Page 99 of The Spy Ring

“David!” I said.

David turned to me and threw his hands in the air. “Come on, Mom. I just want to learn to be a ninja. This is, like, my dream. And Jagger is so cool, and you refuse to let me call him.”

I stepped closer to my son and lowered my voice. “He shot you. Why would I let you near a man who could have cost you your life?”

“That was my fault,” David yelled.

“David, don’t blame yourself. I had been trained in what to do in that situation, and I knew to look first and then pull the trigger. Obviously, I didn’t do that. It was my fault.”

David shook his head. “I didn’t say anything, even when the police questioned me. I’m sorry.”

“Say what? That I shot you? David, they already know that,” Jagger said.

“No, that I jumped from behind you to try and take down Emma Hawthorne. I thought . . .” David paused as he stared at the floor. “I thought since I was able to get away from that big guy, Will, that I could help you capture Emma. You thought I was behind you when you aimed at her and you were right. But, for some stupid reason, I thought I could leap around you and take her. I thought I could help you.”

“Oh, David,” I said and put my arms around my son. “I love you. You know that. But if you ever try to do something like that again you will be grounded for a year.”

Jagger moved closer and put a hand on David’s shoulder. “But you had been trained on what you did to Will. You hadn’t been trained on tackling someone or dealing with anything involving guns. That stuff only works in Hollywood movies. In real life, situations with guns are very complicated. And even someone like me—someone who is highly trained—can make mistakes. Especially in a chaotic situation like that.”

Jagger sighed and shook his head. “That’s why you have to work on your skills before you ever use them. I appreciate you wanted to help, but make sure you know what you are doing next time.”

“I’m sorry,” he said barely above a whisper.

“My sweet boy, I’m proud of you. What Jagger said was right, you need to know what to do in a situation like that before you try and do it. But I’m proud that you wanted to help.”

I glanced around the room and then gazed over at Jagger, hoping I wouldn’t regret my decision. “I tell you what. How about I let Jagger keep training you? I’ll sign you up for ninja lessons.”

David pulled away and looked down at me with a big toothy grin. “Really? That would be epic.”

He immediately scurried off to the punching bag and started to practice his ninja moves. I giggled watching my superhero.

“You have a great kid. I don’t think I ever had the chance to tell you that,” Jagger said coming to my side. “How are your friends? Evaleen, Morgana, and the gang?”

I sighed. “Morgana and Henrik are happily married and back to work. They finally got married and went on a wonderful honeymoon to Italy. Evaleen is uncomfortably pregnant and you know what that means for Edgar.”

Jagger chuckled shaking his head. “That poor guy.”

“Aria and Alex are living somewhat normal lives. As normal as you can get for being with a billionaire. As for Grace, that poor woman. She seemed to always date a bad guy. After Will from the wedding, I think she’s sworn off men. She also plans to leave Mimir and move to the East Coast. I think Baltimore.”

“At least Will’s locked up behind bars. How does Alex feel about his mother in that maximum-security prison?” Jagger lifted his brow to me.

“I think he’s disowned his mother. He wants nothing more to do with her.” I shook my head as my heart ached for that poor rich man. “How about Tenn? I heard he’s in a max prison too.”

Jagger nodded. “Yeah. It was tough watching Katlin take him away in cuffs. But that guy fooled everyone.”

“It was weird those guys from Morgana’s bridal shower, the ones that waited on us in the Eternity suite, were also working for Emma. It’s not like they could get much information from us as we celebrated her upcoming wedding? At least they were caught and are behind bars now.” I shook my head.

“Weird.” Jagger said and I thought I saw a slight twitch of his lips.

There were a few moments of quiet as we watched my son with smiles on our faces. Glad the bad people were locked up and the chaotic months of the summer were now a memory.

“You have a great gym. Congratulations.”

Jagger turned to face me. My breath caught as the curve of his lips made my insides flutter.

“Thank you. I opened two weeks ago. Your son showed up last week, but I had to keep turning him away.”

I nodded. “No wonder he wanted to look at the apartment. He knew you were here that little sneak.”

---