Chapter 3
I returned to the patio.
Nobody had touched the food.
Smart.
Hattie was sitting in a chair now.
Nolan stood beside her with one side of his face swelling.
I took my mother's empty seat at the table.
Then looked at the men around me.
“Who knows what the river phrase means?”
Nobody answered.
That was a lie.
At least eight of them knew.
Men glance differently when they recognize old language.
One looked at his plate.
Another folded his hands.
A third looked directly at Nolan.
I noticed all of it.
“Again.”
I leaned back.
“Who knows?”
Anthony Rizzi answered first.
Sixty-three.
Capo since my father's time.
“It was used when leadership failed.”
“Failed how?”
“When the house could no longer protect its own people.”
Hattie stared at him.
She knew the words.
Not the meaning.
Interesting.
“What happens after the phrase is spoken?”
Anthony hesitated.
“Old crews are permitted to withdraw loyalty until the house is stable.”
Nolan's jaw tightened.
There it was.
He hadn't been trying to become boss tomorrow.
Not immediately.
He had been trying to make me stop being one tonight.
“You were going to use my mother.”
Nolan laughed.
“She was going to tell the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That you're taking this family into a peace deal that makes us weak.”
“Us?”
I looked around the table.
“Which part of my peace makes you poor, Nolan?”
His face changed.
That landed.
War had been good to Nolan.
Trucks.
Security.
Collections.
Every feud created another reason for men like him to control something.
Peace would make half his usefulness disappear.
But Hattie was watching someone else.
Not me.
Not Nolan.
Across the table.
Anthony.
Only for a second.
Enough.
I turned toward him.
He met my eyes.
Calm.
Too calm.
“Something you want to add?”
“No.”
Hattie immediately spoke.
“He has nothing to do with this.”
I almost smiled.
I hadn't accused him.
She had defended him anyway.
Anthony's expression changed.
Tiny.
I stood.
“Hattie.”
She looked at me.
“How many times did Anthony visit my mother this week?”
Anthony pushed his chair back.
“One.”
Adelaide's voice came from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
My mother stood beside Ella.
She looked exhausted.
But upright.
She pointed at Anthony.
“Four.”
Silence.
Anthony stared at her.
Adelaide continued.
“The first time he brought flowers.”
Another step into the patio.
“The second time he asked whether I remembered your father's old words.”
Anthony's face hardened.
“The third time he stood outside while Nolan took my dinner away.”
I looked at him.
“And the fourth?”
My mother smiled without humor.
“He told me hunger makes old women practical.”
Anthony stood.
Two bodyguards moved immediately.
I raised one hand.
Not yet.
Anthony looked at me.
“You don't understand what you're doing to this family.”
I had heard that sentence before.
Usually from men about to explain why betrayal was actually loyalty.
I walked toward him.
“No.”
I stopped across the table.
“But I'm starting to understand what you did.”
Anthony looked toward Nolan.
Nolan looked back.
And Hattie whispered:
“You said he wouldn't come home tonight.”
May you like
Anthony closed his eyes.
My cousin had just answered the next question for me.
