The Leader by Shanna Bell - Book Tour + Giveaway
The Leader
Bad Romance Book 1
by Shanna Bell
Genre:
Contemporary Mafia Romance
Contemporary Mafia Romance
HIM...
I will avenge my parents’ deaths.
I will make those who are responsible suffer.
All I need is her; the key to my plans.
HER...
I’m going to leave everything behind and start over.
I won’t bow down to anyone.
The last thing I need is him; the shackles to my freedom.
Game on...
Disclaimer:
*contains adult language and (explicit) steamy scenes.
*no cliffhanger
**99 cents May 8th-13th!!**
Goodreads * Amazon
CHAPTER 1
GIO
Giovanni Detta stared at the gritty
pictures of Gina, Jocelyn, and Mary Rossi: his
selection of potential brides. He had
less than a month to put a ring on one of
their fingers. None of the girls were on
social media, so he only had a handful of
pictures they had been able to find
within their limited timeframe. Considering
the line of work their patriarch, Antonio
Rossi, was in—laundering money for
the mob, amongst other things—it made
sense to not have their pictures
plastered all over the internet.
“I still can’t believe you agreed to
this,” his brother Vincent said, from the
couch on the other side of his desk.
Vince was a firm believer in variety
being the spice of life. Co-owning an
adult club, where he shared women with
his business partner, had made him an
even worse player than the born womanizer
he already was. Vince couldn’t
fathom the thought of being with one
woman for the rest of your life. Or, per
Antonio Rossi’s demand, for at least two
years, in Gio’s case. But that was the
deal. Stay married to one of the Rossi
girls for that time, in exchange for Rossi
Enterprises; an asset that was crucial in
their plan to avenge the murder of their
parents. Of course, with the way Rossi’s
business was going, the old man didn’t
have much choice but to entrust his
legacy to Gio instead of a looming hostile
takeover, but Gio couldn’t take the
chance that this deal might go awry. Rossi
might have come to him first, since he had
been friends with his father, but in the
end, business was business. If a better
offer came along, he wouldn’t hesitate to
pawn one of his granddaughters off to
another man.
He leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, well,
I did. So, help me pick a bride so
we can move on.” Sharing his name with
one of the Rossi girls was just a means
to an end.
“I’m just saying, you’re only thirty, for
Christ’s sake,” Vince continued.
“Far too young to get hitched to just one
woman. You should be sowing your
oats for at least another decade.”
“Says the king of sowing his oats all
over the West Coast,” Jackson
scoffed.
Vince flipped him off, earning a grin
from their youngest brother, who sat
on the corner of the desk.
“I have four weeks, tops, before a
hostile takeover.” Which was the reason
why he had to pick a bride in such a
short timeframe. He looked at Jackson, the
smart one. The lawyer with a brain, who
never forgot a thing. “Talk to me, Jax.”
Jackson leaned over the desk and pointed
at the first picture. “Meet Gina
Rossi. Twenty-three. Currently working as
an interior designer. Though, working
might be a bit of an exaggeration.
According to her tax returns, she only works a
job or two a year. Spends most of her
time spending Antonio’s money.”
He pointed to the second picture. The
girl was wearing a leather jacket and
jeans. Half her face was obscured by a
baseball cap. “This is Jocelyn. Graduated
top of her class. She wrote a thesis on
software programming and—”
“Not that one,” Gio said, discarding the
picture. He needed a wife who
loved to spend her days shopping and
visiting a salon. One that wouldn’t ask any
questions and would leave him the fuck
alone.
“Why not?” Jax smirked. “Don’t want a
wife with brains?”
“What would she need a brain for?” Vince
said with a wink.
“Damn, you two are misogynists. I already
pity your brides.”
Vince snorted. “Don’t think I don’t know
what that fancy word means,
Harvard boy. I happen to love women, not
hate them, so that word doesn’t apply
to me.”
“We already have an annoying brainiac in the
family, Jax. You’re more
than enough.”
“Smart women are the worst,” Vince chimed
in. “Also, the other two look
prettier.”
Jackson gave them a disgusted look and
pointed at the last picture. “Which
brings us to the youngest, Mary.
Twenty-year-old art major and, according to
what intel I’ve been able to gather so
far, as sweet and innocent as her name.”
The girl was pretty, Gio had to admit,
but looked like she might break after
one good fuck. Also, he didn’t do sweet;
though, he knew looks could be
deceiving. His current mistress looked
like an angel too, but was a devil in bed.
Just the way he liked it.
“What about the fourth granddaughter?” He
had studied everyone with ties
to their parents. For the past years,
that had been his sole focus. That, and
making sure his family stayed safe.
