Sweet Temptation by Cora Reilly

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 day.
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.