GIANNI: Book One

(excerpt.)

"The moment my father set eyes on me he planned my entire life out in the first moments. I was to become the one of the strongest, most ruthless Dons known to our families history. I guess I can say I didn't have that in mind. Despite my family's history, I grew up a meek, shy kid. My father hated every last bit of it because that was not the boy he planned for me to be. When my little brother Domenic was born, he came to be my only friend. Although I was older, he'd stick up for me; he was my best friend. As I got older, my father seemed to grow colder. Ma said it was because he was trying to toughen me up, but at first, it didn't seem to work. My father did everything in his power to 'train' me for the life ahead of me. I loved my father to death but this wasn't the life I wanted. I didn't "do violence". I wasn't a murderer, a schemer, or criminal mastermind like any of the people involved in the world of organized crime."