Sweet Temptation

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