“Carmen is married, so I didn’t include a
picture of her.”
“Married to whom?” Antonio Rossi wasn’t
the kind of man to hand his
granddaughters over to just any man. From
what he remembered, he had
practically raised his granddaughters on
his own. Which meant that, as their
semi-father, Antonio got a say in which
son-in-law was an asset to his family.
That explained why he’d come with this
deal to Gio. He was lucky Gio had been
eyeballing his company for a while;
though, for different purposes than Rossi
suspected.
Jackson made a derisive sound. “The poor
girl is married to Franco ‘The
Bull’ Caruso.”
“Fuck.” Vince shook his head. “If she’s
married to that asshole, there’s
probably not much left of her anyway.”
Gio knew there was some bad blood between
Vince and the Caruso heir.
His brother might not be a saint, far
from it, but he didn’t abuse women. Franco
Caruso was known for his more sadistic
tastes. Ever since half his family had
gotten locked up, it was said he took it
out on his women. Some men just didn’t
want to face the reality that the glory
days of the Italian mob were over. As with
any business model, you had to stay
flexible, adjust your plans to what the future
might bring. Nowadays, that was going
legit; at least, on the outside. With
Franco’s father and brother murdered in
jail, every day it became more apparent
that he didn’t have what it took to lead
what was left of the family business.
“Guess I can rule her out.”
“Which makes your choice easy,” Vince
claimed.
If only it were that simple. Every
decision he made had a purpose. Every
chess piece on the board served one as
well. He wanted the one the old man was
closest to, which he would discover
tonight, during dinner. Every man had a tell,
and so would Antonio Rossi.
“Which one is Antonio’s favorite?”
“I don’t think he has one,” Jackson said,
scrutinizing the pictures. “Antonio
is pretty old-school, which probably
means he prefers boys to girls as his heir.
He has two sons, Petro and Marco, and one
daughter, Gabriella. Petro, the oldest,
is dead. He’s also Carmen and Jocelyn’s
father. The other son, Marco, left for
Europe after a hunting accident that
blinded him in one eye. He’s a playboy,
living the good life somewhere in Monaco.
His daughter, the mother of Mary
and Gina, lives in Southern France with
her third husband. Antonio is desperate
for a strong male heir, someone with the
brains and brawn to handle his vast
business that has taken a hit since the
crisis. He could have just agreed to the
amount you offered him, but I guess he
wanted to leave Rossi Enterprises to his
flesh and blood.”
Antonio Rossi had been the one to
introduce their mother to their father.
Obviously, his matchmaking days weren’t
over.
As the oldest of four, Gio remembered
their parents the best. Giacomo
Detta, enforcer to a crime syndicate, had
been a beast when it came to his job,
but a traditional family man that had
worshiped his wife. The second he stepped
over the threshold of their house, the
cold expression on his face disappeared and
he became a doting husband. He’d told Gio
once that agreeing to marry his
mother was the best decision he’d ever
made. According to him, when he’d first
laid eyes on his future wife, he just
knew. He was also convinced that every man
worth his salt needed a strong woman.
“Take care of your woman and she will
take care of you,” had been his father’s
credo. Protect and provide. Two words
his father had lived by.
Sadly, however, he was dead now. No
longer able to give him any life’s
advice. Their beautiful mother would
never dance with her sons on their
wedding day. She would never hold a
grandchild in her arms. No one had ever
claimed the hit on Giacomo Detta, which
was odd. Killing the enforcer of a
crime boss was like cutting off his right
arm. It was something to boast about, a
rite of passage in those circles. Which
was the reason they had never believed
that their father had become a casualty
in a family war. Especially not, since the
same night, their mother was murdered as
well.
Finding their parents’ murderer had
always been their endgame. It had
taken them over a decade to find the one
responsible, and years to gather the
means to make Oscar “The Knife” Bianchi
pay. A year ago, Bianchi had been
untouchable. But no more. They had slowly
been chipping away at the bastard’s
assets until he was close to hitting rock
bottom.
Marrying a Rossi girl and taking control
of Rossi Enterprises was the final
step.
I like reading and writing about sassy women who can save themselves
and alpha men with a heart of gold (sometimes). Yay to insta-lust, nay to insta-love.
and alpha men with a heart of gold (sometimes). Yay to insta-lust, nay to insta-love.
If you're into romantic suspense, happily ever afters, and some steam
(ok, sometimes a LOT of steam) try one of my books!
(ok, sometimes a LOT of steam) try one of my books!
Follow the blitz HERE for exclusive content and a giveaway!
0 Comments
Please try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.