Sweet Temptation

by Cora Reilly

  “What about them?”

  “They aren’t Cassio’s.”

  Surprise crossed Luca’s face. Then his expression became even harsher. “How would you know?”

  “Because Mansueto told me. He did a paternal test after the thing with Andrea and Gaia.”

  The moment the words left my mouth, I realized my mistake. Luca didn’t know. Every muscle in his body became taught as he leaned forward. “The thing with Gaia and Andrea?”

  I blinked. Cassio had never told Luca what happened? I thought Luca knew about Gaia’s death and why she’d killed herself.

  “Giulia.” The word cut through me like a blade.

  I looked away. It was too late to lie. But what would the truth mean for Cassio? I swallowed. “Gaia had an affair with her half-brother, and Cassio found out. Mansueto suspected Andrea was the father and the test confirmed his suspicions.”

  “And now you’re here because you want your son to become Cassio’s rightful heir instead of Daniele.”

  “No,” I whispered, horrified. “I don’t want Cassio to find out. I don’t want anyone to find out, which is why I’m here. I’m asking you to force my parents into silence. They know and they’re eager to spread the news.”

  Luca regarded me, and some of the brutality slipped away. “You don’t want your son to become Underboss.”

  “Daniele is my son too.”

  Luca stared off to the side for a couple of heartbeats. “Keeping this kind of news a secret is difficult.”

  “Nobody knows except for my parents, my brother, and Mansueto. Mansueto won’t tell anyone because he fears Cassio’s reaction, but my parents will. My father is terrified of you. If you talk to him, he’ll keep his silence.”

  A dark smile curled his lips. “You want me to threaten your parents?”

  “It’s enough if you threaten my father. My mother will do as he says. She’s obedient.”

  “A trait you didn’t inherit, obviously.”

  I flushed, unsure if it was praise or not. “I do what I think is right.”

  Luca stood, towering over me. “Your husband told me he killed Andrea because he was a rat. Now I find out he killed the man who fucked his wife. Cassio lied to me about one of my soldiers. I need to talk to him.”

  The ground opened up under me as I realized what it meant. Cassio had lied to his Capo. That could be construed as betrayal.

  I stumbled to my feet and staggered toward Luca, grabbing his arm. I didn’t care if his expression brought grown men to their knees, if he was one of the most feared men in the States, only rivaled in his cruelness by the monsters in Vegas. Luca wouldn’t kill his pregnant cousin, but he might kill the father of an unborn child. “He was broken up over Gaia, out of his mind from pain and anger. He didn’t know what he was doing.”

  Luca’s expression didn’t change. Maybe my words only made things worse? If Luca thought Cassio acted on impulse, spurred on by his emotions, he might remove him even faster.

  Bile traveled up my throat. “Andrea might have been a rat anyway. I don’t know.”

  Luca pulled his arm out of my grip. “I’ll talk to Cassio and he’ll explain everything to me.”

  I stared up at him. “You won’t kill the father of my unborn baby.” It was meant as a question but somehow it came out as a threat, and for a moment I wanted to laugh at the insanity of the situation.

  “A man would be dead for threatening me.”

  “I’m not a man.”

  Luca took out his phone. “I’m going to call Cassio now and you’re returning home with your bodyguard.” He pressed the phone to his ear. “Hello, Cassio, I need you to come over.” Cassio said something on the other end, and Luca’s answering smile made my blood run cold.

  He shoved the phone back into his pocket. “Your husband is already here. Your bodyguard called him the second you entered this suite.”

  “Please,” I said hoarsely, tears stinging in my eyes. They didn’t move Luca. Compassion wasn’t one of his character traits.

  A knock sounded and Luca motioned for me to stay where I was. He pulled his gun and headed toward the door. My mind whirled, trying to figure out a way out of this.

  “Good evening, Luca,” Cassio said calmly.

  Luca stepped back and let Cassio pass then closed the door. Cassio scanned me from head to toe then stalked toward me. He pulled me against him, his expression anxious. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I wanted to help and ruined everything.”

