I took a step forward but fingers curling around my shoulder stopped me.
“Don’t,” he said, and I was too far removed to know if it was Henrik or Tenn.
For I was floating, hovering with my senses so raw there was a hum. A vibration in my ears and my skin felt like it would fly away. Nothing made sense until something hard hit me on my jaw. I fell back to earth with a pain exploding up my face and into my eyes.
I looked over to find Henrik gritting his teeth and shaking out his hand. “You stay the fuck away from her.”
“Come on, man. We have more important things to discuss like the safety of your wedding,” Tenn said turning to Henrik and pushing him back.
I got up and shook off the hit knowing I deserved it. I almost wanted to thank Henrik. That blow finally made everything so clear.
“You do need to talk about the wedding. You need to focus on your fiancée and your guests. Talk to Tenn to figure out if you can come up with a different venue. Don’t worry about me. You won’t be seeing me anymore,” I said and made my way up the alley, across the street, and toward the L-train to go home.
I was foolish to think that I deserved love. That I earned someone that was like a quake to my heart and shone brighter than any sun.
TWENTY-NINE
Tiffany
“What a view,” Evaleen said standing next to me as we looked out over Lake Michigan. The water was a beautiful tropical blue and dotted with white sailboats.
I frowned. “Gorgeous. But, Henrik always did have great taste. Too bad he doesn’t live here anymore.”
“But Dixon does.” She nudged my shoulder with hers.
I nodded. It should be a happy day, full of smiles yet everything felt like dry toast. Henrik managed to find another place for the wedding, which happened to be his old condo that had a spectacular view of Lake Michigan. Aria was more than happy to help out, as she was the one who currently owned his old place.
“Yup. She sure does. Kudos to her,” I said leaning my head on the glass before taking a deep breath.
“Hey. What’s wrong?” Evaleen’s placed her hand on my back.
“Jagger. I made a mistake. He wasn’t the man I thought he was.”
Not that I knew much about him until two days ago. That should have been clue number one. A man who refuses to let you inside until after you’ve fooled around with him, that’s not a good sign.
“I drunkenly married him in Vegas and he took a month and a half to inform me about it. Then he lied about being a physical therapist, taking advantage of me and my son. As if that wasn’t enough, Jagger spied on me. Like, he actually planted listening devices inside of my apartment. All to gather information so he could lure me in to bed.” I rubbed my neck.
Evaleen sighed. “You found out about him spying on you?”
With tremendous surprise, my breath caught and for a moment I couldn’t speak.
I lifted my head, shaking out a cough. “You knew?”
She nodded. “I can’t tell you much, but just know that I’ve spoken to his old partner a few times. Jagger is a good guy. He really is, but he fucked up. He knows it, I know it, and everyone can agree to that.”
“What do you mean you can’t tell me? Did he swear you to secrecy?” My ears burned with anger and wonder, that so many people, friends I trusted, were deceiving me.
“No, it’s not that. He doesn’t even know that I found out about it.” She took a deep breath, glancing around the room before leaning into me, “I took a job recently. Nothing super-secret like Jagger, but it is with the government.”
My head went back as I let her words sink in. “Does Edgar know?”
She nodded.
“Okay, I won’t ask you anymore about it. But you are right about Jagger, he did fuck up,” I groaned.
“Fear is a powerful thing. It can cloud judgment and make people do crazy things, believing that what they’re doing is for the best.” Evaleen stared out at the view for a moment as she pursed her lips.
“I guess that’s true.” A warmth crawled up my neck as memories of me trying to talk David out of the surgery that ultimately gave him the ability to walk and communicate with greater ability.
I was scared. There was a risk he wouldn’t make it and I couldn’t take losing him too. And when he fell into a coma after the surgery, I feared the worst. I said and did things during that time that I regret. Glancing over at Edgar fixing Henrik’s bowtie, I can’t help but think how I almost ruined Henrik’s chance with Morgana. All because my fear allowed me to assume the worst in everything.
