Alessandra's world fell apart when her sister Raffaella committed suicide rather than marry the son of a powerful mafia family. When they tried to make her marry him instead, she told them, "You marry me to Vittorio, he'll be dead in the morning, I promise."

When Vittorio Benedetti heard those words, he turned and told his father, "Forget it, they're not that important. I don't even want to marry the bitch, she's ugly."

Gianni Morandi had been gun running and heavily involved in the drug trade, but one of his lieutenants had turned on him and diverted the profits and Gianni had come up short for his payment to the powerful Carlo Benedetti. He had offered his daughter as a bride to Carlo's favorite son, Vittorio, but Raffaella had refused him. When he told her she would marry him whether she wanted to or not, Raffaella had said nothing, but the next morning he had found her dead in her bed, a bullet through her head.

Now Alessandra was not only not cooperating, she had threatened both Carlo and Vittorio. She was  stronger willed than her sister, and he was sure that she had meant every word that she said. She was beautiful, brilliant, and cold blooded, and he had no doubt that she meant what she said.

"Do you know what you did to me just now, you've declared war on the family, he lamented.

"Good," she said, "Because I am going to kill them to avenge Raffaella's death. You had better be careful, Father, I might kill you, too, after all, it's because of you my sister is dead."

I don't know why I wrote this, most mafia stories are stupid, maybe to point out they are writing stories that glorify evil people?

Mary Boleyn: The King's Concubine

Mary Boleyn:  Was she the "Great Prostitute", the French king's "English Mare"?  Her affair with King Henry lasted longer than his subsequent marriages--just who was she? Or was she Henry VIII's favorite mistress whose time with him lasted longer than his marriage to her sister Anne.

Mary Boleyn was the older of the two Boleyn girls, daughters of the up-and-coming Thomas Boleyn. He was able to obtain a position for her in the court of Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, when she was to be sent to France to be married to the ill and elderly Louis XII of France.

Mary Boleyn found herself caught up in the glitter and glamour of the court in France. Alone and unprotected, she fell prey to the charms of the handsome Francis. She became his mistress, unaware of what the consequences might be.

Francis broke her heart and in the meantime, gossip made its way across the channel and word of his daughter's conduct reached the ears of Sir Thomas. He hurried back to France to fetch his errant daughter and wondered how to deal with her disgrace.

He arranged a marriage for her with William Carey, a second son but a favorite of the king. His good looks appealed to Mary and she decided to make the best of it. She and Carey were married in the King's Chapel and Henry himself made an appearance at their wedding.

The lovely Mary drew the attention of the king. For herself, she would just as soon as ignore him, but her family sees her as a way to advance themselves and pushed her into becoming Henry's mistress.

Mary grew to love him, bearing him two children, but she is left unprotected when her husband dies of the sweating sickness for Henry has now tired of her.

Mary is not pleased to be replaced, especially when she is replaced by her younger sister Anne, but she has learned to rely on herself and is determined that she will make her own way, in spite of the king and her family.