Page 29 of Cold Hard Cash

“In that case, definitely keep drinking.”

“Shit.” Jimmy chuckled and took another swallow. It had been a very long time since he’d had any alcohol, and it wasn’t going to take much to get him good and pliable for Rowena’s interrogation.

“So, are you from Strassen Springs?” Rowena asked.

“Born and raised,” Jimmy replied easily. These kinds of questions he could handle.

“Any brothers or sisters?”

“Only child.”

“Parents?”

“My dad is… around. Sort of. It’s complicated. And my mom… She died when I was very little.”

“Oh shit, I’m sorry.” Rowena smiled sadly. “My mom died when I was really little too. So did Roddy’s.”

“I’m sorry.” Jimmy meant it. He knew all too well the pain of losing a parent. He drank some more and felt brave enough to ask, “You and Cold don’t have the same mother?”

“Oh! No!” Rowena laughed loudly. “Boris, our father, was really big into spreading his seed anywhere he could. There’s probably a dozen of us little Legrands running around Strassen, but Roddy and I are the only ones he ever claimed. And that’s because he had to, you know…” She trailed off expectantly.

Jimmy shrugged helplessly, confused.

He had no idea what Rowena was talking about.

“You really don’t know anything about us,” Rowena said, amazed by the depth of his ignorance. “Okay, so. My mother was one of Don Rafaello Luchesi’s cousins. The Luchesi family that used to control Strassen Springs?”

“Right. The ones Cold ran off.”

“Yup. This was while they were, like, at the height of their power. Because my mother was part of the family, Boris had to step up and marry her. They stayed together until I was, eh, four? She left and we never heard from her again until the cops called us to identify her body.”

“Jesus, I’m really sorry.” Jimmy cringed in sympathy. “What happened?”

“It’s okay, really,” Rowena assured him. “Super long time ago. And well, she was drunk. Ran a stoplight, crashed her car.” She shrugged. “I don’t really remember her very well, to be honest. It’s hard to miss somebody you didn’t really know.”

“What about Cold’s mom?” Jimmy was dying for any information about his mysterious business partner.

“She was a jazz singer in one of the Luchesi family’s clubs. Suzanne de Villeneuve. Fancy, right? Ah, she was so gorgeous,” Rowena gushed. “I’ll have to show you a picture of her tonight, she was just fuckin’ beautiful.”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah, duh, Cold is hosting the party at his house.” Rowena rolled her eyes, getting back on track. “Anyway. She was this super popular singer, like, was working on a record deal until she got pregnant with Roddy. The Luchesis were super pissed with Boris for putting their little rising star outta commission.

“She was gonna go back to her singing career after she had Roddy because the Luchesis were gonna get profits off her record sales. They were the ones who were fundin’ her, you see. There was all this pressure on her to perform again as soon as possible. But she died right after giving birth to Roddy, and ohhh, the Luchesis were furious with Boris. They blamed him for gettin’ her knocked up.”

Jimmy was aghast as he listened to the intense tale, not even realizing he had finished his drink until he tried to take another sip and found the mug empty. Rowena was quick to notice, refilling it and then topping off her own.

“Don Rafaello said Boris and baby Roddy owed him all this money because it was their fault Suzanne died,” Rowena went on. “So, Roddy was literally born as, like, a fuckin’ mafia indentured servant. He’s been working for them since he could fuckin’ crawl. Odd jobs at first, dirtier stuff as he got older. Roughin’ people up, robbing places, whatever they wanted.”

Jimmy frowned, his heart aching for the man that Cold might have become had he been born in a different world. He gulped back his drink and hissed at the resulting brain freeze. “Wait. Okay, not that I don’t appreciate it, but… Why are you telling me all of this?”

“Well, it’s not like any of it is a big secret,” Rowena drawled. “And besides, you need to know if you and Roddy are gonna keep seeing each other.”

Jimmy gulped. “It’s just, uh, a business deal.”

“Right. Because my brother totally does this all the time.” Rowena cackled, pouring the last of the slush from the blender into their glasses with an additional splash of Goldschläger.

“Doesn’t he?” Jimmy hesitated. “I mean, not, like, all the time… but…”