Another leader jumped in as well, “When you all first came here, you promised us that if we kept the city clean and kept our businesses from violence and did not go to war with each other that you wouldn’t demand anything else from us.Then ten years ago, I get a demand letter for 2 grand a month from you.”He pointed at Yuri.
Yuri shot to his feet and snapped, “I made no such demand from you or anyone else in this room.The old Bratva might have done that but we have been under no such order for some time now.Sergi has been turning our organization around and we no longer offer protection like the Bratva once did.”
Sergi shook his head and tried to reason with them, “How can we offer protection for your parts of this city?You should be doing that already on your own.”
“Yeah, we are but after I got that letter and refused to pay it, things began to happen to our businesses,” the leader of the Hoffstead company continued.“Our people began losing their jobs and a couple of them had their houses burned to the ground.I had no choice but to pay your ransom.”
Yuri shook his head.“I made no such demand and I didn’t burn anything down.”
“I don’t believe you,” the man stated with a growl.
“I had the same demand,” the leader of the small Triad group replied.
“Aye, so did I,” the Irish leader added.
Yuri looked angry as he crossed his arms over his chest.He stared at all of them and he refused to look away.
Serenity knew she had no voice here but she began calling out their names anyway, “Miguel Torres, Sean O’Connors, Micah Yates, William Black, Ling Chin, Michael Rikus.”
The men raised their heads to stare at her as she called their names.
She looked up then went on to call out the rest of the names.Nodding at them she stood from her chair and began distributing the list all around the room.
Tension was high as each man was handed one.They all looked perplexed as they stared down at the papers in their hands.
“We found these names on a SIM card that had been hidden for twenty years,” she explained.“We found out that you all became the leaders of the different factions in the city over the years.”She went back to the head of the room, turned then looked at them.“We also found something else.You’ve all been making payments every month to someone but that someone isn’t the Bratva.You’ve been paying your protection payments not to the Bratva but to an LLC under the name of LDR.I looked into who owns LDR and the name on the account is LaDonna Rinc, who I might add is not associated with the Bratva in any way, shape or form.In fact, LaDonna is the sister of the Shadows of Hell’s MC President Lionel Rinc.You might not know it but the Shadows was a group of thugs and thieves over Blind Lagoon way.There was another brother Logan that Lionel put in the Kings of Wrath MC as a spy.When Pride as the King’s leader got together with a woman named Joanie Remmy that got Lionel upset because he wanted her for himself.It didn’t matter that Joanie wanted nothing to do with him, he thought he could take her anyway.So when Joanie left Pride, he had no idea of the baby she carried.Joanie went home and she ended up working for Lionel at the only job she could get there.She was raising her daughter and trying to keep her nose clean.Lionel gave her enough money to barely live on and he beat her daughter time and time again.Then Joanie made the decision to finally leave and she was going to take her daughter to Pride to keep her safe but she never made it.Lionel’s brother, Logan Rinc pushed her car over a cliff and he watched Joanie die.He didn’t know it but Joanie’s daughter survived.She wandered away from the accident and at the time she was only four.She found someone who helped her and kept her safe.Years later, Logan found her again and would have killed her but a Bratva man, Kirill Grigori stepped up and saved her.The day came when Pride finally met his daughter and she got married to Kirill.That is why they are all here today with us.”Serenity looked at him as she paused.“Then all these years later, she found a SIM card in the toy her mom had given her the morning they left Blind Lagoon.Her mother suspected that LaDonna was doing something shifty back then.And that SIM card was what we used to find you all, it had these lists on it.Then we found LaDonna’s bank account and we were floored when we saw her deposits.She has grown very rich from your money.”
The men looked around at each other then back at the Bratva members who were standing there quietly.
Miguel Torres dared to ask, “Qué diablos?Then my money never went to you guys?It all went to this Rinc bitch?”
Yuri and Sergi both nodded.
“She nearly caused a civil war in New Orleans,” Sergi warned them all.“To think, if any of you decided to go to war with us, many would have perished.But yes, she’s been collecting your money and telling each and every one of you that it's been going to us.Those are old Bratva practices truly.But the Brtava doesn’t do that anymore and hasn’t done it for years.We do not need nor do we want your money.Each of you leads a group in our city.The Bratva leads another group.We are all strong leaders and our people look to us to make the decisions they respect and can live with.We had no intention to charge you for leading your own people in business or in their lives.”
Yuri stepped up and added, “We never took a dime from you in all these years.And we can prove that.We have her bank records showing that it all went to her.So if you still want a war, just make sure you go after the right group.You know us, we do not take threats well.Just know that we are looking for this woman LaDonna Rinc and wewillfind her.”
Miguel narrowed his eyes at them as he asked, “And what will you do to her once she is captured?Slap her on the wrist and tell her not to do it again?We all know that the Bratva doesn’t discipline women very well.”
Yuri shook his head.“Net, we protect women and children.They are innocent of men’s business but we do not protect a woman who would do something like this.This proves she isn’t innocent but we still wouldn’t physically harm her.”
“I knew it,” Miguel snapped in disgust.“All this bullshit and you still won’t take her down.”
Sergi shook his head.“If she were Russian we would send her to Russia for judgment.We wouldn’t do it ourselves but when we find her, we will bring her to you.You are the ones she’s wronged in this, you should be the ones who judge her.”
The whole room went silent as this offer sunk in with the crime organizations of New Orleans.
