Page 32 of My Sweetest Temptation

A small smile flickered across her lips. “I know I can, son. You’re a good man.”

After a brief pause, she gracefully walked toward the bar. “Will you be bringing a special lady to the event?” she asked, not looking at me but dragging her fingers around the bar’s edge.

I ran my hands down my face. “Mother, there is no lady in my life. Just women I fuck.”

Her head snapped in my direction with a look of disgust on her face. “Nico! Watch your mouth. I raised you better than that.”

I smirked. I loved getting her riled up.

She shook her head and approached the picture above the fireplace—a picture of Mom, Father, Lo, and me. I didn’t know why she insisted on keeping his photo. After what he did to her—to me—he could never be forgiven, and what he did could never be forgotten.

“I do hope you will find a woman to love and marry one day. It pains me to see you so alone, Nico.”

“Mother, I am not interested in discussing my love life. My focus will remain on our family’s legacy, not on useless distractions.” My words were laced with bitterness, a shield I erected to protect myself from the wounds of my past. My ex-fiancée’s betrayal cut me deeply, leaving scars that festered beneath the surface, scars that would never heal.

My mother’s expression softened as she regarded me with a knowing gaze. “I am no stranger to the pain you carry. But you cannot let the sins of the past get in the way of your happiness. You need to be willing to forgive the people who hurt you. Otherwise, you’re letting their betrayal stop you from moving on and experiencing a happy life.”

A surge of anger rose within me, and I threw the glass against the fireplace. “Enough,” I barked, but she didn’t even flinch. Not that I expected her to since she understood my anger better than anyone else. “I will never forgive him or her for what they did. And I will not dwell on matters that are best left buried.” The thought of bringing up the past had me wanting to take out my aggression on the fucker downstairs. I’d find another way, just like I always had.

My mother’s eyes glittered with unshed tears, and I felt like shit for being the cause.

“Nico,” she whispered, “I only want what is best for you. Do not shut yourself off from the possibility of love. There is an angel out there for you who will bring light to your darkest days. And she will be the one to lead you to a path of forgiveness.”

I remained silent and focused on containing the storm of conflicting emotions that ran through me.

Mother placed a kiss on my cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” I kissed her forehead in return.

“Nico, he’s aw—” Lo stopped midsentence when he saw Mother.

“Hey, Mom,” he said cheerfully.

“My baby,” she said with a loving smile and brought him into a hug. He bent down to hug her back.

When she pulled back, she told him that she dropped off his tuxedo for the event. He groaned about not wanting to go and made a crass remark that earned him a smack over the head.

“Well, I’ll see myself out. I’ll see you both at the event.”

After she left, Lo looked at me in silence for a moment before he said, “He’s awake.”

The man was going in and out of consciousness.

I gave Matteo a nod to proceed.

Matteo grabbed the bucket of water from the floor and tossed it in his face.

The man screamed and cried, begging us to stop.

“Not until you give us a name,” I told him through gritted teeth.

Silence met my question once more. Sick of this bullshit, and with a barely perceptible nod to Luca, I turned away as my men retrieved the pregnant woman, leading her from the back room—a room that was more like a cage.

The man sprang upright at the sound of her muffled sobs. His eyes widened in horror.

“No,” he gasped, the word escaping his lips like a desperate plea.

I took a glass and a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet on the wall. I dragged a chair closer, its legs scratching against the floor, and settled in front of the man, pouring myself a drink.

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