Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly

tell you again. I love all three of you.”
I stared, my anger slipping away faster than quicksand. “What?”
She nodded, looking furious. “You heard me. They aren’t just your kids.
They are mine too. You can’t call them yours when you see fit. They are always
ours, yours and mine. Maybe not by blood, but I’d bleed for them all the same.
So don’t talk to me like these two kids don’t mean anything to me when they
mean everything. Just like their stubborn, idiotic father.”
It was the first time Giulia had insulted me. The first time she’d gotten loud,
almost screaming. Her anger didn’t kindle my own like it had done with Gaia in
the past, because Giulia’s words were the best thing I’d ever heard. My thoughts
tumbled over each other. Still, a small sliver of doubt remained as if my fuckedup
mind couldn’t accept that someone as good, as kind, as loving as Giulia really
was mine. Fuck, I loved her, even those bangs I hated in the beginning, even
those horrendous sunflower dresses, even when she disrespected me by rolling
her eyes. God, especially then. I grasped her cheeks. “I love you too.”
She blinked. Now it was her turn to be stunned. “What… you do?”
“You really have to ask?”
She searched my face with the same disbelief I’d felt only moments before.
“Say it.”
“I love you.”
“Again.”
I chuckled. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I kissed her, pulling her close. Eventually, she pulled back. “Are they my
kids?”
“They are,” I said.
“Then allow me to decide with you.”
“I didn’t say how many days Daniele is supposed to spend in preschool.
They have different options. How about you discuss them with the teachers
tomorrow and then we’ll decide together?”
“Deal.” She smiled. “You really love me?”
I kissed her bangs. “Really.”
Faro and I met in my cigar lounge for our weekly check-in. Things in New York
had been difficult at best, getting information on the matter even worse.
“Luca’s been particularly volatile these last couple of months. He’s been
killing more men. Traitors, bikers, Bratva soldiers. People are worried if they
make one wrong move, Luca will end them too.”
“People who don’t have anything to hide don’t have to worry.”