“This is your life and you have David to think about, but I really wanted you to know that one bad action doesn’t make the man,” Evaleen said.
She was right, but Jagger went too far. What he did wasn’t just creepy, it was an invasion of privacy. I was about to explain that to Evaleen when Aria came up behind us.
“I think Morgana needs you, Evaleen,” Aria said.
They went off to the back bedroom where Morgana was finishing getting ready or as Aria put it, “being held.”
I turned toward the guys and smiled at the skinny one with a mop of brown hair sitting on one of the white fold out chairs in the front row. His long fingers fidgeted with something in his hand.
The place was cleared of Aria’s furniture and filled with people sitting in folding chairs, excited chatter, and flowers. Henrik, Edgar, and the minister stood in front of the massive stone fireplace that was in the corner of the room. I moved closer and sat next to David.
My breath caught in my throat at how handsome my son looked.
“What do you have there?” I asked and fought the urge to run my fingers through his hair to get it under control.
He was nervous about today. David wanted to make Henrik proud and not have to sit during the ceremony. I told him Henrik would be proud of him no matter what, but David insisted he do this. He also insisted on shaving despite not having a bit of scruff on his chin.
“Just something I found at home a few weeks ago. It must have fallen off that old blender you threw away. I’ve been keeping it in my pocket as something to fidget with. And it has a sleek design. I might draw it.”
David sighed examining the small object. “I figured I’d need as much help today as possible. It’s sort of soothing, at least for me, to play with it.”
I still couldn’t help but be impressed with how far he’s come with communication. What he just said to me came out clear as day and without any delay. My mind wondered how he would be this time next year. Would he even need his therapists anymore?
“That would be cool. Maybe you could add it to your comic. Some special device the hero has to use to catch the bad guys.”
David groaned, “Bad guys? Come on, Mom. I write about cyber mutated creatures that are both good and bad. It’s the twenty-first century. Nothing is black and white anymore.”
“Sorry. I was just trying to help. Oh wait . . .” I looked around as I heard the music begin. “I think the wedding’s about to start. You better get up there.”
I offered a hand to David, but he waved it away, determined to do everything by himself. Once he stood, he took his phone out of his pocket and my eyes widened.
“Shut that thing off. Here, give it to me.” I tried to reach for it but he held it away.
“No. I’ll shut it off, but I want to get pics after the ceremony.”
“Fine. But put it away.”
He shoved everything in his suit pockets. I was thankful for once that my boy was as skinny as a bean pole and his tuxedo trousers hung off him. At least all the stuff in his pockets wouldn’t be obvious.
David got into place and I snuck out my phone from my clutch and snapped a few pictures of him standing proud next to Edgar and Henrik.
I turned in my seat and watched Aria and Evaleen in a tentative stride walk down the middle of the aisle of chairs. They looked beautiful in matching long, pale pink dresses.
But when Morgana entered, everyone went
quiet. As she began to move with her arm intertwined with her father’s, we all stood. Morgana looked radiant, and I placed my hand over my heart as I watched the smile on her face.
She glowed in that dress with its plunging V-neck and white lace ball gown. It seemed to be made for her and accentuated her beauty. She didn’t wear a veil and I didn’t blame her. It would have covered the pretty flowers in her striking red hair.
When I glanced up at Henrik, I had to hold back a giggle. He looked to be in some sort of trance as he watched her. They really were perfect for each other.
Once we sat, after Morgana kissed her father’s cheek and took Henrik’s arm, I watched as Morgana’s big, burly dad wiped a tear from his eye.
The ceremony flew by and before I realized it, the minister was asking the crowd if anyone would object to Morgana and Henrik marrying.
“I do.” A woman’s deep voice rose from the crowd.
There were gasps and my eyes flew to Morgana’s grandmother. In fact, everyone was looking at her.
“I swear I didn’t say a word.” Her grandmother held up her hands.
