Page 131 of Ready to Cash Out

It was hard to be sure, but the man was certainly about the right height and build to be Juicy.

“I don’t understand.” Trev shook his head. “You’re saying Juicy’s been following me and my mom for literal decades? Why?”

“As far as I can tell, it was to keep an eye on your mother.”

“Why? In case they wanted to kill her?”

“Juicy was loyal to the Don, so it’s hard to say. But he knew he had a mission, to watch her, and so he did. Even with his deteriorating mental status, he knew to carry out his mission. Once your mother passed, you remained his only objective.”

Trev shivered.

That was either really nice or really creepy.

Maybe both.

“How the fuck do you know this?” Trev demanded. “How did you figure it out?”

“His nurse.” Cold raised his brow. “She also works for the Luchesi family, taking care of Ugo Luchesi.”

“The… Oh. Holy shit.” Trev stared. “That’s why she looked familiar. I saw her at the Luchesi’s place. She’s Juicy’s nurse too?”

“Yes.” Cold nodded. “I’ve always made it a habit to befriend those at the so-called lowest rung of the ladder. Being able to keep tabs on your enemies is a wise investment, no matter how long it takes to pay off. She kept me abreast of everything going on with the Luchesi family, and I thought it was very interesting that one of her other patients just so happened to be a former hitman.”

Trev narrowed his eyes. “So, did you know about me?”

“I did.”

“What the fuck?”

“I didn’t know about our possible relation until the Luchesis dangled you in front of my face. Yes, I knew my mother had a close friend who had a son and had left the city. I knew she was involved with the Luchesis and yes, I knew that Juicy was watching over you. I’d thought it was because of the Luchesi family, which it was.”

“Did you know that we were brothers?”

“No. The thought had crossed my mind, knowing our father’s promiscuous behavior, but we probably have a lot of siblings out there that we don’t know about. I’m not interested in chasing down every single one, thank you.”

“Fair.” Trev looked at the photograph with Juicy in the background again. “Juicy said he was working for you. Was that more nonsense or what?”

“No.” Cold leaned back against the couch. “I called him.”

“Called him?” Trev frowned. “Why?”

“To make sure Mr. Prospero got here safely.”

“Huh?”

Cold looked annoyed. “Once I heard Jupiter was leaving his family, it was obvious he’d be heading here to find you. Even easier to assume that he’d be visiting your place to collect your things since you two had the not very original plan of running away together. So, I told Juicy he was working for me now and I needed him to escort Mr. Prospero here.”

“You are one sneaky fuck.”

“Thank you.” Cold tilted his head. “I did not expect Mr. Cusack to forget his medications and lash out as he did, but ah, I will accept responsibility for that.”

“You had no way to know that Juicy would do that.” Trev scowled as realization struck, and he said, “You had no way to know he would actually do any of the shit you told him to. You clearly knew about his dementia and shit. Why risk it?”

“Because I had nothing to lose,” Cold replied simply.

“Right, just putting the people I care about in danger,” Trev snapped. “What if the Luchesi fuckers caught up to Jupiter and Juicy? You really think Juicy could have helped fight them off? What would he do? Tell his imaginary dog to bite them?”

“As I said, I had nothing to lose.”

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