Why should I let you anywhere near my friend again?”
“If you want the information, you will,” Zigzag said, thinking he had the upper hand.
Princess smiled, and the dark look in her eyes had my hand itching to get her naked.
“Like I said, I have someone else. I don’t need to throw my friend under a bus to get what I want.”
“You don’t understand, I need to get Ivy away from Sabastian,” Zigzag said.
Ren’s brow furrowed. “Why? Why do you need to get her away from him?”
He ran his hands through his hair.
“Fuck…it was a screw up. This whole thing, including what went down with Ivy, started with me fucking shit up. I ended up trapped in a sociopath’s web of lies,” Zigzag said.
“What are you talking about? What screw up? Why are you trapped,” Ren asked, looking as confused as I felt.
“I’m not at Wayward because I have rich parents.
I don’t even know who my parents are. I’m here because I was too young to be tossed into jail, and some rich guy stood up in court and said he’d pay for me to go to a reform school.
He told the judge that he liked to help two or three wayward teens a year and that he would help me. ”
“What was his name,” I asked, stepping closer.
My gut told me we were on the edge of a breakthrough. After the shit he’d pulled helping Axel, Zigzag should have been our first stop. The fact that I hadn’t suspected him at all pissed me the fuck off. I was tempted to grab him and slam him up against the wall.
“Yuriy Nikitovich,” he said.
“Son of a fucking bitch,” I swore, my hands balling into fists. Christov’s alias.
Ren sucked in a deep breath, recognizing the name as well.
“That’s why you keep telling Ivy that she doesn’t know how dangerous Sabastian is.”
Zigzag nodded.
“When he called me out of the blue last summer, asking for a favor, I dumped her to keep her safe. Yuriy had never asked me for anything until then. I thought he genuinely just wanted to help put me in a better position for the future. Now, I realize he was biding his time.”
“What did he have you do,” Ren asked.
Zigzag didn’t answer, and my patience had worn thin. I grabbed him, hauled him out of the chair, and slammed him up against the wall.
“Answer her. What the fuck did you do?”
“I didn’t know what he planned,” Zigzag said. “I swear I didn’t.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I growled.
“He had me put a tracker on Ren’s old phone.” He looked at Ren. “The one you took to Canada.”
“You…you’re the reason that we were attacked. You put all of us in danger. My aunt was murdered. Ivy was almost killed.” Ren snarled at him.
“I didn’t know, I swear. Yuriy only told me that he wanted a way to track his daughter.
He was adamant that you were his and that he’d been kept from you by your crazy mother.
He told me he was shot, and you were stolen from him.
I owed him. I didn’t even know about the attack in Canada until a few weeks ago.
Ivy didn’t tell me because we weren’t speaking then. ”
“What else,” I demanded.
Zigzag looked around the room, his eyes landing on Theo and Blake.
“Man, I’m sorry,” he said.
“Fucking tell me, or I swear I’ll gut you with my bare hands,” I threatened.
“Shit, shit, shit. He got me to hack into Volatile’s cameras after you had them installed,” Zigzag blurted out.
My fist cracked across his face.
“You son of a bitch.”
I hit him again, and blood flew from his nose.
He tried to block me at first, but eventually fell limp.
The only thing that stopped me was Ren. She put her hand on my arm as I raised my fist again.
Panting, I tossed him aside. Zigzag was on the floor, curled in the fetal position, and coughing up blood.
There was no proof that Christov or my father had used the information for the shooting, or the night that Ella was killed, but the probability was high. Christov had been able to watch everything, including my meetings with Nathaniel and Louis.
Zigzag looked up at Ren.
“I’m sorry, I owed him. I never wanted anyone to get hurt. I was going to prison without his help, and he pretended to care for me like a father. I didn’t even know about Sabastian. He made it seem like you were his only child.”
Ren kneeled so that she was staring him in the eyes. It was the only thing keeping me from putting my boot through the front of his skull.
“He used you, Zigzag, that’s what men like him do.
They find a weak spot and exploit it. He did it to my parents, you, and God only knows how many others.
Did it not occur to you that if something happened to the guys or me, Ivy could end up caught in the middle?
Even if you didn’t give a shit what happened to me, you said you loved her. ”
“I never questioned his motives until it was too late. He seemed like a nice businessman helping teens on the wrong path. When he talked about you, he fucking cried.” Zigzag wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand.
“Yes, I fell for it. I wish that I had a parent who wanted me that much.” He sighed, pushing himself up into a seated position.
“I didn’t know about Canada. And recently, he claimed that Nash was keeping you from him, and…
well, you two were getting closer. He told me that all he wanted was a chance to reconnect. ”
“And you believed him,” I asked, pissed and wanting to hit him again.
Zigzag shrugged.
“Why wouldn’t I?” We all looked at one another.
It never should’ve gotten this far. I’d let things slide for too long with my attention elsewhere. Drugs were being sold at Wayward, Ren was being tracked, and Zigzag had fucking hacked our system. This was a royal fuck up, and it was all on me.
“At least I did…until I caught Yuriy in a lie.”