Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 107

Chapter 107

I was scared.

Terrified of what Asher might do once he got to me. Would he break down the door? Did he have a spare key? Oh my God….did he have a spare key to the bathroom?

What am I even thinking? What is this? What am I doing?

Panic coils in my chest. I glance at the door…..it’s wood. Thick, solid. I don’t think he can break it. But then again… what do I know? The fear doesn’t leave. It just boils over, making it hard to breathe.

I stay standing until my legs feel like jelly. Until my body’s too tired to hold itself up. So I sit.

And that’s how I ended up spending the entire night in the bathroom. Curled up on the toilet seat. Cold. Alone. Waiting.

Morning comes slowly, a soft light peeking under the door. My limbs ache. My neck is stiff. My heart still beats with caution as I gather the courage to stand and slowly, nervously, unlock the

door.

I open it…..and I’m greeted by silence. The bedroom is empty. No sign of Asher.

I release the breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding. The first thought in my head is Leon.

I rush out of the room and into the hallway, my feet barely touching the floor as I move. I need to see him. I need to know, Is Leon okay?

Guilt presses down on me like a thousand bricks. What if Asher hadn’t been able to get to me? What if he went after Leon instead?

No.

No, no, no. I shake my head, fighting the images forming in my mind. I push my legs to move faster.

When I finally open Leon’s bedroom door, I see him lying there peacefully, his little chest rising and falling in sleep, blissfully unaware of the chaos swirling around him.

My knees threaten to give out, and I have to hold onto the doorknob just to stay upright. Relief crashes into me, and then the tears follow. Silent. Hot. Relentless.

I close the door behind me and sink to the floor, my back pressed to the wood.

And I cry.

I cry for the fear, for the shame, for the helplessness. For thinking I could protect him. For believing I could be enough. For hoping I could give him everything, only to realize……I have

no power.

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Chapter 107

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No control. No say. Nothing.

Since Leon was still sleeping peacefully, I decided to go downstairs and make him breakfast. I wanted to do something….anything that made me feel like his mother again.

But when I got to the kitchen, Maria was already there, busy chopping vegetables with swift, practised hands.

“I’m going to prepare Leon some breakfast,” I said.

She turned to look at me. “You know you’re not allowed to do anything in this house.”

I bit my tongue before I answered. I didn’t want to shout. I didn’t want to cry. I just needed her to see what was inside me, what was tearing me up, what I was holding together by threads.

“That boy sleeping in that room upstairs is my son,” I said, my voice calm but firm. “He’s sick. I may not have any control over his life in this house, but I can do this. I will do this. I’m going to make him breakfast because I want to. Because I can. Because he’s mine, and I want to take care of him.”

I looked her in the eyes. “So if you’re going to prepare breakfast for yourself, for the men, for anyone else…. I don’t care. But I’m preparing my sick son’s breakfast today.”

I think she saw it, everything I couldn’t say, everything I was holding back. Because she didn’t argue. She just nodded once, quietly, and left the kitchen.

So I stepped in.

I made a simple soup. Peeled some fruit. Chose things he might actually keep down this time, things soft on the stomach, warm for the heart. All the while, I prayed. That he’d eat. That

he’d feel better.

When the food was ready, I went back upstairs to his room.

He was awake, staring quietly at the ceiling. I went straight to him and touched his forehead. My heart eased when I felt his skin, no fever. Thank God.

He turned his head and looked at me. Those eyes, those big, beautiful eyes that always filled me with love, with purpose, with strength I didn’t know I had, they met mine, and something in me just… breathed.

I smiled.

“How are you feeling, baby?” I asked softly.

“I feel better,” he whispered.

And I believed him. I gave him a bath, helped him brush his teeth, and changed his clothes. Then the two of us made our way downstairs together.

I fed him.

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Chapter 107

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I watched him eat the food I made, for the first time since we arrived in this house. I watched him chew slowly, and sip gently. And when he smiled at me, just a little, just enough…. for that one moment, that tiny sliver of control, that act of mothering, I felt just a little tiny bit better. “Where’s Uncle Luca?” Leon asked, looking up at me with those curious

eyes.

I smiled softly, though the ache inside made it hard. His question brought Asher’s voice from yesterday crashing back into my mind, his anger, his command, the finality of his words:

“Don’t ever come back into this house again.”

Which meant… Luca wasn’t coming back.

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