Chapter Thirteen
Zag
They all knew.
All of these fuckers knew precisely what I was asking, and they all acted like they didn’t know.
Marco.
Fucking Marco knew!
He had rented out one of his duplexes to her while I was still in the hospital.
When Bear had said he would be at the clubhouse in twenty minutes, I figured it would just be him and Greta. Nope.
Ransom, Marco, and Uncle Leo were there too.
BECAUSE THEY ALL KNEW.
“She’s safe.”
I turned to Uncle Leo. “And why did everyone know that but me?”
Frost sat forward. “To be fair, when I said I went to look for her at the hospital, I told you exactly what happened. The nurse wouldn’t let me see her, and they said she was still there.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. I couldn’t even wrap my head around how in three days, everyone had been able to orchestrate Tess moving to Falls City without her ever knowing that the Devil’s Knights and the Banachi’s were pretty much controlling her every move.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Safe,” Leo replied simply.
“Where?” I demanded.
Leo glanced at King.
King laid his hand on the table. “We don’t think it’s a good idea for you to have contact with Tess.”
“Because Malcom is her stepbrother?” I shook my head. “That’s bullshit. He tried to kill her just like he tried with me. She has nothing to do with that piece of shit. She’s in just as much danger as anyone in this club is.”
“And that is why we don’t think it’s a good idea for you to have contact with her,” King repeated.
“Once he gets wind that neither of you are dead, he’s going to come hard for both of you,” Ransom explained.
“That fucker can come for me all he wants. I escaped him the first time, and I will do it again.” Even when I was basically paralyzed, Malcom didn’t kill me. If he came after me again, I would be more than ready for him this time.
Leo sat back in his chair. “We’re not planning on him coming after you.”
I looked around the table. “You just said that Malcom is going to come after Tess and me.”
Hero’s eyes dropped to the table, and Marco cleared his throat.
I closed my eyes. “You’re going to draw him out with Tess.”
“It seems to be the way to go.” King nodded to Leo. “He is going to go after the easy target first. He knows if he comes after you, he’s going to go up against the whole club.”
“I don’t like this at all. You’re putting an innocent person at risk when you should just be bringing the asshole here.” This seemed like the wrong thing to do. Tess had already been through so much, and now the club was going to put her through more bullshit.
“We’re not going to let Malcom get to her. We’ve got twenty-four-hour surveillance on her, and we’ll get him before he lays a finger on her,” Leo promised.
“So why the hell can’t I be there? Why can’t she know what we’re doing?” I demanded.
“You were just blown up, Zag. We figured you would just want to sit this one out,” Dad replied.
Oh yeah, my dad knew all of this shit, too.
“You thought I would want to sit out getting the guy who has killed six women, kidnapped Luna and Greta, and then also tried to kill me personally?” I threw my head back and laughed. “Sit. This. One. Out.”
“For the record,” Frost interrupted. “I thought this was a shitty idea. Though Zig did seem to be all for it.”
I glanced at Frost. “You mean Zig, who I haven’t even seen since I’ve been out of the hospital? My brother who I called, and he hung up on me?”
“What?” dad asked. “What do you mean you haven’t seen him?”
I spread my arms wide. “Do you see him here right now?” I asked.
“He’s watching Tess,” King explained.
“If you let me know where she is, no one has to watch her beside me,” I growled. “Put the two of us together, and we’ll have Malcom in no time.”
“I like that idea better,” Frost interrupted. “For the record, I said that was what we should do in the first place.”
“Bullshit,” Pie called. He threw the dirty rag in front of him at Frost. “You were all for throwing the girl in the line of fire.”
Frost snatched the rag out of the air and threw it right back at Pie. “That was before I knew Zag had a thing for her.”
“So five minutes ago?” Pie laughed.
“No, when he asked me to check on her when he woke up.” Frost brushed off his shoulder. “I could tell he had something going for her.”
“He literally just asked about her,” Snapper snickered. “I think you might have been reading into his words a little too much.”
“Knock it off,” King growled.
“I want to know where Tess is,” I demanded. “And you guys are going to tell me. The last I knew, this was a club, and we all had a say in things. I get knocked out, and everyone thinks they get to decide shit for me.”
Leo splayed out his hand. “What’s so important about the girl?”
“She’s in danger because of me.”
“She’s not in danger,” Marco reasoned.