Zack Hudson (James Farrar) makes a bold decision about his future in EastEnders next week – as he tries to distance his family from twisted Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington).
As viewers of the BBC One soap have seen, Zack recently learnt that 15 years ago, he fathered Nicola’s youngest son Barney (Lewis Bridgeman).
For the sake of husband Teddy’s (Roland Manookian) mental health, she tried to scare Zack off by telling him that he was an extremely violent man who had killed the girlfriend of their eldest son Harry (Elijah Holloway).
It later transpired that Nicola is the killer, and has someone managed to get away with it.
This is despite her whole world crumbling down around her, and Harry finally knowing that his mum was responsible.
Zack, however, was unmarked by her threats of Teddy’s wrath, and demanded that Barney find out who his father really is.
Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) had sent a warning via Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig) for him to avoid Nicola – but he didn’t take note.
As a result, Nic came clean to him about the murder she committed, revealing that she was lying about Teddy’s involvement when in fact she is the one he should be terrified of.
She would kill again, and slyly dropped into the conversation that she knew where his ex-fiancé Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) is living with their daughter Dolly.
Last year, Whitney moved to Wakefield after finding out that Zack had cheated on her with pal Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa).
However, in upcoming scenes, she’s on the move.
Zack discovers that she has found a safe place for her to move to with Dolly and adoptive daughter Britney (Lola Campbell) – and it’s somewhere that Nicola would never find them.
Vicki suggests that it might be a good idea for him to pay them a visit, and that way it would prove to Nicola that he has no intentions of taking the paternity issue any further.
However, when Zack bumps into Barney and hears that he feels isolated in the Mitchell household with everything going on in their lives, he’s given food for thought.
Zack marches home and tells Vicki that he’s going to stay with Whitney, and he’s taking Barn’ with him.
Vicki is shocked by the suggestion, and tries to convince him that it isn’t a wise idea to mess with the clan. However, Zack is building evidence against Nicola and Teddy to prove that the teen isn’t safe living with them.