“It was me.” I turned completely around, and toward the back row stood a woman with a wide light green hat with flowers flowing off the side. She seemed familiar and then I realized, too late, who she was.
She walked toward the front, but as the men stood to block her path down the center aisle, she turned and came up the side until she was standing next to my son.
“It’s time for my son to finally get married to the right woman,” Emma Hawthorne said.
I stood and tried to move toward David, but Emma Hawthorne had other plans. She took a gun from her purse and as she wrapped her arm around David, she pointed it to his head.
“No! No, please. Don’t,” I screamed and held out my hands.
“Stop this, Mother. If you want me to go with you, then here I am. Let the boy go.” Alex’s voice came from behind me but I refused to turn my attention away from my son.
“Of course, you’ll come with me, Alex. But to make sure no one follows us, I’ll be taking this kid as protection.”
Alex leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I’ll make sure nothing happens to him. I promise.”
My body trembled as I helplessly watched the woman push my son down the aisle and toward the elevator in the back. I broke through the crowd to follow but stopped a few feet away.
“I would advise no one follow us. That includes you too, mommy dearest,” Emma said turning toward me with my son in her arms.
Just as they got on the elevator my son looked up at me and said, “It’s okay, Mom. Don’t worry about me.”
The doors closed and I crumbled to the ground. I think I screamed but everything felt like a horrible nightmare with parts missing. Cleaved from my soul because if I could feel everything, remember it all, it would destroy me.
I knew I was sobbing but I wasn’t conscious of the words coming out of my mouth.
“Tiffany. Tiffany, let’s get you up.” Evaleen was helping me up onto a chair.
“We have to stop her. Where’s Tenn?” I said as I glanced around the room.
“We’re on this. Don’t worry. I promise to get your son back safely,” Evaleen said and glanced up at Edgar.
He came over to the other side, taking off his tuxedo jacket and wrapping it around my shoulders.
“But how can you help?” I reached out and grabbed her hands. “You’re pregnant. It’s not safe. Edgar, tell her it’s not safe here.”
“Tiffany is right. Once you make the call, I want you to leave, Evaleen. Who knows what that crazy woman has planned.”
Evaleen stood and folded her arms. “I will go but I want to make sure everyone is here that can help.”
I gazed around, only now realizing a wedding was ruined and other people were affected by that woman.
“Where’s Aria?” I asked.
“Henrik took her back to one of the bedrooms and is helping her. I think Morgana’s in the bathroom, probably grabbing tissues,” Edgar said as he eyed the room.
“Jagger?” Evaleen asked and my eyes shot up to her as she held her phone to her ear.
“Where are you?” She paused for a moment. “You’re needed here, at Aria’s place. There’s a wedding that’s been interrupted by a Jewel. Yes, that Jewel.”
I didn’t realize I was squeezing Edgar’s hands until I heard him groan.
“Sorry.” I let go as he winced.
“I don’t care if you aren’t an agent anymore. You are needed here. Tenn obviously botched this up and she got in. Jagger, you have to come here. Yes, you are wanted.”
I stood and took the phone away from Evaleen and pushed it to my ear. “Jagger, please. She took David.”
It was all I could get out before my throat tightened and a sob took over. But I heard him before I dropped the phone.
THIRTY
Jagger
“Fuck the sun,” I said just before I moved a thin sheet of plywood in front of the grimy window.
It was a bright day with low humidity. Some would say a flawless late summer Chicago day. People were out walking and enjoying the beautiful weather. A perfect day to crash a wedding.
I think I ended up coming home to my old apartment around three in the morning. I would have stayed out all night, walking each street until I found Emma Hawthorne, if I hadn’t tripped and fallen. My knee hurt but not enough to quit. But the blood gushing from it made me realize it was wiser to start again once the sun came up—and after I bandaged up my leg.
