“You can’t do this,” she gasped, clutching her throat.
“Oh, I can and I have. Your boys have been doing it to innocent people with no recourse, no ability to pay the amounts you placed on them. You knew it when you did it. They did not. You knew about these clauses and were foolish enough to mortgage your home through your own business,” laughed Irene. “I gotta say, that takes gumption. Of course, as of right now, you’ve got a lotta money due to me.”
“I’ll destroy you,” she sneered.
“Oh, please. Better women than you have tried to destroy me and mine. This is a simple problem to be solved. Leave New Orleans.”
Irene took another bite of cake and then a sip of her coffee. Marie waved her fingers at the two men in the corner, and they immediately stood beside her.
“I believe Mrs. Robicheaux needs to go for a ride.”
They started to reach for the old woman but instead were met with the sounds of weapons being drawn and small red dots appearing on their chests. The men were smart enough to freeze, not moving as Marie stared at them.
“Now, see. I was meeting with you out of friendship, hoping we could come to an agreement,” said Irene. She stood from the table and shoved the two big men out of her way. “I don’t think we need to resort to violence, although I’m not opposed to it if that’s the direction you go.”
Marie looked around the small café and saw the men standing at the counter with their weapons drawn. She looked at the two men she’d brought with her and almost told them to pull their own weapons. What changed her mind was the strange hissing sound at her feet. She jumped back, screaming.
“Oh, don’t mind Alvin. He’s just a bit hungry and gets all worked up when he hasn’t eaten yet. I’ll feed him. Something. Soon.”
“You’re crazy!” said Marie.
“Well, I’ve been called worse,” nodded Irene. “Leave New Orleans. This won’t go away if you don’t.”
“Old woman, you’ve declared war against the wrong family.” Irene laughed, shaking her head.
“Old woman,” she said gruffly, “you’ve picked a war with the only family that can destroy you. Heed my warning. We mothers need to protect our children. I thought you’d understand that. If you don’t, then remember this day. Fix this, or your home will belong to me.”
Irene left the woman fuming where she stood. Clay, Gibbie, and Antoine walked beside her.
“Mama, you might have started a fight that will end in death,” said Antoine.
“I know, son. I hoped that a mother, a good Catholic Italian mother, would want to help her children. I don’t think that woman wants to help anyone except herself. But it told me what I needed to know.”
“What’s that?” asked Gibbie.
“Marie Rizzoli is the one in charge of that family.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Irene, that was a step you shouldn’t have taken,” said Ghost, shaking his head. Gaspar was so angry he was willing himself to keep his mouth shut before he said something he couldn’t take back.
“I want y’all to listen to me. That woman is in charge. Not her sons, not her nephews. I’ve known she was in the area for a while now, hearing complaints from some of the church ladies about her, listening to how businesses were shut down by her. I figured sooner or later we’d get our chance to step in, and we did.”
“You and Pops knew about all this?” frowned Gaspar.
“We didn’t know about the mortgages, but we knew about the other things. We’ve been watching her closely. She’s been insertin’ herself into New Orleans society for a few years now. Most of the folks we know didn’t get a good feeling from her and spoke to Matthew and me.”
“Mama, she’s probably got the money to pay off her mortgage,” said Alec.
“She might. Although she was milking her own mortgage for all it’s worth. When you own the bank, you don’t always make your payments on time. She ain’t made a payment in a year. She’ll have to come up with a whole lot of money at this point,” chuckled Irene.
“So, we own the land where their houses were located, you own the mortgage company that the liens were held in, and now the Rizzoli family is about to be evicted from their home if they don’t pay everything they owe. Is that right?”
“That’s right,” nodded Irene. “There will be no casino in that part of town. We don’t need it, and the people don’t want it. Now you know that Marie Rizzoli is the one in charge here in New Orleans. She’s not the head of the overall family. That one you’ll have to figure out. But you do have another issue to tackle.”
“Wonderful,” muttered Gaspar.
“You know, son, you would think that you’d be all in on this one. If it weren’t for what you have, your family, you’d be sittin’ in that Sugar Lodge like the others. Them folks out there worked their entire lives just to have a home, a roof over their heads, and a quiet space to live out their days. That shouldn’t be the exception. It should be the rule!” she said, shaking her fist in the air.