  Cassio searched my eyes before his gaze cut to Luca, who regarded us as if he was trying to decide if we were friend or foe. The change in Cassio’s body was immediate. He tensed, and the look in his eyes became predator-like as they watched one another. He was armed of course. Two guns and at least the same number of knives. Luca didn’t take his eyes off Cassio and regarded him in the same way as Cassio did him.

  Cassio squeezed my hip gently then kissed my temple. “Let Elia take you home.”

  Was he serious? I wouldn’t leave this suite without him.

  “Cassio—”

  He nudged me in the direction of the door. I glanced between Luca and him. “Cassio, Luca knows about Gaia and Andrea,” I whispered imploringly, trying to get through to him.

  Cassio nodded. “I know. Your brother called to warn me about your father’s plan.”

  I froze. “What exactly did he say?”

  Cassio stroked my hair gently. “That you’re fighting like a lioness to protect Daniele and Simona and me.” His mouth pulled into a wistful smile.

  I searched his eyes. Did that mean he knew they weren’t his kids? I didn’t ask from fear of revealing more than Christian had revealed, but his words led to only one conclusion. “I know you didn’t want to find out.”

  Cassio nodded then glanced back at Luca, who was watching closely, the hand with his gun hanging casually at his side. “You need to leave now.”

  “That she should. We have matters to discuss,” Luca said coldly.

  Cassio tried to nudge me in the direction of the door again. I stepped back. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

  “Giulia, everything will be fine. Let Elia take you home so you can have some rest.”

  I sidestepped Cassio’s tall frame to fix Luca with a stare. “Will everything be fine, Luca?”

  Luca’s gray eyes remained emotionless pools. “I think you should leave now like your husband said.”

  “I don’t care what you think, and I most definitely won’t leave until you swear that my husband will return to me.”

  Cassio hugged me to him. “Giulia, you will leave now.” I didn’t miss how he positioned his body between Luca and me as if he worried my disrespect might cause Luca to strike me down.

  “No,” I snapped and let my legs drop away from under me. Cassio was startled and barely managed to soften my fall. I sank down on the ground like a stubborn child—or a very heavily pregnant woman determined to save the man she loved. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here. You’ll have to drag me out.”

  Cassio shook his head but his eyes reflected his admiration. He bent down and picked me up without trouble despite my protests. He carried me toward the door and set me down, his arm slung around my waist so I didn’t try to sit down on the floor again. I clutched at his shirt, wrinkling it. He cupped my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Go home, honey.” His voice was silky and imploring.

  Tears blurred my vision as I clung to him. “Swear you’ll return to me.”

  Cassio looked back to Luca and for a moment they simply stared at each other. “I swear.” Elia appeared at my side and at a sign from Cassio, he wrapped his arm around me and dragged me away. I looked over my shoulder at Cassio. He gave me an encouraging smile before he closed the door. Had Cassio lied to me about returning home?

  I closed the door on Giulia’s terrified face before facing Luca, who was still holding his gun. Despite the almost irresistible urge to pull my own, I
didn’t. I respected Luca and he appreciated me more than most of his other Underbosses. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t kill me. There wasn’t a man or woman that Luca wasn’t capable of killing, except for his wife and children—maybe.

  “You lied about Andrea.”

  “I didn’t lie. I omitted part of the truth.”

  Luca’s lip curled in a dangerous way. “Some might say omitting part of the truth is lying.”

  “The only opinion that matters to me is yours.”

  Luca came closer. The gun still hanging down in a relaxed way. The sight might have fooled someone who didn’t know Luca as I did. Luca was a born killer. Few men were as dangerous as him with and without a gun. “If that were true, you would have told me everything when I asked.”

  I nodded. “Andrea was my soldier. When I killed him, it was under Philadelphia’s ruling.”

  “Philadelphia is mine, Cassio. Everything in the east is mine. You and all my other Underbosses rule over my cities in my name. Don’t ever forget that.”