When I got up this morning and had some coffee, punched a few holes in my old apartment’s wall, I got my old tuxedo on with the full intention of inviting myself to Henrik and Morgana’s wedding. If Emma was still in Chicago, I knew she would be near that ceremony and I wasn’t about to let her get away.
But then I realized I didn’t even know where the new location for the ceremony was being held. And, I had no way of finding out. I wasn’t an agent anymore. Perhaps, I could head over to the original location of the ceremony to see if Emma Hawthorne was around. But first, I came to my new place to drop off a few boxes.
That’s when Tiffany moved into my head and refused to leave. Seeing all those happy people walking on the sidewalk, especially the couples, just heightened the fact of how much I messed up.
I could be at that wedding with her, protecting her and watching David with pride. Instead, I let my fear plant little devices in her place which caused me to get fired and lose her.
I chuckled to myself, it’s like I wanted to fuck up my life so bad that no one would be left in it. It’s not like I could help my mom when I was little and I still had some guilt for Ben, maybe I wasn’t worthy of anyone as wonderful as Tiffany and her son.
I moved to the floor, lying back. Perhaps the rigidity of the floorboards was what I needed. I didn’t deserve comfort or warmth.
My pants vibrated and I reached in my pocket to take out my phone. I sighed but answered as I saw who was calling.
“Hi, Evaleen.”
“Jagger. Where are you?”
I pushed up onto my elbows. “At my place, why?”
“You’re needed here, at Aria’s place. There’s a wedding that’s been interrupted by a Jewel,” she said.
That got me to sit up. “What? You mean Emma.”
“Yes, that Jewel.”
I was ready to hop to my feet and run there when images of Tiffany telling me she never wanted to see me again flickered to light.
“I don’t work for the ITA or anywhere in the government, remember?” I said.
“I don’t care if you aren’t an agent anymore. You are needed here. Tenn obviously botched this up and she got in. Jagger, you have to come here.”
I gritted my teeth, refusing to jump just because she said so. “If Tenn fucked up, then that’s on him. Everyone has made it quite clear that I’m not wanted.”
“Yes, you are wanted.”
I stood and began to walk around the room. “Did
Katlin tell you to call me? Or maybe Tenn got scared and needed someone used to being in the field. Because I know that—”
There was a shuffling sound and then someone else got on. “Jagger, please. She took David.”
I didn’t even blink before responding to Tiffany. “I’m on my way.”
Shoving the phone into my pocket, I ran out the door. Sweat rolled down my neck but I didn’t care as I raced through the streets to find a cab. I offered to pay him more if he got to the wedding location in less than ten minutes.
By the time I made it to the building where Evaleen had texted me the address, only eight minutes had passed. I ran into Tenn just outside. He was also dressed up in a dark suit and tie.
“What happened?” I asked.
“What are you doing here?” he grumbled, and I knew he was beating himself up inside.
He was angry that Emma got through and was now taking it out on me.
“Evaleen called. Said Emma took David.”
“Fuck.” Tenn ran his fingers through his thick blond hair. “I know. She’s still somewhere in there.”
He pointed to the building.
“Where’s Tiffany?”
Tenn pointed across the street to a coffee shop. I nodded and ran over in no time thanks to the government and police cars blocking the road.
When I opened the door, a bell sounded and everyone in the place looked my way. I only cared about the pair of caramel-colored eyes that held mine.
When I got to her, I fell to my knees. “What happened?”
She covered her face and I knew she was crying. The kind of sob that wracks a body so no sound can escape.
“She was seated at the wedding. In the back. No one noticed her,” Edgar said from the other side of the table.
“They haven’t left the building, Tiffany. Your boy is still in there. You have to tell me everything you remember from the moment you walked into that building until the moment she took him.” I got up, taking the seat next to Tiffany.
The small, rectangular table wobbled as I leaned in. Edgar pushed a paper cup filled with black coffee toward me, but I waved it off. I had plenty of adrenaline to keep me going.
The Spy Ring (Cake Love Book 4) Page 18
