Sweet Temptation: Chapter 1

When your wife died, sadness and despair were the expected emotions, but I felt only anger and resentment as I watched the coffin being lowered into her grave.

Gaia and I had been married for eight years. On the day of our anniversary, death ended our marriage. A fitting end to a bond that had been doomed from the very start. Maybe it was fate that today was the hottest day of the summer. Sweat trickled down my forehead and temple, but the tears wouldn’t join in.

Father tightened his grip on my shoulder. Was it to steady himself or me? His skin had been pale since his third heart attack, and Gaia’s death didn’t help matters. He met my gaze, worried. Cataracts clouded his eyes. Each day that passed had him fading away even more. The weaker he got, the stronger I needed to be. If you appeared vulnerable, the mafia would eat you whole.

I gave him a small nod then turned back to the grave, my expression steel.

Every Underboss of the Famiglia was in attendance. Even Luca Vitiello, our Capo, had come from New York with his wife. They all wore their solemn faces—perfect masks, just like mine. They’d soon give me their condolences, whispering fake words of reassurance, when rumors about my wife’s early death were already making the rounds.

I was glad that neither Daniele nor Simona were old enough to understand what was being said. They didn’t realize their mother was dead. Even Daniele, at two years old, couldn’t grasp the finality of the word “dead.” And Simona… left without a mother at only four months old.

A new wave of fury raced through my body, but I shoved it down. Few of the men around me were friends; most of them were looking for a sign of weakness. I was a young Underboss, too young in many eyes, but Luca trusted me to rule over Philadelphia with an iron fist. I wouldn’t fail him or my father.

After the funeral, we gathered in my mansion for lunch. Sybil, my maid, handed Simona to me. My baby girl had cried all night, but now slept soundly in my arms. Daniele clung to my leg, looking confused. It was the first time he’d sought my closeness since Gaia’s death. I could feel all the compassionate looks. Alone with two small kids, a young Underboss… they were looking for any small crack in my façade.

Mother came over with a sad smile and took Simona from me. She’d offered to take care of my children, but she was sixty-four and had my father to take care of. My sisters gathered around us, cooing at Daniele. Mia picked him up and pressed him to her chest. My sisters, too, had offered their help, but each of them had their own small children to take care of, and they didn’t live close by—except for Mia.

“You look tired, son,” Father said quietly.

“I didn’t get much sleep these last few nights.” Since their mother’s death, neither Daniele nor Simona had slept more than two hours at a time. The image of Gaia’s bloody dress crossed my mind, but I shoved it away.

“You need to look for a mother for your children,” Father said, leaning heavily on his walking stick.

“Mansueto!” Mother exclaimed under her breath. “We buried Gaia today.”

Father patted her arm but looked at me. He knew I didn’t need time to mourn Gaia, but we needed to keep decorum in mind. Not to mention that I wasn’t sure I wanted another woman in my life. What I wanted was irrelevant, though. Every aspect of my life was dictated by ironclad rules and traditions.

“The children need a mother, and you need someone who’ll take care of you,” Father said.

“Gaia never took care of him,” Mia muttered. She, too, hadn’t forgiven my late wife.

“Not here, not today,” I clipped. She snapped her mouth shut.

“I suppose you already have someone in mind for Cassio,” my eldest sister Ilaria told Father with a roll of her eyes.

“Every Captain and Underboss with a daughter of marrying age will already have contacted Dad,” Mia said quietly.

Father hadn’t talked to me about it yet, because he knew I wouldn’t have listened. However, Mia was likely right. I was a hot commodity—the only unmarried Underboss in the Famiglia.

Luca and his wife Aria came over. I gave my family a sign to be silent. Luca shook my hand again, and Aria smiled at my children. “If you need to step back from your duties for a while, let me know,” Luca said.

“No,” I said immediately. If I gave up my position now, I’d never get it back. Philadelphia was my city, and I would rule over it.

Luca inclined his head. “I know it’s not a good day to discuss matters, but my uncle Felix approached me.”

Father nodded, as if he knew what Luca was going to say. “It’s a reasonable idea.”

I motioned for them to follow me outside into the garden. “What is it?”

“If I didn’t know of the circumstances of your wife’s death, I wouldn’t have broached the subject today. It’s disrespectful.” Luca only knew what I’d told him.

Father shook his head. “We can’t wait the expected year. My grandchildren need a mother.”

“What is it you have to discuss?” I asked Luca, tired of my father and him knowing what was going on and leaving me in the dark.

“My uncle Felix has a daughter who isn’t promised. She could become your wife. A union between Philadelphia and Baltimore would solidify your power, Cassio,” Luca said.

Felix Rizzo ruled as Underboss over Baltimore. He’d gained the position by marrying one of Luca’s aunts—not because he was good at the job—but he was a tolerable man. I didn’t remember his daughter.

