Chapter 8 - Ransacked

Zach pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“Clint, it’s Zach. I’m texting you an address; I need some officers down here immediately. It looks like a B&E.”

I held on to the back of Zach’s jacket tightly while he continued to speak to the man on the phone. His arm was still wrapped around my waist protectively.

Maybe I should call Derek. He did say he would put my place under surveillance. Maybe the surveillance team saw something?

Zach ended the call and put his phone away.

“I’m going to go have a look inside. You stay here and wait for the police, okay.” Zach turned to look at me.

“No. I’m not staying out here by myself. I’m coming with you,” I exclaimed.

I didn’t want to be left alone. If this had anything to do with my past, I was in a lot of danger.

Zach didn’t look pleased but nodded. He grabbed my hand and tangled his fingers through mine. That small act sent tingles through my arm and made me all fuzzy on the inside.

“Stay close to me, and please just do as I say.” Zach firmly instructed.

I swallowed loudly and tightened my grip around his fingers.

Zach pushed the door open slowly and entered my apartment, pulling me along with him. I braced myself for the carnage inside.

As we walked in, my eyes scanned the apartment. The entire place was trashed beyond recognition. There were massive slashes through my couches. My mattress had been turned over and ripped apart, foam pieces scattered everywhere. Artworks and mirrors were ripped off the walls and smashed. Everything in the kitchen cupboards and counter had been pulled out smashed on the kitchen floor. The fridge door was unhinged, and everything spilled through the shelves. My drawers and wardrobe had been emptied, clothes shredded into pieces. The sink in the bathroom and kitchen had been blocked, water spilling over the edges, flooding the floors. What the hell were they looking for?

Besides the carnage, the apartment was empty.

“Stace,” Zach spoke, pointing to a wall in the bedroom area.

Hanging off a nail on the wall Zach was pointing at was a white doctor’s coat with rips all over it. The words “Found you” were scribbled in red ink above the coat.

A chill went down my spine. This couldn’t be happening. Derek had promised.

I was trembling with fear. My heart was pounding so fast it felt like it would jump out of my chest.

“What the fuck?! Who would do this?” Zach exclaimed, his eyes still scanning the carnage.

“I-... I ne-... I need to make a call,” I stuttered, pulling my hands out of Zach’s grip and rushing out of the apartment.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Derek’s number. After two rings, a deep, sleepy voice answered.

“What’s wrong?”

“De-... Derek..” I stumbled, trying to control my frantic heartbeats.

“My-.. my place got broken into. It’s been ravaged. There’s a white doctor’s coat hanging on the wall with “found you” written above it. Derek, I’m so scared. You said he would never find me. How is this possible?!”

“What?! No, that’s not possible. No one besides me knows where you are. There is no way he could have found out” I could hear Derek shuffling and moving around.

“It has to be him, Derek. It has to be. Why else would they write “found you” on the wall?” I was shaking, sweating bullets.

“Okay, okay, calm down. I’m on my way. You haven’t notified the police, have you?”

“I didn’t, but Zach did. They should be here any minute.” I looked back into the apartment to make sure Zach didn’t hear my conversation.

“Shit! Who the hell is Zach? I thought you were going to stay away from guys.”

“Zachary Masters. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. It’s a long story; I’ll tell you later. How long before you get here?”

“I will be there in 10 minutes. Although, I will need a cover story. No one can know about our arrangement. We can’t blow your cover without any actual evidence. It could just be a trap to lure you out. Let the cops do their thing and see what they find, and then we will step in.”

“Okay. I’ll tell them you’re a close friend. That may also take Zach off my back.” I nervously looked around, trying to make sure Zach wasn’t close.

“Sounds good. See you in 10 minutes. And Zadie, it’s going to be okay. We will figure it out, don’t worry.” Derek reassured me before hanging up.

No one had addressed me by my real name in so long; I was starting to feel that part of me was a myth.

I took a deep breath in and wiped the sweat off my face.

Come on, pull yourself together, Zads.

No matter how much I consoled myself, the uneasiness was still making my gut churn.

