Page 28 of Lucky
“Meaning?”
“They had an arms drop and got jumped. The other party involved was Cavallo.”
I lean back in my chair and shoot Jayson a thoughtful look. It looks like the Viccis are not having a good year, which could easily place them right where we want them; weak and defeated. I haven’t spoken to Jacklyn since I collected the bodies from her compound a few days ago, and she hasn’t reached out, so I have no idea what’s going on, but suddenly I’m wondering why she felt the need to arm herself.
“What happened?”
“Some of Viccis own men turned. Hijacked their own arms deal. The Cavallos bailed, and Daniel Russo, a Vicci muscle man, made off with most of the shipment.”
“That’s going to hurt,” I comment. “Dissidents?”
“All out anarchy.”
It would seem that the Viccis are killing themselves and each other slowly. They’re tearing each other to shreds and don’t need our help. Maybe we should just let them have at it, I tell myself.
I sigh, running a hand through my hair before I stand and start pacing the room. Our family has its own share of problems,but this? This is a mess I can’t just ignore. The internal squabbles within the Vicci family could spill and knock us all over. To ignore this would be professional suicide.
“What about Jack?” I ask. “Did you find out where he is?”
Jayson’s eyebrows furrow in concern again as he glances down at the ground. For some reason, there’s something he’s reluctant to share.
“Jack Vicci died in a shootout a few months ago. That’s what the general consensus is. His twin sister Jacklyn has been running the business since then. But her own men are turning on her.”
“What do you mean the general consensus?”
“Very few people know that he survived the hit. Although he’s confined to a chair and has sustained extensive damage. Jacklyn Vicci has made it her life’s mission to protect her brother.”
The fact that Jacklyn Vicci is nursing her brother back to health while trying to maintain control of her family gives me an insight into the sort of woman she is. The way she carried herself in that meeting we had. The way her body slithered against mine for hours when we hooked up at the club. The way she shot her own men, execution style, which only seems to have brought more heat on her. I know for a fact that if she were a man, Jayson and I wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. Every last one of her men would have fallen into line when she pulled that trigger. Instead, they rebelled against her, saw it as a chance to overturn her.
“The danger here is that Russo’s going to use the weapons meant for Jacklyn Vicci to wage an all-out war against her.
“He’s ambitious,” Jayson tells me.
I nod. “I know. But if we move too soon, this city will burn.”
I reach for the phone, dialing my older brother. I can’t proceed any further on this situation without looping him in. Scar will know what to do. But as I wait for the line to connect,I can’t shake the feeling that this is only the beginning of something bigger than we ever imagined.
The Vicci family isn’t just at war with the Gattis—they are at war with themselves. And when the dust settles, there might not be a Vicci family left to fight. It isn’t just a single traitor in the ranks. This is systemic. The betrayal runs deep. And if that isn’t bad enough, it means there is no one we could possibly trust in the Vicci camp anymore. By the time the dust settles and the bodies are counted, Jacklyn wouldn’t know what hit her. But would she understand the scale of the betrayal? Would she realize that her enemies weren’t just outside the walls, but within her own ranks?
I’m not sure. But I know one thing for certain: it’s only a matter of time before the Vicci soldiers turn on each other. And Jacklyn would be caught in the crossfire.
My stomach churns as I tuck the phone into my pocket. My mind races. I have to get out of here. I make my way to the home I built on the same plot of land with my brothers. Scar is waiting for me in the war room at his own home, a few hundred yards away from my own, and we’re joined shortly by Brando, who’s become antsy at best when we conduct these meetings. Ever since he rescued Mia from his arch nemesis, Frank Falcone, he’s been loathe to leave her side. And with her one remaining sister still missing, Mia hasn’t been doing so well. I feel sorry for the girl. She lost her father, then she lost her sister Sophia, one half of a twin, to a drug overdose administered by Falcone. She was imprisoned by Falcone and subjected to God only knows what, but it did not escape any of our attention the condition she was in once we finally found her. She had been battered and bruised, a perceptible limp ailing her for many weeks after her rescue.
“How’s Mia?” I ask Brando, as he sits tapping his foot impatiently.
“She’s fine. Anything on Maxine?”
“Still working the last lead we got,” I tell him.
“How can an auction just go offline even before it’s finished?” He’s just as baffled as I am. After we saw Maxine on the screen and Ryder was working on a way to get into the auction to bid on her, the auction suddenly went offline, and it hasn’t been back since.
“Well, at least we know she’s still alive,” Scar says, throwing the positive out at us. No-one adds that we don’t know how much longer she’ll stay alive.
“I do believe they caught wind of a new player trying to get in on the auction and it triggered an alert. Our probing may have been the thing that shut them down. We just need to be more careful next time.”
“Onto other issues requiring urgent attention,” Scar starts. “What did you want to discuss about the Viccis?”
Scar leans forward, his intense gaze burning into mine. Brando stops fidgeting, his focus sharp. The weight of what I’m about to share presses down on me, but there’s no room for hesitation.