by Brick
I asked, “He called you?”
Navy nodded. That didn’t surprise me. He and Jojo had always been close and had grown closer over the past year.
“Anybody heard from Monty?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Inez said, walking back into the kitchen with Justice in her arms. “He and Trin were at the rez with Nighthawk.”
Trin was a leading member of a gang called Rize whom Javon had brought under the umbrella of the Syndicate. Over the last year, she and Monty had gotten closer and developed a relationship.
“When did you speak to them last?” I asked.
“Last night,” she said.
“And no one has heard from them since then?”
Inez and Navy looked at one another. Navy’s shoulders tensed a bit.
Inez answered, “No. Why?”
“Something going on?” Navy asked.
I shook my head, then turned back to give the grits one last stir. “Javon had to go to New York last minute because some shit is going down with the Commission. I need to make sure all of you are accounted for at all times . . . just in case, is all.”
Just as I said that, my phone vibrated. I wiped my hands on my apron, then rushed to the table to pick it up. Javon’s face popped up on the screen.
“Hey, baby,” I answered. “Everything good?”
He sighed before saying, “Can’t really say, baby.”
“Talk to me.”
And he did. I listened to him relate what he had read in King’s journal. I was a bit stunned and taken aback. He couldn’t stay on long, but he told me what he needed from me, and as always, I was set to oblige.
“Shit,” I mumbled once he and I had hung up the phone.
“What is it?” Inez asked just before her phone gave a shrill ring.
“They made it to New York, but not without some fire,” I said as I turned the stove off. I hurriedly untied my apron. “We need to get Monty home. Once that is done, we get Ms. Lily over here to sit with the babies. Until Javon hits me back and lets me know more of the details of what’s happening, none of us make a move.”
Navy and Inez nodded.
“Why do we need Ms. Lily to watch the babies?” Navy asked.
“Just in case,” I said.
“Just in case what?” Inez asked.
“Just in case we have to move in Javon’s absence. If the Commission called in Javon, then some heavy shit is going down, and we need to be prepared to put calls in to the Syndicate at a moment’s notice, which means we need to be able to move without restrictions . . . and Ms. Lily has an arsenal at her disposal. I know she’d protect the babies with her life.”
“That old biddy is dangerous,” Navy said, then peeked out the kitchen window. “Thieves are out here thicker than normal. I see some Rize guards as well. Von must have already clued them in.”
“She is dangerous, but she’s declared herself Justice and Honor’s fairy godmother. And you know Javon is never going to leave us unprotected. No matter what. I need to go make a phone call,” I said. “Find Monty. He’s got to be on the move, since the Thieves are here and he’s head of security,” I said, heading up the stairs.
I got to Mama’s old room and picked up the phone to call someone whom I’d become closer to than I thought I would.
“Hey, you,” she answered. “And please don’t tell me one of you has gotten arrested. It takes away too much energy for me to deal with y’all in that capacity,” she joked.
I smiled. “No, Jai. No one has been arrested, but meet me at the house as soon as you can.”
Jai was the family’s attorney, who no one knew about until Jojo, Navy, and Monty got arrested last year. She was able to pull strings to get all charges reduced and later dropped against all three of my younger brothers.
The noise in her background faded, and she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial tone. “What’s up? Talk to me.”
“Not over the phone. You know that. Get here as soon as you can.”
About an hour later, Jai walked in. She was dressed in jeans, a tank top, a leather jacket, and running shoes. Still as beautiful as the day I met her. She smiled when she saw me and Inez. I had to admit, it was good to find peace with Jai after that incident in our front room when I attacked her. Yes, a huge reason I’d attacked her was that I thought she had snitched on Jojo, leading to his arrest, and another reason was that I thought she was after Javon. In hindsight, it was stupid to think that, but my emotions had been high and I hadn’t been thinking clearly.
Ms. Lily sat in the corner next to the window and between the babies. Anytime she was here, she never let those babies leave her sight. If they had to have a godmother, I was glad it was a crazy German woman who was once an assassin.