I slowly walked back into my apartment to find Zach glaring at something colorful shattered on the ripped mattress.

“Zach?” I walked up to him.

When he didn’t respond, I followed his gaze to find him staring at what looked like my underwear. Were my panties the only piece of clothing that wasn’t ripped apart?

To make matters worse, right on top of the pile lay all my lacy thongs.

Once I realized what Zach was staring at, my cheeks heated up, and I quickly reached to grab the panties. But before I could pick them up, Zach stopped me.

“Don’t touch them. They are covered in urine.” Zach growled, his voice strained.

Did he say urine? Someone peed on my panties? What the hell?!

“Why the fuck would someone pee on my underwear?!” I shrieked.

Before Zach could respond, the air filled with police sirens, and within seconds my place was swarming with police.

Zach escorted me out of the building as the police searched and investigated my apartment.

We sat on the curb as the police worked around us.

“Mr. Masters…” a deep raspy voice called.

We turned to find a bulky bald guy walking toward us.

Zach immediately got up and straightened himself up.

“Clint, thank you so much for coming so quickly. I really appreciate it” Zach shook the man’s hand.

“Not a problem, Mr. Masters. I am just doing my duty. My man have secured the apartment, and CSU has started their processing. At this stage, it looks like the intruder dismantled the doorknob so that they could enter the apartment. Could you tell me if any of your valuables are missing?” Clint pulled out a notebook from his jacket.

“Actually, this place belongs to Miss Rover. I was just dropping her home when we found the door open and place ransacked.”

“Ah, right. Sorry, I thought the place was yours, Mr. Masters. My apologies Miss Rover.” Clint smiled at me.

“That’s totally fine. Please call me Stacey.” I smiled back at him.

“Stacey, I’m Detective Clinton Avery, Seattle Police Department. I’m really sorry about the condition of your apartment. We will do everything possible to find out who did this. However, I do have some questions for you. Would you be okay with answering them for me?”

“Yeah, of course” my brain went into overdrive, running all the questions and answers Derek and I had discussed for a situation like this.

“Could you please tell me a little more about yourself? Where do you work? How long you’ve lived here?”

“I would for Twin Cleans. They are a small cleaning company located in Redmond. I’ve been living in this apartment for the last two years.”

“Perfect. Do you live alone?”

I nodded, swallowing loudly.

“Have you had any other issues in the time you’ve lived here? Any altercations with neighbors?” Clint continued with his questions.

“No, no issues at all. Everyone is very nice. The landlord has always been accommodating as well.”

“And what about the words written on the wall? What do you know about that?” Clint pressed.

“Umm.. no... I-... I don’t know anything about that,” I stuttered, my voice strained from how dry my throat was.

How did my life end up like this? I was standing here lying to a police officer. Of course, I knew what the words meant. It was the repercussions of mistakes I made in my past.

Clint nodded and jotted down the information.

A shiny black Audi rolled up next to us, and Keiran stepped out of the car.

“Are you two okay?” he asked as he looked Zach and me over.

“Yeah. We’re okay. Stacey’s apartment isn’t, though,” Zach explained.

“Alright. I think I have all the information I need, for now, Miss Rover. I will be in touch once our team has processed the damages. Here is my card; please feel free to contact me if you’ve got any questions or think of any information that can be helpful to us.” Clint handed me the card before saying bye to Zach and heading to his car.

I twirled the card between my fingers while Zach and Keiran took a few steps away from me to have a private conversation.

There was a commotion behind me, and I turned to find Derek weaving through the sea of police officers. Derek was tall and skinny, and even though he was handsome, there wasn’t an ounce of muscle in his body. His usually slicked jet-black hair was tousled, and he looked tired.

“Derek!” I squeaked, running over to him.

Without hesitation, I wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

“Play along,” I whispered before pulling away.

“Are you okay? What’s going on?” Derek cupped my face with one hand.

“My apartment was broken into and ransacked. Everything got destroyed.” I sobbed.

“What the hell? Who would do such a thing?” Derek quizzed, looking up at the building.