“Why isn’t she married yet?” As the daughter of a high-ranking Made Man, she would have been promised to someone in the Famiglia for years… unless something was wrong with her.

Luca and Father exchanged a look which raised my alarms. “She was promised to the son of a Captain, but he got killed during a Bratva attack last year.”

Quickly recognizing my troubled expression, Father added, “She didn’t know him. She only met him once when she was twelve.”

There was more.

“You could marry her in early November. That way the wedding wouldn’t be too close to Gaia’s funeral.”

“Why November?”

“That’s when she turns eighteen,” Luca said.

I stared at him and my father. Had they lost their minds? “The girl is almost fourteen years younger than me!”

“Given your circumstances, she’s the best option, Cassio,” Father said imploringly. “All the other available daughters of high-ranking Made Men are even younger, and I doubt you’d be willing to marry a widow, given your past experiences.”

My expression became hard. “Today isn’t the right time to discuss this.”

Luca inclined his head. “Don’t wait too long. Felix wants to find a match for Giulia as quickly as possible.”

I gave a terse nod then returned inside. Mother was trying to calm Simona who’d started crying, and Mia was on her way out of the living room with Daniele in mid-tantrum. I needed a wife. However, today I didn’t have the mental capability to make that kind of decision.

Faro handed me a martini before he sank down in the armchair across from mine in my office. “You look like shit, Cassio.”

I gave him a tight smile. “Another sleepless night.”

Taking a sip from his drink, he gave me a disapproving look. “Say yes to Rizzo. You need a wife. You could have one in less than four months. He desperately wants you in his family, saving his sorry ass, or else he wouldn’t have waited all these weeks for you to make up your mind. I’m sure he could have found another husband for his daughter by now.”

I drank half of my martini in one sip. “Almost fourteen years between us. You realize I’ll be waiting for that girl to turn eighteen.”

“Then you’ll have to marry a widow. Do you really want a woman who’s hung up on another man after the thing with Gaia?” he asked quietly.

I grimaced. Most of these days I tried to forget Gaia, and even Daniele had stopped asking for his mother, realizing she wouldn’t be coming back. He’d become awfully quiet ever since, never saying a single word.

“No,” I said harshly. “No widow.” Not only did I not want to risk a repeat performance, but all the widows on the market had kids and I didn’t want my children to have to share her attention. They needed all the care and love they could get. They were suffering, and no matter how much I tried, I wasn’t the person who could give them what they needed.

“For Heaven’s sake, call Rizzo. What’s the problem? The girl will be of age soon.”

I gave him a look.

“Other men would kill for a chance to have a sexy young girl in their bed once more, yet you play woe-is-me when one is offered to you on a silver platter.”

“If we weren’t childhood friends, I would have relieved you of one of your fingers for that tone,” I said.

“Good thing we’re friends, then,” Faro said, raising his glass.

After yet another night full of screaming, I called Felix in the morning.

“Hello, Felix. It’s Cassio.”

“Cassio, what a pleasure. I assume you’ve come to a decision regarding a bond with my daughter?”

“I’d like to marry her.” That wasn’t exactly the truth. She was the only option to save my sanity. “I can’t wait long. You know I have two small children who need a mother.”

“Of course. Giulia is very caring. We could set up the wedding for early November, a day after Giulia’s eighteenth birthday?”

I gritted my teeth. “All right. That’s reasonable.”

“I’d like you to meet her before so we can discuss the details for the feast. It’ll be a lot of work to set up a grand wedding on such short notice.”

“You insist on a big celebration?”

“Yes. Giulia is our only daughter, and my wife wants to organize something special for her. With our son, she couldn’t really plan as much as she wanted. Not to mention considering our status, it’ll be an important social gathering, Cassio.”

“I can’t be involved in the planning. I have enough on my plate as it is, so your wife would have to do everything.”

“That won’t be a problem. Let’s discuss the details when you come over, shall we? When can you make it?”

Sybil planned to spend the weekend at my house to keep an eye on the kids. “In two days, but I can’t stay long.”

“Perfect. You made the right decision, Cassio. Giulia is wonderful.”

Dad was acting strange during dinner. He kept staring at me as if he was on the verge of saying something but never did. Mom looked like she’d gotten an invitation to an exclusive Chanel summer sale.

When I was done with dinner, I waited for Dad to excuse me. I wanted to finish the painting I began this morning. Now that I was finished with high school, I’d been using my free time to improve my painting skills.

He cleared his throat. “We need to talk to you.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. The last time Dad began a conversation like that, he’d told me that my fiancé had been killed during a Bratva attack. It hadn’t hit me like it should have, considering our planned future, but I’d only met him once and that had been many years ago. Mom had been the only one who’d cried bitter tears, mainly because his death meant I was left without a fiancé at seventeen. That was a scandal in the making.