  “I don’t. But you trust me to rule in Philadelphia as I see fit, and you know I do it well. You don’t expect me to tell you about every incident in the city. You trust me to deal with them myself.”

  “I expect you to tell me when there’s a traitor in the Famiglia.”

  “Andrea was a rat.”

  “Was he? Or was he just the man who fucked your wife?”

  With anyone but Luca, I might have attacked. I stifled my fury. “He was both. The Vice President of the chapter of the Tartarus MC in Philadelphia that I dismembered told me they had a contact and the description fit Andrea.”

  “Did you press a confession out of him?”

  “It’s what I should have done,” I admitted. I held Luca’s gaze. “When I came home after attacking the clubhouse, I found my naked, heavily pregnant wife riding my brother-in-law—her half-brother—under my roof with my little son downstairs thinking they were playing some game. When I confronted Andrea, he bragged to me about fucking my wife from the first day of our marriage and that my children weren’t mine. I beat him to death with my bare fists, broke every fucking bone in his body, smashed in his cheating face until his eyes popped out, and I would do it again.”

  Luca nodded because jealous rage was something he understood only too well. “Did you kill Gaia?”

  “No. I didn’t even consider it,” I said. “She killed herself, like I told you. She missed him too much.”

  The pain of the past didn’t come this time. Gaia was the past. Giulia was my present and future. She’d showed me what it meant to love a woman as fiercely as I loved my children.

  Luca sheathed his gun. “I expect the truth from my men.”

  “I didn’t want anyone to find out that Gaia had cheated. Some people did, of course, and their reaction was bad enough.” I hated admitting this, but Luca needed to understand. I swore to Giulia that I’d return to her, and I had every intention of keeping that promise.

  “I understand,” Luca said simply. “I’m going to make sure Felix keeps his fucking mouth shut unless you want the truth out.”

  The truth about Daniele and Simona, about their blood, and why they didn’t look like me. “Daniele and Simona are my children in every regard that matters. They can’t ever find out the truth.”

  “They won’t.” Luca picked up his phone.

  “I should handle it.”

  Luca smiled wryly. “Your wife might not be happy if you kill her father, and Felix might count on it. Felix knows I wouldn’t hesitate to end his sorry life, however.”

  I inclined my head. Luca had killed family members before, so Felix definitely couldn’t hope for mercy.

  Luca pressed the phone to his ear. “Ahh, Felix, I hear you acquired some interesting tidbit of information. Have you told anyone yet?” Luca waited. “And it’ll stay that way. Understood? I think it would be best to discuss the matter in person, just so I can really get the message across to you.” Pause. “No, you will meet me in New York tomorrow at four p.m. Don’t make me wait.” He hung up.

  I nodded my thanks because the actual words would never pass my lips.

  “You should go to your wife now.”

  I turned around and headed to the door, but before I could open it, Luca spoke up again, “This was your last omission, Cassio. Even three children won’t protect you next time you lie to me.”

  “I know.”

  I left. Faro still waited in the corridor and almost sagged in relief when he spotted me.

  He waited until the elevator doors closed before he said, “I thought I wouldn’t see you again.”

  “Luca knows I’m worth more alive than dead.”

  Faro shook his head. “If you say so.” He regarded me closely. “Do you want to talk?”

  I grimaced. “I don’t need to talk.”

  The second I stepped into our house, Giulia stormed toward me and embraced me so tightly I worried she might bruise her bump. Her eyes were red. Daniele stepped into the foyer behind her. At twelve, he was almost as tall as Giulia. I still remembered when he’d clung to my trouser legs.

  “Shouldn’t you be in bed? You have school tomorrow.”

  “I knew something was wrong when Mom came home crying. She wouldn’t tell me what was going on.” His voice was already changing from boy to man. I’d raised him, had suspected he wasn’t mine for many years and now had certainty. It didn’t change anything. Giulia loved Daniele and Simona as if they were her own, and I did too.

  “I had a discussion with Luca.”

  Daniele came closer, fear on his face. “Are you in trouble, Dad?”

  That word coming from his lips still filled me with pride. That would never change.

