Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly

The present
Slowly, I turned away from the fireplace, facing my young wife. She was pale,
her lips parted in horror after my story. “When I married Gaia, she was in love
with her half-brother. I didn’t know it back then. Her parents did but chose not to
divulge the information. Maybe now you understand why I was wary of
Christian.”
Giulia covered her mouth with her palm, staring down at the floor as if she
couldn’t bear looking at me. I couldn’t blame her. It was a story that had shaken
up even my father and Faro. “Oh my God.”
I grimaced. I hated remembering, and worse speaking about what happened,
but even worse than all that was the look on Giulia’s face now that she knew the
truth. “After I married Gaia, she asked me if her half-brother could become one
of her bodyguards. I agreed because she was miserable away from home and I
thought it would help. I wanted her to find happiness in our marriage.”
Giulia nodded, not looking up. “Her parents? You killed them.”
“I did. They betrayed me. Their lies cost Gaia and Andrea their life.”
She sucked in a sharp breath, horrified. Giulia was a good girl. Kind and
positive, willing to see the light even in the dark. I’d dragged one woman into an
abyss. I desperately hoped Giulia would be spared the same fate. “Gaia
practically asked you to kill them in her last letter.”
“She knew me well.” Occasionally I would share details of my work with her
when I’d been particularly shaken or when she asked, which didn’t happen often.
Giulia shook her head. She’d said our marriage would be doomed if I didn’t
tell her the truth, but I had a feeling the truth just ended whatever had been
blossoming between us. Losing Gaia hadn’t hurt. For one, because she’d