“We’ve found you a new husband.”

“Oh,” I said. It wasn’t that I hadn’t expected to be married off soon, but given my age, I was hoping they would have involved me in the process of finding my future husband.

“He’s Underboss!” It burst out of Mom as she beamed at me.

My eyebrows rose. No wonder she was enthusiastic. My late fiancé had only been the son of a Captain, nothing to get too excited about—in Mom’s opinion.

I wracked my brain for an Underboss close to my age, but came up empty-handed. “Who is he?”

Dad avoided my eyes. “Cassio Moretti.”

My mouth dropped open. Dad often talked to me about business if he needed to vent because Mom wasn’t interested in the details. The name Moretti had been making the rounds for months now. The cruelest Underboss of the Famiglia had lost his wife and was now left to raise his two little kids alone. Speculations on how and why his wife had died were rampant, but only the Capo knew the details. Some said Moretti had killed his wife in a rage, while others said she’d become sick living under his strict rule. There were even people that speculated she’d killed herself to escape his cruelty. Neither rumor made me want to meet the man, much less marry him.

“He’s much older than me,” I said eventually.

“Thirteen years, Giulia. He’s a man in his prime,” Mom admonished.

“Why does he want me?” I hadn’t even met him. He didn’t know me. And what was worse: I had no clue how to raise kids.

“You are a Rizzo. The joining of two important families is always desirable,” Mom said.

I looked at Dad, but he was staring at his wine glass. The last thing he’d said to me about Cassio Moretti was that Luca made him Underboss because the two of them were alike—both irrevocably cruel, pitiless, and built like bulls.

And now he was giving me to a man like that.

“When?” I asked. Given Mom’s excitement, all the details must have already been decided.

“One day after your birthday,” Mom said.

“I’m surprised you waited for me to become of age. It’s not like we’re a law-abiding society in general.”

Mom pursed her lips. “I hope you get rid of that snappiness before you meet Cassio. A man like him won’t tolerate your insolence.”

My hands curled into fists under the table. Mom was likely the driving force behind the marriage. She was always trying to better our position in the Famiglia.

She smiled then stood. “I better start looking for a location. This will be the event of the year.”

She patted my cheek like I was a cute little poodle who’d won her a trophy in a dog show. Noticing my sour expression, she frowned. “I’m not sure Cassio will approve of your sullenness… or your bangs.”

“She looks fine, Egidia,” Dad said firmly.

“She looks pretty and young, not sophisticated and ladylike.”

“If Cassio wants a lady, he should stop robbing cradles,” I muttered.

Mom gasped, clapping a hand over her heart like I would single-handedly put her into an early grave. Dad tried to mask a laugh by coughing.

Mom wasn’t fooled. She pointed a warning finger at him. “Talk some sense into your daughter. You know Cassio. I always told you to be stricter with her.” She turned and left with a swoosh of her long skirt.

Dad sighed. He gave me a tired smile. “Your mother only wants what’s best for you.”

“She wants what’s best for our standing. How’s marrying a cruel old man good for me, Dad?”

“Come on,” Dad said, standing. “Let’s take a walk in the garden.”

I followed him. He held out his arm, and I took it. The air was warm and humid and hit me like a wrecking ball. “Cassio isn’t that old, Giulia. Only thirty-one.”

I tried to think of men his age, but I never really paid attention to men. Wasn’t Luca around his age? Thinking of my cousin wasn’t a consolation; he scared me senseless. If Cassio was like that…

What if he was a disgusting fat brute? I looked up at Dad. His brown eyes softened. “Don’t look at me like I betrayed you. Becoming Cassio’s wife isn’t as bad as you might think.”

“Irrevocably cruel. That’s what you called him. Do you remember?”

Dad nodded guiltily. “To his men and the enemy, not you.”

“How can you be sure? Why did his wife die? How? What if he killed her? Or abused her so horribly that she took her own life?” I sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

Dad pushed my bangs out of my face. “I’ve never seen you so scared.” He sighed. “Luca assured me that Cassio didn’t have a hand in his wife’s death.”

“Do you trust Luca? Didn’t you tell me he’s trying to establish his power?”

“I shouldn’t have told you so much.”

“And how can Luca be sure of what happened to Mrs. Moretti? You know how it is. Even a Capo doesn’t get involved in family matters.”

Dad gripped my shoulders. “Cassio won’t lay a hand on you if he knows what’s good for him.”

We both knew Dad couldn’t do anything once I was married to Cassio. And if we were being honest, he wasn’t someone who would risk getting into a conflict he would lose. Luca preferred Cassio to my father. If he had to choose between the two, Dad would find a quick end.

“He’ll come to meet you tomorrow.”

I took a step back, shocked. “Tomorrow?”