Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly

prefers to pretend the kids are his.”
“You don’t know that they aren’t. Andrea and Gaia might have said it to hurt
him.”
“So he told you everything?”
I bit my lip. “You should accept Cassio’s decision.”
“He’d change his mind if he knew the truth.”
“What truth?”
Mansueto fixed me with a sad look. “That the children aren’t his.”
“You don’t know that.”
“That’s not true. I did a paternity test without Cassio’s knowledge.”
I froze. “What?”
“Neither Simona nor Daniele are his. The test confirmed it. They are
Andrea’s.”
My heart sank. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because Cassio doesn’t want to know. If I tell him… he can be very
stubborn. I need your help.”
“I won’t tell him either. He doesn’t want to know, and I respect his wish.”
“Then don’t tell him now. One day he’ll find out. It’s bound to happen. At
least, make sure Cassio will have an heir by then. Give him a baby. Don’t you
want your own child, Giulia?”
Simona and Daniele giggled when Loulou and her dog friend had a tug of
war over a long branch. “I can’t do anything.”
Mansueto touched my hand. “Cassio won’t be angry if you forget to take the
pill and get pregnant by accident. You’re young and got a lot on your plate.”
I couldn’t believe what he was suggesting. “No,” I said firmly. “I won’t trick
Cassio like that. Please don’t ask me for something like that ever again. Let
Cassio believe Daniele and Simona’s are his, if that’s what he wants. He loves
them.”
Mansueto let out a gravelly sigh. “No wonder he’s infatuated with you.”
Daniele spotted his grandpa and rushed over to us, throwing his tiny arms
around him. Mansueto stroked Daniele’s head. “You’re fast, sweet child.”
Daniele smiled up at him and began telling him about Loulou and her dog
friends. I stood and caught Simona, who’d stumbled twice in her haste to follow
her brother and was bawling. Mansueto lifted Daniele on his lap and pointed at a
Great Dane. Slowly, I returned to them.
Simona beamed at her grandfather, and he stroked her chubby cheek with a
kind smile. He treated them like his grandkids.
Before he left for home, I cornered him alone. “Please promise me you won’t
let anything slip to Daniele and Simona. Daniele’s getting better. He speaks. He
loved his first day of preschool. I don’t want old wounds to open because blood
is more important to you than anything else.”
“You should remember who you are talking to.”
“I’m not someone to show disrespect. But I’ll protect these children, even
against their own grandfather if necessary.”