Title: Chicago War: The Complete
Author: Bethany-Kris
Series:
#1 Deathless & Divided
#2 Reckless & Ruined
#3 Scarless & Scared
#4 Breathless & Bloodstained
Release Date: August 8, 2016
Genre: Organized Crime Romance, Adult
Promotions Co: IndieSagePR
Amazon (#FREE with #KindleUnlimited):http://
Paperback:http://amzn.to/
But in the midst of the fighting and bloodshed, there are those who struggle between love and famiglia. They are the most dangerous of all. They have everything to lose. And no one will see them coming. Chicago War: The Complete Series features the full-length novels,Deathless & Divided, Reckless & Ruined, Scarless & Sacred, and Breathless & Bloodstained.
The first book is great about introducing all the characters…..and there are quite a bit. It’s a four family Chicago style mafiaso and each elder (for lack of a better word) has children and in some cases grandchildren to keep up with. However, Bethany does a wonderful job helping you along with the families.
The women in the family are used as trophies. Seriously. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t allow my brother for instance, to marry me off to someone in another family only to elevate his status or make peace with that family for his own gain. The men don’t care so much about anything but their power and their money. They will do whatever it takes to ensure they remain powerful and in good standing. Thank goodness the younger generation is sick of this way of life and seem to be holding their own with getting what they want. Which more often is peace and a wife they actually love and adore. Go figure right?
Bethany twist and turns and plots with the families and the characters to make one hell of a story. That’s kinda what it feels like….one big story. Each book is about a different couple but the main story still continues on throughout all the books. I really like that. It’s a pretty easy read and extremely interesting. It feels true to the mafia nature, for as much as I know, and the heat? OMG! Passion, Heat, HOT HOT HOT!!!!! Definitely a very sexy book series.
Extremely well written, characters are amazing and complex, story is fantastic, real mafia feel…..I think this on is pretty perfect. The only one thing is it’s long!!! Like realllllly long. Then again it is four full-length books.
Very Highly Recommend!!!
Excerpt 1 – Deathless & Divided
“Why would you do this to me?” Lily asked.
Betrayal stung the back of her tongue as bile spilled into her throat.
Dino tricked her. He said nothing about marriage or anything of the sort when he told her it was time to go home.
Of course, he didn’t, her mind taunted. You would have run.
She still could.
Dino seemed to pick up on her inner dilemma. “Your accounts have been frozen. You will not receive another penny of your shares or inheritance until you are married to Damian Rossi.”
“A Rossi.”
“He’s a good man,” Dino said. “And if I didn’t pick you a husband, Lily, Ben was going to. I’m on a one-way train to prison for the unforeseeable future very soon. Theo will have little to no control at his age, especially where you are concerned. That would mean your welfare and choices are left to Ben. Is that what you want? Because if you think for one minute he would consider anything that you wanted, you are sorely fucking mistaken. Ben wouldn’t care—he’d use you for his gain and nothing more. Even if that meant marrying you off to an abusive prick or a man twice your age.”
“I’m a human being. I am a free woman, Dino,” Lily snapped back. “I can make my own decisions about my life without anyone’s input. I will marry who I want, not who you deem appropriate for me.”
“You know that’s not true. You might have liked pretending for the better part of your life like you’re not involved in la famiglia, Lily, but we both know better. Please understand why I did this.”
She couldn’t.
“Lily—”
“Go to hell.”
Dino barked out a bitter laugh. “I’ve already got one foot in the door, Lily. I’m just biding my fucking time while I wait.”
Lily spun fast on her heel and pushed past Dino, needing to get away from him. She only took two steps before coming to an abrupt stop against the form of a familiar but still strange man.
Lily’s hands splayed across the man’s chest as she squeaked in surprise, not even realizing he had intruded on her moment with her brother. She felt her cheeks heat up because not only had he heard a very private conversation, but she was touching him, too.
He didn’t seem to mind.
The same steel-blue gaze that had regarded her earlier at the church looked Lily over once again. She swallowed hard, feeling the bands of his muscles roping across his pectorals under her fingertips jump. His lips pulled into a smirk that looked entirely too wicked for Lily’s liking.
