Violent Ascension

Violent Ascension Made Men, Chicago: Book One Giorgia Blake Violent Ascension Copyright © 2023 by Giorgia Blake All rights reserved. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this book may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any medium, whether electronic, internet or otherwise, without the expressed permission of the author. This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, locations, and names occurring in this book are the product of the author’s imagination or are the property of their respective owners and are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events, locations, or persons (living or dead), is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author. All trademarks and trade names are used in a fictitious manner and are in no way endorsed by or an endorsement of their respective owners. May contain sexual situations, violence, sensitive and offensive language, and mature topics. Recommended for age 18 years and up. Cover Design © AfroChant Media LLC Created with Vellum Blurb I’m a Rising Star. A boss. A Real One. Yet I’m here. Taken and bound inside the home of Alessandro Parisi. A dangerous man who holds my life and secrets close to his chest. He has all the answers but refuses to answer any of my questions. All he’s told me is that I’m his and the key to his family’s ascension. He saved me from his sadistic cousin, but I traded one monster for another. This monster orders me to cooperate, bend to his touch, and obey. Too bad obedience isn’t in my nature; rebellion is my birthright. I probably won’t make it out of this blood war alive. The likelihood of my heart surviving Alessandro is even less… To K, My writing partner in crime. I love you, babe! “You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself.” ― Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera Contents Note from Author Prologue 1. I Keep on Fallin’ Sienna 2. Maneater Alessandro 3. I Want to Break Free Sienna 4. Earned It Sienna 5. Stop the Wedding Sienna 6. Boom! Shake the Room Alessandro 7. Road Trippin’ Sienna 8. Blindfold Me Alessandro 9. Bonita Applebum Sienna 10. Warning Alessandro 11. Get Away Sienna 12. Rough Side of the Mountain Alessandro 13. Make It Official Sienna 14. Is This Love Alessandro 15. Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls Sienna 16. The Sound of Music Sienna 17. Papa Can You Hear Me Alessandro 18. Mistakes Were Made Sienna 19. Ante Up Alessandro 20. Boom! Shake the Room, Again Sienna Stay Connected Acknowledgments About the Author Note from Author This book contains triggers surrounding forced marriage, violence, light BDSM, and on-page murder. Please read responsibly. Ensure you’re on the list, so you don’t miss bonus chapters, mafia romance recommendations, and new book drops! Enjoy! Prologue Alessandro Ascension, Allegiance, Birthright, and Blood. These four words reign over my life. Everything I've done since age sixteen is tied directly to one of them. The title of Consigliere stamps my ascension. I am an advisor to the Don of the Romano Crime Family and his right-hand man. Our family is the Chicago arm of the Sicilian Mafia, and we run everything west of Lake Michigan. Our rivals, the Riccis, run everything to the east through New York City. We both answer to the head of our families in Sicily. Our capo di tuttu capis, or boss of bosses, rules Cosa Nostra with three other Sicilian families: the Russos, the La Rosas, and the Lombardos. These five Families make up the commission and grant the Romanos and Riccis free rein over America as long as we remain peaceful and profitable. None of the other five families own territory in the states, and they likely never will. The unspoken goal of the Romanos and the Riccis is to reign as the only Sicilian crime family in the States. To avoid war, both families keep their ambition quiet. If the Cosa Nostra fractures in America, the Russian Bratva, Chinese Triad, or Columbian Cartel could gain traction and take over our territories. The one-time unchecked zeal fueled Don Matteo Ricci's actions, blood rushed from America to Italy. I lost my sainted mother and innocent father in that fight. Twenty-one years later, his violent act remains unpunished. He was granted amnesty from the commission in the name of peace and profit. They gave us their construction business, leaving them with only drugs to keep them afloat. The punishment was insufficient. I want justice. Our Don, my uncle Thomasso Romano, took me in and raised me alongside my two cousins, Leo and Luna. Consequently, I became a murderer at the age of seventeen. But once I was made, my uncle forbade me from working on any of the crews. Uncle Thomasso had other plans for me. Four years later, he hugged me as I walked across Princeton's graduation stage with a B.A. in Economics. Then I was ordered to study law at Harvard. After I earned my degrees, I got my feet wet negotiating labor and real-estate contracts on behalf of the family. I'm somewhat a jack of all law trades, and I've beaten murder cases and scored hard-to-get construction and zoning permits. Recently, I invented an untraceable tax evasion strategy for my uncle. My loyalty earned me the seat at his side two years ago as his most confidant. A tattoo of an Egyptian vulture breathing fire across my chest proves my allegiance. In the Cosa Nostra, betrayal brings swift death. Loyalty to the vulture brings hope to see tomorrow and more wealth than anyone could imagine. The power is addictive. But the power I hold is not my birthright; it's my cousin Leo's. Leo Romano should be underboss, his father's right-hand man, and I should be third in the succession of power. That would be the order of things if Leo wasn't a bloodthirsty sociopath who couldn't strategize his way out of