Put It on the Mob

Everyone in the Rinaldi Mob has a job to do-a role to play-and newly appointed Mafian, Jisei Harper, is no exception. Jisei is used to slumming it out on her own. From birth, she was dealt a bad hand, but instead of dwelling on it, she smiled, rolled her shoulders back, and played her cards. After years of struggling, she meets Mocha, a rich daddy's girl, and Scarlett, a naïve hoodlum who had it worse off than Jisei. Little did she know, these two new friendships would lead her to the only blood relative she never knew existed, her brother, Demise Rinaldi-Don and head of the Rinaldi Mafia. Time has passed, and now Jisei is no longer a struggling college student but a corporate Barbie with zeroes in her bank account. Leaving the sweet struggling life of a sorority girl behind, Jisei dove head first into a new clan and that was the one she was granted at birth. In the mob, she mostly sits back, being spoiled by her big brother, listens to her best friends who have been upgraded to rich mob wives, and spends her days partying, shopping, and living the good life. The term rich Auntie that so many wish was their reality really is Jisei's. With all of her friends being mommies and her brother having a new baby, she spoils all of her babies rotten and sends them on their way. All good things must come to an end, however, and Jisei's good thing is no exception. With so many blessings falling in her lap, a tech is bound to rear its ugly head. That tech isn't ugly though. As a matter of fact, Ezio Cuppacio doesn't have an unattractive bone in his body. The rival mob, the Cuppacios, were perceived to be all wiped out by Don Demise. As the head, Ezio liked for the world to think his family was all in the dirt and took pride in keeping his head down and protecting and providing for his remaining bloodline. Money is good, but it could be better, and when he is given the opportunity of a lifetime from his sworn enemy, he can't help but agree. Jisei, the humbled beauty, just knew life had gotten sweet for her, but when her brother forces her hand in marriage to a man who sees her as nothing but a means to help his people, she then realizes the mob isn't all shopping sprees and diamond cleaning. Shit has gotten real, and maybe a little too real for Jisei.

Memory: the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information. The crazy thing about memories, though, is that they can be good or bad. In Ezio's case, they're the fucking nightmares that have him popping pills to suppress them. His memories hang on to him like a loose thread, and no matter how hard his people try to snag it off, it's no use. In this sequel, Jisei finds herself knocking on death's door. Just when she and Ezio choose to stop toying with one another's feelings, she pops the very pill that he'd been using to cope. Except it wasn't a Tylenol. Nor was it Ezio's Percocet. With Jisei out of commission, Don is on a rampage to avenge his sister. Every promise he made, truce he called, and deal he connected, Don wants to renege on it all. The Cuppacio and Rinaldi alliance is no more. Don is ready for war and wants Ezio on the front line. But things may not be that simple. Everyone has a job to do, including The Don, and his job may require him to stand down.

With the Cuppacio family now settled into Jagoda Bay, the past of Chicago can no longer haunt them from the graves holding the men who made their childhoods hell. Now, it's all about moving forward, elevating, and marriage. Choosing to unite with the Rinaldi Mafia brought fortune and requirements. In order for the men to have permanent seats at the Rinaldi table, they must marry, and their future brides must meet the standards set by the Rinaldi family. Unfortunately, marriage is not an objective as much as it is an obligation to some of the Cuppacio men. Ezio has fulfilled his duty, and even though it took an overdose and a year of cat-and-mouse games, he is the first Cuppacio to meet the requirements. Now, the remaining Cuppacio men must complete the task at hand, but the crew's twins have no desire to fulfill their obligations to the Rinaldi Mafia and have no plans to search for and secure women to wed. Twin one, Metavello, has put zero thought into his future union. Metavello enjoys a good time and feels that because he understands women, his selected wife will be the best of the bunch. He knows when it's his turn; all he has to do is pay a woman to carry his last name, and all will be well. Money, time, and attention are all women want in Metavello's eyes, and at twenty-six years old, he has plenty of all three. But what happens when all of his plans go up in flames? Metavello stumbles across a woman who already has money but no need for his attention or time. He finds himself intrigued with "Ms. Independent" and wonders if she is the perfect woman to secure his position in the Rinaldi Mafia. But "Ms. Independent" may not be so independent after all, and the standards set for the Cuppacios' future brides-Ms. Independent doesn't meet them. Twin two, Renello, has removed himself from the entire Cuppacio family. While everyone else has moved on from their lives back in Chicago, Renello is stuck questioning everything he knew over the last seventeen years. Seeing his long-lost dead cousin, Pia, at Ezio's wedding, Renello now despised Ezio, his once-favorite cousin. Having thought Pia perished in a house fire during their adolescent years, Renello now feels his purpose is to reignite a once-kindred relationship. But Pia is not the young girl Renello once knew, and she also wants nothing to do with the Cuppacio men. Renello is determined to get to know the woman she has become over the lost years, even if it requires him to outcast himself from his crew and keep watch of his Pia until she accepts him back into her life. With Metavello and Renello uninterested in hunting for wives to cement the merger of two mob families that were once enemies, what will happen to the Cuppacios and Rinaldi families now?