Page 111 of Cold Hard Cash

Jimmy woke up in Cold’s arms, smiling brightly to have his boyfriend curled around him. In all of their time together, this was the first time he hadn’t woken up alone. He took full advantage, snuggling close and burying his head against the crook of Cold’s shoulder.

“Mmm, morning,” Cold mumbled, peeking open an eye to peer down at Jimmy.

“Good morning,” Jimmy chirped, his hand lightly resting on Cold’s stomach. “How do you feel?”

“Like someone shot me,” came the droll reply.

“Want your medicine?” Jimmy asked, glancing to the bottles Dr. Queen had left for him on the bedside table.

“Not yet. I need to think.”

“About last night?” Jimmy asked carefully. “Tamerlane and Jules said there’s, uh, a rat?”

“Absolutely there is,” Cold said with a faint scowl. “Someone has been working very hard to start another war between the Gentlemen and the Luchesis.”

“I noticed Corman wasn’t here last night,” Jimmy said, biting at his lower lip.

“Mmm,” Cold hummed lightly. “His loyalty is questionable at best. I’ve long suspected he’s up to something, but I need proof.”

“Why? Can’t you just...” Jimmy made a little finger gun motion with his hand. “You know, bang bang.”

Cold actually laughed, though the wince that followed showed he regretted it. “It’s more complicated than that. Corman has a lot of powerful connections in the city, judges and things like that. Very useful things I don’t want to lose if I don’t have to. I must be absolutely sure before I make a move against him.”

“Well, what kind of proof do you need?”

“Something more than my gut. I trust my instincts,” Cold said, “and yes, my instincts say it’s Corman, but I need concrete evidence. There’s been too much that’s happened now for it to be a coincidence. The police finding Dickie’s body so quickly, the timely returns of the Luchesis to the city, the attack at the club, the meeting going bad last night... Corman knows that I suspect him.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because once he saw I wasn’t dead, he ran,” Cold drawled. “Above all else, he’s a coward. He only joined the Gentlemen when he was absolutely sure the Luchesis were going to lose the war. But being a coward doesn’t make him guilty.”

“But why start so much shit? Is he trying to get back with the Luchesis? Join their cause?”

“Possibly,” Cold mused, “but Italians never forget. Corman already betrayed them once, they wouldn’t trust him.”

“Not unless he did something to prove himself,” Jimmy said, his eyes bright with conspiracy theories rattling his brain. “Like setting you up to take the fall for Dickie’s murder. Everybody thinks it was you anyway, right? Even your own Gentlemen do. If he figured out where the body was, maybe he’s the one who snitched to the cops so they’d come after you. If he promised the Luchesis he could get you out of the way for them, that would be a hell of a way to prove his loyalty.”

“Look at you, Nancy Drew,” Cold laughed softly.

“Well. It makes sense.” Jimmy blushed.

“So...” Cold tilted his head, thinking for a long moment. “What else?”

“What?”

“Keep going. Corman tells the Luchesis he can get me thrown in jail. He tells the cops about the body. But the cops still don’t have enough to make an arrest and I don’t go anywhere. So what next?”

“Well, you said something about the Luchesis coming back to the city,” Jimmy said, sitting up a little. “Maybe they were getting tired of waiting on Corman to deliver results, and decided to make a move on their own. So they come back, organize the attacks. It wasn’t just the club, right? Some couriers were hit?”

Cold rolled his eyes, reserving comment on Jimmy’s obvious eavesdropping.

“And the couriers were Corman’s, so, either he was in on it,” Jimmy went on, the gears in his brain spinning rapidly, “or the Luchesis specifically targeted his guys to send a message to him for not being able to deliver yet.”

“Possibly,” Cold agreed. “And the attack last night?”

“I would need to know what the meeting was about,” Jimmy replied sweetly, batting his eyes.

Cold snorted, playfully bumping against Jimmy. “Hmmm. Well, I can tell you that I’ve been in contact with Matteo Luchesi since the attacks. Smiled at his apologies and his bullshit. Promised him the return of his father’s ring for a peaceful little sit down.”