Page 27 of Cold Hard Cash

“What…” Jimmy stared at his father in shock, his chest heaving as he fought to take a breath. “No. No, I’m not doing that.”

“Son,” David said firmly. “It’s been almost twenty years.”

“I’m not giving up on you,” Jimmy tearfully argued, his fingers clenching around the phone. “I know you didn’t kill Mom. I know what I saw, and I’m never going to stop.”

“And just how long is this going to go on for?” David asked softly. He sounded tired, defeated. “I love you, but we both know you’re not really in school right now. I have no idea what you’re doing for money, but I know it’s not at that law firm.”

Jimmy gulped, gaping like a fish out of water.

So much for his cleverly constructed ruse.

“You’re an awful liar, slugger.” David offered a small smile. “I don’t want you to keep putting your life on hold because of me.”

“But Dad, you are my life,” Jimmy insisted. “You’re the only family I have left. I love Maury, but he’s not you. You’re… you’re everything to me. I don’t care what you say. I’m getting things figured out. I promise. I’m super sorry for lying to you, but I’m not going to give up on you. I love you.”

David’s eyes were wet with tears, and he clearly struggled to maintain his composure. “I love you too,” he murmured, his lip trembling and resolve crumbling. “I love you so much.”

Jimmy put his hand back on the glass. “Just an inch, remember? That’s it.”

David took a deep breath, and he smiled weakly as he put his hand up to join Jimmy’s. “Just an inch.”

The buzzer sounded to notify them that their time was up.

Jimmy groaned in frustration, his eyes pleading with his father. “I love you, Dad. I’m going to get you out of there, I swear.”

“I love you too. I love you so much. No matter what, I am so proud of you and grateful for everything you’ve tried to do. But please remember, son.” David tapped the glass. “Only one of us is actually in a prison, okay?”

Jimmy frowned, not understanding what he meant. But before he could ask, the guard was there to escort David away. Jimmy stood, waving and watching him for as long as he could until he disappeared back into the depths of the prison.

Jimmy shuffled outside to wait for another cab, depressed. He had spent his life trying to free his father. He had given everything he had—and a lot that he didn’t—to prove David’s innocence. Jimmy knew his father didn’t do it.

He knew the Man in White was real.

It had been so long that he only saw him in dreams now, but if he concentrated, he could recall bits and pieces. The bright white coat, the sneer on the man’s twisted face, his mother’s cries, the blood…

Jimmy squeezed his eyes closed to force the memories back when it became too hard to breathe. There were benches set up outside the prison gates, and he sat there as he tried to calm down. He wasn’t crazy. The Man in White was real, and one day, somehow, Jimmy was going to find him. He was going to find him and get his father out.

But at what cost, a little voice whispered in the back of his mind. He’d lost the entire Duplin family, his college education, his potential career, and he was presently pimping himself out to Boss Cold to pay off his massive debt. Not to mention, it was a debt that had gotten him no closer to freeing his father.

With the money he’d spent in legal fees, Jimmy could have finished law school and been representing his father himself by now. He tried to believe there was still time. Once he had this mess straight with Cold, he could complete his degree. It was possible. He didn’t have to give up. He couldn’t. He had to keep hope alive.

Not just for his father, but for himself too.

The taxi arrived and carried him home. Rowena Legrand would be by soon to take him shopping. Jimmy hopped in the shower, shaved, sorted more laundry, and thumbed through the cash he had left. Twelve dollars and nineteen cents.

Nineteen cents.

Jimmy spread the pennies and nickel and dime out on his kitchen counter. That number seemed inescapable and meaningless all at the same time. Nothing really had meaning now unless it was being whispered in his ear in a velvety tone.

Cold.

God, that voice was going to be the death of him.

Jimmy’s own father had told him to find happiness, and nothing had ever brought him the same gratification as being a willing slave to Cold’s drawling demands.

But what he had with Cold was just business. It wasn’t personal. He didn’t get some dumb love-struck look on his face when he thought about Cold. It didn’t make Jimmy’s heart flutter to think about the brief moments he had been able to touch him. It was a deal, just a financial agreement.

Right?