“I don’t know. Why would someone destroy my place so viciously? I have no quarrels with anyone.”

Zach and Keiran ended their conversation and walked over to us, both of them eyeing Derek.

“Derek, this is Mr. Masters and Mr. Collier. They own Golden IT, the company I work at. And this is Derek, a very close friend of mine,” I introduced, linking my arms through Derek’s.

Zach narrowed his eyes at the closeness between Derek and me but extended his hand to shake Derek’s.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Masters. I’ve heard a lot about you” Derek smiled.

Derek must have done some research on Zach before getting here.

“Really? That’s funny; I haven’t heard a thing about you. Stacey gave the impression that she was single,” Zach taunted, arching his eyebrow at me.

“Oh, we aren’t together. Just close friends.” Derek replied, not letting Zach’s heated glare faze him.

“Hmm.” Zach clenched his jaws.

“Umm, Stace, do you have a place to stay tonight? I don’t think the police will be done with your place tonight,” Keiran interrupted.

“Even if they were done, Stacey isn’t staying in this place ever again. It’s not safe,” Zach growled.

“I’m sure Derek here has a safe place for his “friend” to stay,” Zach added. He sounded bitter.

“No, actually, I don’t. I live with five other guys and share a room with one of them. I don’t think Stacey would be comfortable there. Can you call Sam or Crystal?” Derek looked at me.

I already knew about Derek’s living arrangements, and he couldn’t rehome me just yet.

“Yeah, I’ll give them a call. Crystal will be excited to have me” I started pulling my phone out.

“That won’t be necessary. You can stay with me.” Zach casually added.

“Uh-huh, that’s not happening.” I snorted.

“Why not? I have the safest place in Seattle. There’s one way in and one way out. I have cameras everywhere in the building that are watched 24/7. Plus, Keiran and I will be around as well.”

“I will?” Keiran muttered.

Zach gave Keiran a stern look making Keiran roll his eyes.

“Seriously, guys, there is no need for you to trouble yourselves for me. I am -...” I started.

“Hang on, Stace. I think you should take Zach’s offer. You need a safe place to stay tonight, and it sounds like you will be very safe there,” Derek cut me off.

Derek arched his eyebrow and titled his head. He did that when he had a plan in mind.

“I don’t want to be a nuisance to anyone. I’m sure I will be safe at Sam and Crystal’s.” I didn’t want to be left alone with Zach. My raging hormones may not survive being in a closed environment with Zach.

“I’m not taking no for an answer, Stacey. You are coming home with me. So, you can let me take you respectfully, or I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you. Your choice” Zach crossed his arms and arched his eyebrows. There was something oddly arousing about that. However, the seriousness on Zach’s face was scary. I could tell he was leaving no room for me to protest further.

Why was he so hell-bent on helping me?

“Hey, hey. Zach, chill. No need for any violence. Stace, Zach is right. It would be best if you came with us. Until the police find out how this all happened and who was behind it, you definitely need a safe place.” Keiran added.

Derek came up behind me and squeezed my shoulder.

“Go with them. Get some rest. I’ll stick around to see what the police say.”

“Are you sure?” I looked up at Derek. I was sure he could see the fear on my face.

He nodded and squeezed my shoulder a little harder.

“Will you call me as soon as you hear something?”

“Of course, I will. Don’t worry, okay. Please try to get some sleep. I know how scary this can be, but-...”

“She is very safe with me, Derek. I assure you. I will not let anything happen to her.” Zach cut Derek off. However, his eyes were glued to my face.

There was a strange emotion on his face that made my insides quiver. Why was I so sensitive to Zach and his actions?

Zach was making a vow to keep me safe even though he didn’t know what the threat to my life was. I couldn’t let him put his life at stake for me; that wasn’t fair. This wasn’t his battle; it was mine. I wasn’t going to let the demons of my past poison Zach’s future.

Before I could say anything more, Zach grabbed my arm and started pulling me toward his car.

Behind us, I could hear Keiran apologizing to Derek about Zach’s behavior.

Zach unlocked his car and opened the door for me, stepping aside.

“Get into the car,” he demanded.