Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 128

Chapter 128

I was still in disbelief as I stepped out the front door, heels clicking against the pavement. The air felt different, free. My heart pounded in my chest with every step I took down the driveway, closer to the sleek black car waiting for me. I couldn’t believe I was actually being allowed to leave. It had been months.

When I reached the car, the passenger door opened, and Asher stepped out.

I froze.

He walked toward me with slow, purposeful steps. Then, to my surprise, he leaned down and pressed a tender kiss to my forehead.

“You look beautiful,” he said softly, gazing into my eyes with something I couldn’t quite name…. love? Longing? Care?

I must be crazy. Maybe what he’d almost starved us had done something… had messed with my mind more than I’d thought.

He took my hand gently and helped me into the car, closing the door behind me. I watched as he moved to the other side and got in beside me. The driver pulled away from the house, and my eyes instinctively flicked to the rearview window.

The house grew smaller in the distance. Leon was still in there. Safe, I hoped. But I didn’t trust Asher. Not fully. Not yet… I didn’t even know what this was.

“He’s fine,” Asher said suddenly, breaking the silence, as if he’d heard every thought in my head.

I turned to him, eyes narrowed. He looked calm, maybe even sincere.

“I promise you,” he added, “nothing is going to happen to him.”

I nodded slowly and looked away, my hands twisting in my lap. The city lights blurred past the tinted windows, but I could barely focus on anything outside. Then, without warning, I felt a warm hand settle gently on my thigh. Not forceful. Just… there. Steady. Familiar.

I turned my head, and Asher was watching me with a small, quiet smile. Comfortable.

He said. “Relax.”

I looked away. How did he expect me to relax when I didn’t even know what game we were playing anymore?

The car eventually pulled off the road and into a private terminal. My breath caught in my throat when I saw the jet. A private jet.

No. This wasn’t just a dinner. This was something else.

Asher stepped out of the car, and my hands started shaking slightly. Asher came around and

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Chapter 128

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offered his hand, but I hesitated. I couldn’t stop the questions from tumbling through my head.

Where was he taking me?

What about Leon?

What if I never came back?

I pulled back. My voice trembled.

“Asher… where are you taking me? What about Leon? Please don’t separate us… Please.”

He exhaled slowly, eyes closing for a moment like he was trying to rein himself in. When he opened them, they were calmer, steadier.

“I’m not separating the two of you,” he said, voice low and firm. “I promise. I’ll take you back tonight. You’ll be with your son.”

And as much as I wanted to doubt him… I didn’t. Asher had never lied. Twisted things, yes. Hurt me in ways I couldn’t forget. But lie? No. That wasn’t his style.

So I nodded. And when he reached for my hand again, I gave it to him.

He placed his other hand gently on my lower back, guiding me toward the steps of the jet. I didn’t look back. Because there was nothing left to do now but go forward.

We boarded the jet, and soon we were soaring through the clouds, high above the world. I stared out the window, watching the shrinking earth below. It felt surreal….. it all felt like something out of a dream I wasn’t sure I wanted to wake up from.

An air hostess approached with a bright smile and asked if we wanted anything. I asked for water. I might have chosen to trust Asher for the night, but let’s be honest, trust was still a tentative thing. My nerves hadn’t disappeared on his word.

But what really got under my skin? The hostess.

She was giving him a little too much eye contact, laughing at nothing, leaning far too close, and looking at him like he was dessert and she was starving. I don’t know what it was about her, but the moment she started flashing those too-white teeth and practically thrusting her chest into his personal space, my jaw clenched.

She didn’t know who I was, and to her, I was probably just another woman tagging along. But still… girl, read the room. You don’t throw your tits at someone’s face when another woman is sitting right there.

Eventually, she took the hint or maybe Asher just ignored her long enough and she finally walked away.

That’s when I turned to him, still feeling a little on edge.

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Chapter 128

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“You’re not going to kidnap me and sell me for my organs… or traffic me into a sex ring, right?” I joked, forcing a small laugh to follow.

Asher didn’t laugh. He turned to me, serious as ever, and said,

“You know I deal with skin trade.”

That was it. Nothing about the organs. Just that. I didn’t know if that was his way of reassuring me or if we were both tiptoeing around something unspoken.

I didn’t push. He was in a good mood…. for now, and I didn’t want to ruin it.

So I sat back and waited to see where the day would take us.

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