I had pulled a large round table into the front room. A small feast had been set out.
“We’re waiting on Monty,” I said. “I wanted everyone here.”
Jai nodded, then pulled her leather jacket off and hung it on the coatrack next to the door.
Navy sat in the chair next to the stairs, with headphones on and a laptop on his lap. Jojo was not too far from Ms. Lily and the babies. There was no emotion in his eyes. His face was stoic as he checked the orders of his poppers. He and Navy had set up a system where they had college-age white kids delivering orders door-to-door. Meanwhile, they worked for Javon as a cover. It worked out perfectly.
A few minutes later, Monty walked in. Just as tall as he was broad, my little brother wasn’t so little. He smiled at us as his hair curtained his face. Dressed in all black, he looked like the security he had spelled in white block letters across the shirt on his chest.
“Sorry I’m late, sis. Nighthawk and his lessons ran a little over,” he said.
I hugged him, and once everyone was settled with food on their plates, I said, “I’m going to keep this short and sweet. So, Javon is in New York. Shit is hot, and that heat may well trickle its way down to us. I want us to be prepared and ready to go. I need to tell you guys something that you didn’t know. Mama has a sister, and she is in New York.”
Jojo stopped eating to look at me. Navy removed his headphones, mouth full of food. Monty tilted his head and frowned.
Inez said, “What?”
“And that’s not all,” I said. I told them about Javon’s suspicions about King’s death and who might have been behind it. While they were all sitting in stunned silence, I turned to find Ms. Lily watching me. I wasn’t surprised.
“What do you know about the summer of nineteen eighty-five, Ms. Lily?” I asked her.
She glared at me for a long time, like she was looking through me instead of at me.
“That’s when they killed King,” she said.
“Who are they, Ms. Lily?” I asked.
“So, the fire didn’t kill him?” Monty asked.
Ms. Lily nodded once. “Fire had help killing him,” she said.
“Do you know for certain who did it?” Jai asked.
“Claudette didn’t find out until he was dead for a few months. You know that the Commission called that meeting with him on the day he died,” Ms. Lily said. “But when she asked Acardi about it, he outright denied it. Said neither he nor anyone in the Commission had called a meeting, since they’d already had a summit a few months before.”
I looked around at my family and said, “So someone lied.”
“I knew King,” Ms. Lily said. “And King wasn’t a fool man, ya hear? If he said them fools called a meeting, then someone from that camp called a damn meeting.”
“It’s odd Mama never found out who killed King, though,” Navy said. “I mean, don’t you think? After finding out who she really was, wouldn’t it make sense that she would have had enough pull to find out who killed her husband?”
There were nods of agreement around the room.
“She did look. She looked until she damn near drove herself crazy. Claudette damn near drove herself to the nuthouse, looking for who killed that man. That’s how she met that FBI agent
, Monroe. Damn case went cold on her, though. Me and Snap had to beg her to lay off. She spent the first five years after his death taking over the Syndicate and looking for that man’s killer. Claudette turned into a monster, something I ain’t know she had in her. That damn rage and grief made her do shit. . . .” Ms. Lily stopped, then shook her head.
She went on. “I’ll just say she was a motherfucker. She ain’t take no prisoners. She wiped out families, kids and all. That woman lost her mind when King died. She even went head up with Acardi. She was fit to kill him too, but some kinda way he convinced her he ain’t have nothing to do with killing King.”
I felt my blood pressure rise. To hear Mama had gone through so much grief that it turned her into something else was alarming. It made me think of what I would do if something happened to Javon. I’d no doubt grieve the same as Mama, if not worse than her. I’d turn hell inside out looking for the culprit.
“And she never turned up nothing?” Jojo asked, surprising me.
I’d thought he was still in his feelings over Dani, well, too in his feelings to care about what we were talking about. Guessed I was wrong.
Ms. Lily looked at me, then back at the babies. “Just like Javon, King was a black man with a lot of power. Ruffled lots of feathers in the underworld.”
