House of Men

1st book in the 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲

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This is a man's world...

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In a room with vinyl spinning Sinatra, hand-rolled cigars on the table, and blood on the expensive carpet, the woman scrubbing it off would be the reason it spilled at first.

La famiglia Battaglia seals deals with violence, stacks chips, and spurs fear.

The Patriarch waxes old, but danger adds youth to his days. His eldest son plays wolf but forgets to clean his fangs. His middle son plays a fool but slices necks with a playing card. The youngest? Can't tell a spark from fire.

They make up the core of the house, filled with men and ruled by men.

The Battaglia women pour drinks, stock up on Chanel No. 5, and zip their lips with vintage rouge. They do not sit at the table surrounded by the men- where's the gossip? They sit at private luncheons and horse rides.

The woman scrubbing the floor doesn't matter. She was hired to care for the patriarch, cook dinner for the men, and be another body to ignore.

But she watched transactions, learnt routes, how the men breathe, even pulled off her panties for the middle son, not to be loved, but to break boredom.

Suddenly, when jokingly asked her opinion on an issue, she responds...and the men straighten up.

They clutch their bullets tightly as she stands beside the patriarch. Little comments here, thrown daggers there, the men watch, follow, and hit many targets, all because of...a woman.

Rival families catch the scent of the change with La famiglia Battaglia: smooth successes, good hits, deadly reputation. That's dangerous, and that gets attention.

Now the woman who's supposed to ensure the Don takes his meds is busy packing magazines. Too bad, too late, too deep to say goodbye.

This isn't about power or falling into the shackles of love. It's about what happens when the most ruthless family in New York realizes their biggest threat isn't holding a gun.

She's holding a mop.

Literally.