Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 102

Chapter 102

Five Years Later

Asher had left… but not before he made sure I ate every single thing on that plate. Every bite. I was already full, but he wouldn’t let me stop. I had to finish it all. And when the door finally closed behind him, I was already crying, that’s when the sobbing started. Full-on, heaving sobs that racked through my chest until I couldn’t hold anything down.

I vomited.

Then I just sat there, slumped over the toilet bowl, my arms limp and my cheeks burning, wondering why is my life like this?

Why me?

It was still so hard to believe that the man I had loved all of my life, the man I had trusted, that this man I thought I was sacrificing everything for, was this man who hated me so much now. It was clear to see in his eyes how much he hated me. All those times that I would hold Leon in my arms and think of the three of us meeting, of him seeing his son, seeing me, the two of us forgiving each other.

Him seeing all the sacrifices that I had to make for us, but when I look into his eyes and see his hatred, not the love that I was so used to seeing in his face…. it was almost like he was another person, and maybe he was, because I wasn’t the same person I was five years ago, was I? We were both young, naive, in love, and now I don’t even know what I feel anymore.

I remembered what Luca had said, and through the fog of pain and shame and helplessness, something stirred. A thought.

I have to do something.

I can’t leave not yet. Not like this.

But I’m locked inside here every day. No windows to the world. No key. No freedom.

So how?

Luca said Asher was just angry. Maybe… if I told him the truth, he’d listen.

But would he? Would he believe me?

And yet, there was Luca’s warning, leave things as they are. Let Asher stay in the dark. But how could I? How could I live in this confusion, in this cage, forever?

If I was going to survive this, whether I ran again or stayed, I had to find a way to not be this miserable. Not anymore.

That night, I took a second shower, the water washing away nothing but giving me something to do. A distraction. A breath.

1/4

Charm 7

I went to bed hoping sleep would come quickly.

And it did.

+25 Bonus

But it took weeks to come easy. A whole month of restless nights, sleeping on edge, my ears tuned to every sound. Wondering….will Asher come tonight?

But he never did.

And neither did Luca.

On the first day of the next month, Luca made an appearance.

We were having breakfast, waiting for Leon’s tutor to arrive, when the front door opened and there he was. Just walked in like he owned the place. No knock. No warning.

That’s when it hit me again, how little control I had over my own life.

The whole past month, I hadn’t stepped foot outside. Not once. Maria was the only one allowed to leave the apartment. She’d bring back everything we needed, groceries, supplies, clothes. If I wanted anything, I had to write it down, and she’d handle it. Even if I shopped online, she paid for it.

It was like a well-decorated prison.

Leon and I were stuck, cut off from the outside world. That one day we went out with Luca didn’t count. You can’t count seeing the sun through tinted car windows or the balcony. It wasn’t real freedom. We weren’t allowed to live. Yet people could just walk in and out whenever they wanted.

I felt powerless. Useless.

For four years I had been working, pushing, and surviving. And now I just sat here. All day. Doing nothing.

Maria wouldn’t let me help. Wouldn’t let me clean, wouldn’t even let me cook. Said it wasn’t. allowed. That I should rest. But what do you do when rest feels like a curse? Like a cage?

I was bored out of my mind. And so angry at how out of control everything was.

Leon, of course, didn’t feel any of that. The moment he saw Luca, his eyes lit up. They’d known each other for a couple of days but Leon ran straight toward him, arms open. Luca caught him mid-run, picked him up with ease, tossing him gently into the air like nothing in the world was wrong. Like this was just a normal day.

Leon laughed, that deep-belly laugh that only children have. They started exchanging jokes, talking as if they had known each other for years.

Luca came toward the table, helping Leon pick what he wanted for breakfast. Like he belonged there. Like we belonged together.

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Chapter 102

+25 Bonus

When Leon’s tutor finally arrived, Maria stepped in quietly and told him it was time. Leon pouted but went. He kissed my cheek and gave Luca a thumbs-up before running off.

And then it was just the two of us. Silence thickened between us like fog. Luca didn’t speak. Neither did I.

Just silence.

“Where is he?” I asked Luca, finally breaking the silence.

He scratched the back of his head, then looked at me with a growing smirk. That smile, the one I used to find charming-now felt unsettling

“What’s going on, little Ari? You missing Asher already?” he teased. “You want to see him? What happened the last time he was here?”

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