Getting a close up look at this man was bad for Lily’s insides. He was fit with a body built like a boxer’s. The black suit he wore hugged his over six-foot frame perfectly and it only seemed to add to the confident, cool air he sported. A strange disinterest colored his features, but in his eyes, it seemed like he was looking straight through her.
She glanced down between their bodies, noting he stood relaxed and seemingly unbothered by the situation they were in. Even his hands were tossed into his pockets as if he were waiting for something and not like Lily was touching him.
His nonchalant attitude only added to his dark, mysterious demeanor.
Lily still didn’t know how he managed to slip down the hallway without her or Dino noticing or why he was as quiet and still as he was now. What game was he playing?
Who in the hell was this man?
Lily’s heart beat a little harder in her chest, remembering the name Dino uttered earlier.
Damian Rossi.
“Hello.”
Lily blinked.
His voice was a dark tenor dripping with richness. The one word slipped from his mouth without his lips even needing to move. She had the pleasure of hearing many accents in her travels, but his was something else entirely.
“Damian,” Dino said, bringing Lily out of her stupor. “Good to see you finally arrived.”
“Ran over a nail in the church parking lot and came out to a flat tire.”
“Ah, I see.”
Lily stepped back from Damian. His gaze didn’t move from her for a second, not even when he talked to her older brother like they were old friends.
Were they?
“Hello,” Damian said again. “Lily.”
Lily snapped out of whatever daze she was in. “Hello.”
“It’s Damian,” he murmured.
“I know who you are.”
Damian lifted a single, dark brow high. “Oh?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t seem pleased,” he said quietly.
“That I’m forced to marry a man I don’t know and don’t want to know?” Lily asked bitterly. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, Damian.”
Damian’s smirk grew into a grin. “You know me.”
“I—”
“You do,” he interrupted before she could argue the point further. “Just not that well.”
Lily blew out her frustration in a breath of air, gritting her teeth. Resolve steeled her spine straighter and she reminded herself of what her brother asked her to do. Turning, Lily faced a stone-faced, unbothered Dino.
“I will make nice and play good at this dinner,” she said.
“Thank you,” Dino replied.
“But I’m not marrying that man.”
Dino’s expression didn’t waver. “It’s not your choice.”
“I am not marrying him, Dino!”
“Yes, you are,” Damian said.
The words rolled over Lily’s skin like liquid gold. She could feel the pulse of his breath on the back of her neck.
This would be a great deal easier if she didn’t find him attractive.
And why the hell was he agreeing to this, anyway?
“In two months, whether you agree or not, you will be my wife, Lily DeLuca.”
Lily couldn’t help it; she shivered.
Excerpt 2 – Reckless & Ruined
“Did anybody see you come around?” Alessa asked.
“No,” he responded. “I parked a few blocks away and jogged down the backroad before coming in on the property. We’re good.”
Alessa sighed. “Thanks. I’m sorry I didn’t answer you back the last few days.”
“Are you?”
“Yes,” Alessa said. “But I’ve been … stuck in my own head, trying to figure out what I was going to do. I thought I should let you know so you can stop worrying about me and move on to your own thing, Adriano.”
“You are my thing,” Adriano replied. “Don’t you know that?”
Alessa dipped her head down, keeping her face out of his view. “I can’t be your thing.”
“Stop it with that shit. None of this matters to me. It never has.”
“I can’t be your thing,” Alessa repeated firmly. “Not anymore. Not now.”
“Hey.” Adriano took a step forward, and Alessa answered it by taking a step back. “What is up with you?”
Alessa shrugged. “It’s been settled. I’m going to have to marry Dean Artino. The engagement and wedding date isn’t official, but I’m sure Joel will be an asshole and send an invitation to your father. I wanted you to find out from me and not someone else through the grape vine.”
Air cut through Adriano’s lungs with a searing burn. A ball of rage and possessiveness swirled in his midsection hard and fast, threatening to take him under with the current. Alessa was, and always had been, his.
