Page 96 of The Spy Ring

Jagger pulled me close. “I’m sorry, Tiffany, I never meant for this to happen.”

Pulling away I forced the man to look at me, grabbing his chin and pulling it down. “What happened? Tell me.”

“David was shot,” he whispered.

And just like that, my world spun beneath my feet. The pounding in my ears grew until I couldn’t hear what anyone was saying. I didn’t even realize but Jagger had sat me back in a chair.

“How?” I kept repeating over and over again.

It was as if my brain was stuck and couldn’t think past that one question.

“I didn’t see him. I swear, I didn’t see him,” Jagger said as he knelt at my feet.

I shook my head. “What do you mean?”

He took a breath but held my gaze. “I shot him.”

It took a few seconds for those words to sink in. But when they did, all the fear and sorrow I felt died, only to be replaced with anger. A fury so fierce, I couldn’t control what my body did.

I pushed him over. “You piece of fucking shit.”

The words flew from my mouth without thought as I stood. Jagger scurried to his feet and held up his hands. “Tiffany, I don’t think—”

Then I punched him in the stomach. “You shot my son. The one thing in this world you knew I loved more than anything. You took him from me.” My words wobbled with tears but deepened, being fed by anger.

I felt a hand on my shoulder but shrugged it off.

“Tiffany,” Henrik said from behind.

“No. God damn it, no! You got the woman you love back. What do I have? I have nothing now. Well, fuck that.”

“Tiffany, language,” Henrik whispered.

“That doesn’t matter anymore. I worked hard to raise that boy and even made sure no one cursed around him.” I shook my head as a jagged laugh made it past the tears. “Jokes on me. All the hard work. All the not cursing and he’s still dead.”

“They don’t know if—” Jagger tried to speak but he didn’t deserve to say anything right now.

“Shut the fuck up. Haven’t you done enough? You lie and you spy and now you take a little boy’s life.”

I was so busy screaming that I didn’t hear the bell over the door chime as someone entered the café. It was only when a warm hand came to rest on my arm that I turned with total expectation to halt any sympathy someone wanted to send my way. I needed to be angry. It was time for me to have my say.

But when I turned, the fury, the sorrow, it melted into overwhelming relief. Like a thousand pounds had been lifted and I could breathe again.

“David,” I choked out the word.

He didn’t have time to respond as I pulled my boy into my arms. David lifted his arm to wrap around me. I held him even when he tried to pull away.

“No, just a little longer,” I said and knew the blanket he was wrapped in was drenched with my tears.

“Please, Mom. I need to sit,” he said and that was the only thing that took me away from my son, his comfort.

“Of course.” I pulled out a chair and helped him into it.

“I thought you had been shot?” Henrik said as he took a seat next to David.

I pulled a chair to the other side of David and ran my fingers through his hair. I could see blood on his clothes that peeked out from beneath the blanket.

“Yeah, that was cool.” David smiled and glanced over at Jagger.

---