  Giulia stepped back to give us room.

  I cupped the back of Daniele’s head and pulled him against my chest. “I cleared everything up. It was a misunderstanding.” Daniele briefly hugged me. Now that he wasn’t a small boy anymore, these displays of affection had become less. “Now go to bed.”

  Daniele pulled back and headed upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. I wrapped an arm around Giulia.

  “Nothing changed,” she said firmly.

  “Nothing changed,” I confirmed. “Daniele is a good boy, my boy, and he’ll be a good Underboss.”

  Giulia smiled widely. “I know he will be. Just like his dad.” She linked our fingers. “Let’s go to bed.” The way she said it, I knew she needed more than just sleep, and after today, making love to my wife sounded like the perfect balm.

  After Giulia had fallen asleep, I headed into the cigar lounge. Loulou trotted after me. She spent most nights in Daniele’s or Simona’s bed, but my steps must have drawn her out. Fixing myself a drink, I sank down in the wide armchair and took a sip. It was dark in the room, except for the moonlight streaming in through the windows and the glow of the dying embers in the fireplace.

  Loulou peered up at me.

  I patted my thigh and she effortlessly jumped up then curled up on my lap. She and I had come to an understanding over the years. She still preferred Giulia, Simona, and Daniele, but when I spent a sleepless night in the lounge, she always kept me company.

  I stroked her soft curls with a sigh.

  Secrets had a way of coming out. Today had proven that.

  I should have known Father had done a paternity test the moment he found out about Andrea. He wasn’t a man who let things rest that bothered him.

  I was angry for his disregard of my wishes and absolutely livid that he wanted the truth out so badly that he told someone like Felix. Both wanted to see their unborn grandson as an Underboss. That was all it took to turn men who hardly tolerated each other into allies.

  I didn’t want to imagine what it would have done to Daniele and Simona if they’d found out. Our circles wouldn’t have looked kindly upon them. The result of cheating and incest. No matter how brutally I would have reacted to people’s gossiping, I doubt I could have convinced my men to accept Daniele as their boss one d
ay.

  I wasn’t sure if I wanted to face Father again. He’d risked Daniele’s and Simona’s future. That wasn’t something I could forgive. Luca must have called him today because Father had tried to reach me, but I turned my phone to silent mode. I didn’t want to talk to him.

  As if my thoughts had conjured it, my phone flashed, but it was Mia. That she was awake at this time of the night was already a bad sign. I picked up.

  “You have to come to the hospital. Dad’s dying. He won’t survive the night.”

  I was silent, caught somewhere between shock and my burning anger.

  “Cassio?”

  “I’ll be there soon.” I hung up. Loulou jumped down from my lap, and I hurried upstairs to wake Giulia.

  “I’ll come with you,” Giulia said immediately.

  We didn’t wake the kids. I didn’t want them to see their dying grandfather, especially if he might reveal the truth in his last moments. Elia would watch the house while we were gone.

  Giulia slanted me worried glances as I drove us to the hospital. “Are you okay?”

  “No.”

  “You love your father, right?”

  I frowned. Right now, my anger was the dominating emotion toward him, but I still loved him. “He was a decent father, better than many men in our world. He had his faults, but so do I.”

  “Then don’t let your anger ruin saying goodbye. What he did was wrong. He’s been sick for a long time. That might have influenced his judgment.”

  “He’s been wanting the truth out for years.”

  “I know. But still, don’t fight with him today. Let him die in peace. Not just for him, but also for you.”

  I sighed. Giulia was the forgiving soul. I was more of a vengeful being. I nodded anyway.

  Ilaria waited with Mother in the corridor. Both of them were crying and clinging to each other. Mother immediately hurried my way and hugged me tightly. I patted her back. “What happened?”

  Mother couldn’t answer. She only shook her head and kept crying.

  I raised my eyebrows at Ilaria. “Father insisted on taking calls from Luca and Felix today. You know how he is. He can’t let business rest, even if you’re in charge. After that, he was upset and it led to another small heart attack. His body is too weak.”