Like fuck was he going to hand her off to some useless bastard like Dean Artino.
Over his dead body.
It wouldn’t happen.
“No,” Adriano said in a growl, stepping closer to her.
Alessa blinked up at him. “W-what?”
“No. You’re not marrying Dean.”
“I don’t think you understand, Adriano.”
“Oh, I understand perfectly fucking well.” Adriano couldn’t help but notice how Alessa didn’t back off the closer he came. Once they were toe-to-toe under the willow tree, she had to look up at him to hold his gaze. “I get it, but it’s not happening.”
Alessa’s tongue peeked out to wet her lips. “Right now, it’s just the promise of an engagement between Dean and me soon, but Joel assured me the wedding would happen within the next few months. I don’t get a choice and it’s not fair to you, so let me do what I have to. Okay?”
“No.”
“Adriano—”
“No,” he repeated darkly.
Excerpt 3 – Scarless & Sacred
“Eve,” Theo greeted as he saddled up beside her at the bar.
“She’s very good,” Evelina said, nodding at the dancer.
Theo shrugged. “I suppose. I’m not the one who vets the dancers before they get the job.”
Evelina glanced at him. She was only shorter than him by a couple of inches in her heels, but it was enough to make her need to look up through those thick lashes of hers. “You don’t watch them while they work?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m here to work, Eve, not get my rocks off on lap dances and strip teases.”
Evelina smiled a tiny smile. “Huh, imagine that.”
“What?”
“I think all those rumors about you and women are a load of crap, especially if you spend a lot of your work time in a strip club and can’t even be bothered to taste the spread. I’m sure they would be willing.”
Theo laughed deeply. “Probably.”
He’d had a few offers.
Not that he took any of them.
“Since when do you frequent strip clubs?” Theo asked, curious.
Evelina winked. “Since someone told me to have a little fun a few years ago.”
Well, damn.
“Strip clubs was where you found that? This isn’t necessarily the kind of place where an Outfit daughter should be hanging out, Evelina.”
“Not necessarily, but I learned that everybody has a job to do, Theo. This is just one of them and it’s a paycheck like anybody else’s nine-to-five.”
“True.”
“Are you going to send me away now?” Evelina asked.
Theo watched her from the side, taking in the curves of her body underneath her black dress and the way her legs looked to be a mile long standing in those heels. The demure look she wore only added to the fact he found himself reacting to her just by being close. The scent of whatever perfume she wore was a mixture of heady and sweet, and it soaked into his lungs instantly.
Yes.
Yes, he was going to send her away.
Because she looked like sin and she was standing in a place meant for it.
Theo did terribly well with sinning.
“Yes,” Theo murmured.
“That’s a shame.”
“Why?”
Evelina flashed her white teeth in a sinful smirk. “Because you never gave me the chance to thank you, Theo.”
His confusion climbed higher.
“For what?”
“Keeping me from getting shot.”
“Eve, there’s no need to thank me for that.”
“I know,” she said, “but it seems like everyone wants to blame you for it and I wanted you to know that I don’t. I wanted to tell you directly, so you could know, Theo. People think I’m deaf or something, or maybe they just think I won’t repeat what I hear. It doesn’t matter really, because when you showed up at the dinner, I figured out enough from that, anyway.”
Theo blinked, surprised. “How did you find out I was here tonight?”
Evelina lifted a single shoulder in response and tilted her glass up to her lips to take a sip.
“Eve,” Theo pressed.
“Maybe I got Alessa to get some information out of Adriano. But who knows?”
Theo chuckled. “Yeah, who knows?”
“Not me.”
“You shouldn’t be here, Eve,” Theo warned quietly.
“I know. I left my car a couple of blocks into the Conti side of the territory line and grabbed a cab. So even if someone comes looking, they won’t find me. Thanks for that advice on the GPS, by the way. It came in handy after all.”
Theo swallowed hard, wondering what kind of game this woman was trying to play with him. “Did you think that this might get me into a hell of a lot of trouble, too?”
“Maybe, but I just needed to do something different tonight.”