“He wasn’t the first black man in the drug game with power, Ms. Lily,” Inez said.
“Yeah, but he was a black man with the protection of the Commission, which meant he had power to walk where no black man had before,” Jai added.
Ms. Lily nodded. “She right. King could walk in New York City, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New England, just like the Italians and the Jews and the like. This was back in the sixties, seventies, and early eighties. He was a made man. You know how mad that made the who’s who in La Cosa Nostra?” she asked. “No matter how times had changed, ain’t shit changed. Get my meaning?”
“That would make them mad enough to kill him?” I asked.
“Sho’. And they did kill him. I know it was a hit because of who King was. He wouldn’a just went to no meeting alone like that. That’s why they ended up coming for him.”
“According to my folks, there was talk about it for a long time, sis,” Jai said. “You know my bloodline and my pedigree. Stories still get told about how they killed him.”
“You get that Monroe on the line. That bastard knows something. He was a rookie back then, easy to manipulate, but I bet you get on his ass and he’d tell ya something,” Ms. Lily said.
I nodded, knowing she was right. Monroe was very familiar with this family. Since he had arrested Jojo, and we had found out he had been on Mama’s payroll, he was an asset. So, calling him up didn’t seem like a bad idea at all. Any information I could send back to Javon to help him, I would.
Chapter 13
Lucky
I looked at my uncle lying in that hospital bed with all those tubes running in and out of him. I thought I knew so much shit, but I finally realized I had no idea. My sister watched me from the window. After finishing Frankie with Javon and his team, we’d all come back to the hospital. Sleep escaped me.
“You should go rest, Lucky. You look a fucking mess,” she said.
“Later,” I said to her.
“You still mad at Mommy?” she asked.
“Yes, Giana and I will be for a long fucking time. All this time she lied to us.”
“To you,” Giana said softly.
I cut my eyes at her. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“She told me who that woman was to her a long time ago.”
“So why the fuck you ain’t tell me?”
Giana’s face softened. “You know how Mama is, Lucky. You know she hated that Claudette favored you so much, and you were crazy about the woman yourself. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were in love with her.”
I looked at my little sister like she had sprouted three fucking heads. “What?” I blurted out.
“She doted on you, Lucky. Shit. I’m surprised she didn’t leave you at the head of the Syndicate. Anytime she came to New York, it was Lucky this and Lucky that. Mama hated that shit.”
“So because she hated that the woman loved and respected me, she decided to not tell me Mama Claudette was her sister, my aunt?”
“You know how Mama is, brother. You know she’s selfish as fuck at times.”
“I don’t give a shit. That was pivotal, crucial information.”
Giana didn’t say anything. She glanced out the window, then back at our uncle.
“Stay out of Javon’s face too. You barking up the wrong tree. Don’t let Ma get your shit knocked back,” I warned my sister.
She pursed her lips, then folded her arms. “What’s that mean?”
“That means his wife will kill your ass. Trust me,” I said, remembering how Shanelle had drawn on my men when Javon and I fought in that parking deck. I’d been going after Shanelle, and he’d found out about it. Decked me right in my fucking face. And after I sliced his arm, he shot me in mine. “I don’t want beef between the families because Ma on some other shit. Javon ain’t like other niggas no way. He can’t be swayed with pussy and a pretty face.”
“Well, then, you ain’t got shit to worry about.”
I sighed, then looked at her. For some reason, I felt like what I had said had gone in one ear and straight out the other. She was going to have to find out the hard way. I turned my attention back to my uncle. Rumor had always been that he wasn’t really my uncle, and that his brother, who had been killed in a shoot-out with the Feds, wasn’t really my father.
The jokes about how I looked more like my uncle than the man who was said to be my father had always resonated with me. The fact that Uncle Luci had always been around and had always taken care of me and Giana was a red flag too.
I didn’t look up when my mother walked into the room. I smelled food, and my stomach growled.