“And you came to me.”
Evelina shifted on her heels, still watching the stage and the dancer. “Why not?”
“I have a dozen reasons why not, Eve.”
She tilted her head just enough to catch his gaze again. Evelina held it, her stare never wavering. There was something in the hard expression she wore that told him something was wrong.
Theo wouldn’t ask.
He couldn’t care.
Not right now.
“They’re going to turn me into someone I don’t want to be,” Evelina said quietly.
He didn’t even have to ask what she meant. Theo knew. The Outfit. It was always about the Outfit where they were concerned. Someone did that to Theo once, too.
“I learned to like the changes,” Theo murmured.
Evelina sighed. It came out breathy and tired, but it still made Theo ache. No, he couldn’t deny his attraction to Evelina Conti. But what he could do was control himself in her presence.
Never think with your cock or heart.
DeLuca rule number one.
Evelina wet her bottom lip as she looked him over. “I think I figured something out way too late.”
“Oh?” “Yeah. I don’t want to be a princess.”
Excerpt 4 – Breathless & Bloodstained
There were very few things in life that made a man worthy. Those things became lessened when a man was in the mafia. Instead of his value being counted in his actions and words, it was tallied by his deeds and possessions. It was determined by the number of men on his streets and the most red he could cover on a map to say he owned.
Tommas Rossi had always found it amusing how made men were called Men of Honor. There was nothing honorable about this life. The Outfit had forgotten honor a long time ago. Long before the war.
They breathed. They bled.
Life and death.
That’s all this life had ever been.
The one thing in his life that had kept Tommas honorable throughout the years was just a few steps ahead of him, but still out of reach.
Tommas tugged his jacket tighter around his neck, determined to keep the cold February air out. Even with it being the last days of the coldest month of the season, he knew the weather wouldn’t let up for another two. Probably. The bite of the wind was the only thing he seemed to feel lately. Maybe that was why he preferred to be outside rather than inside.
“No way,” a familiar voice said down the way.
Leaning around the lamp post, Tommas watched the two women walk arm in arm down the street. His eye caught the taller of the two and the dark waves of her hair that flew wildly in the wind. For a moment, he felt something else.
His heart splintered.
It was an agonizing crack.
He hated it.
But he loved her.
“Not at all?” Abriella asked.
“No, I want to make sure it’s all pale yellows and greens,” Alessa replied. “No pink. I hate pink. No dark blues, either. I don’t want to know the gender or make people think we do know what it is.”
Abriella’s laughter floated down to Tommas’ spot, traveling in the wind. It was a sweet sound, and one so familiar to him that it soothed the deep ache inside his chest. But not for long. It never lasted very long.
He hadn’t expected to see Abriella strolling out of the hospital with her sister in tow when he arrived to visit Theo. His plans to see the Capo had been forgotten while he followed the sisters down the street.
“I’m excited for you,” Abriella said.
Alessa tugged her sister closer. “Me, too.”
Tommas wondered if Abriella was smiling. The fact that he was the cause of her unhappiness lately, or the majority of it, sucked away what little soul he had left. People shouldn’t hurt those they loved.
God knew he had grown up in a home where that’s all he ever saw. His mother hating his father, and his father despising his mother. Violence. Drinking. Abuse.
Tommas wanted to be better than that, but then he’d went ahead and got himself mixed up with a girl eight years younger than his thirty years. Someone that the Outfit determined he couldn’t have because of her status and last name. And because he wasn’t good enough for her with his status or last name.
Fuck.
He knew better.
All those years ago?
Tommas wasn’t stupid, but it had been fun. Just simple, honest fun with a girl who tasted like trouble all over and gave him a whole new thrill that had nothing to do with the streets, being a Capo, or the mafia. Somewhere along the lines, fun with Abriella turned into a private apartment with her clothes in his closest, scarfs hanging off the bedpost, and her lotions in the bathroom.
It changed to comfort.
She seeped into his blood.
She infected him.
Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to three young sons, one cat, and two dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a hubby calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something … when she can find the time.
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