“I brought your favorite,” she said softly. “Cajun shrimp and chicken pasta with roasted tomatoes.”
“You know you shouldn’t be going out of here alone,” I said coolly.
“I wasn’t alone. I had men with me.”
“Still, you need to stay put. Stop moving around.” I felt her looking at me, but I refused to meet her gaze.
“I’m not one of your little flunkies, Lucky. You don’t get to boss me around like you do them.”
Now I looked at her—more like glared. “What part of ‘someone is trying to kill Uncle Luci’ don’t you understand? Or do you not care?”
She drew in a breath and acted as if she was offended. “Don’t you dare accuse me of such a thing. Of course I care.”
“Then act like it. Stay put. Don’t draw attention to yourself or lead any wondering eyes back to this area.”
“Don’t piss him off anymore, Mama,” Giana said. “He’s on one or two.”
My mother huffed as she set trays of food up on the small table in the room. “We’re all upset,” she said as she took out plastic utensils. “No need for him to behave like an ass,” she quipped. “Lucky, you need to sleep. To rest. That way you—”
“Is he my father?” I asked, cutting her off.
Her eyes widened, and her posture stiffened. She clutched at the pearls around her neck, as if I was standing in the middle of mass and cursing the Pope.
“W-what?” she asked.
“Is Uncle Luci my father?” I repeated.
“Wh-why would you ask me such a thing? You know who your father is.”
“You’re such a fucking liar, Ma. Even after finding out Mama Claudette was your sister, you’re still lying to me. You’re looking me in my face and lying to me.”
She said nothing. She just stood there, clutching her pearls, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
“You know someone is trying to wipe us out, the whole familial line, because I’m black? Because there are blacks in the Luciano-Acardi bloodline?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she whispered aggressively
.
“He’s not being ridiculous. He could very well be on to something.”
I jumped, then looked at my uncle or father. I didn’t even know what to call him. I stood, then moved closer to the bed. I checked the monitors to make sure he wasn’t overexerting himself. He looked weak and fragile. Nothing like the man I’d come to revere and know. Bloodshot eyes looked up at me.
“You shouldn’t be trying to talk,” I said to him.
“You need rest,” was his reply. “You can’t run on low fuel.” His voice was low, and he sounded groggy, sounded as if he was on his last leg.
“You’d better not die on me, old man,” I demanded.
He chuckled. Well, he tried to. The chuckle came out like spurts of jagged breaths. “Going to take more than a bullet to the chest to take me down, son,” he croaked out. His eyes roamed around the room to settle on Giana.
She smiled at him. “You want water or something?” she asked him, a soft smile on her face as she watched him.
“No, baby girl,” he responded. Then, to my mother, he said, “You can stop lying to them now.”
My mother rolled her eyes and huffed. “You tell them, since it was your idea to hide it to begin with. I’m tired of being made out to be the bad guy here.”
“It’s not about being the bad guy, and you know it. I did what I did to protect them. You did what you did because . . . well, you’re just you.” He said that last part like he was somewhere between disgust and resignation.
“So, you’re my father?” I asked, just to be sure.
The man I’d known as Uncle Luci my whole life turned his eyes to me, then nodded once.
I looked at Giana, who cast her eyes downward. That told me that Ma had already alerted her to this. I felt like my mother and my sister were my enemies in that moment. Yeah, it was probably stupid of me to feel that way, but no way I would forgive my mother for keeping this shit from me. The fact that my sister knew told me my mother was intentionally fucking with me. Why, I didn’t know.
“I hid that to protect you. My brother, no one would bat a lash if he had half-breed children. He was a wild-card child. Always leaving his seed wherever he laid his hat. Was easy. But me, leader of this crime ring, we have to keep an image of purity. Fuck black women on the side, yes, but don’t . . . don’t bring home any mooks for kids. All hell breaks loose. I could make your mama a kept woman easily. Many in the mob have done and still do it, but ‘Always marry your kind’ is a rule.”