Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 182

I braced myself, muscles coiled tight, waiting for the blow.

Luca straightened slowly, sliding his phone into his perfectly tailored pocket. The gesture is calm. Precise. Devastating.

Then his eyes locked onto mine.

"Okay." A pause. "So this is what is going to happen."

I swallowed, waiting for whatever came next.

“As much as I want to take you out of this house kicking and screaming and drag you by your hair to a cage where you belong,” he said, staring me down, “I’m going to let you stay.”

I could have sighed with relief. And that’s exactly what I did.

“Thank you. Thank you, Luca.... Thank you so much,” I said, my voice shaking. “You have no idea how much this means to me. This means a lot. I am sorry. I am sorry that I have been a problem to you. I just knew you had a good heart. I just knew that you weren’t as evil as you… as you wanted to believe. Thank you so very much...”

But before I could finish thanking him, he interrupted.

“Don’t,” he said flatly.

His voice sliced through my gratitude like a cold icepick.

“Don’t thank me,” he added, tone biting. “At least, don’t thank me so much. I didn’t do this for you. I’m doing this for Leon.”

His words hit hard. But he didn’t stop.

“He’s a little child who deserves to be playing with other kids, not shut up in this house all because of you. I gave you this chance, and you messed up. You’re always thinking about yourself. How about you start thinking about your son?”

And that, that was the biggest insult he could’ve thrown. He used my son against me. How dare he? And that’s exactly how it exploded.

“How dare you? How dare you!” I shouted, my voice breaking with rage. “You think that you care more about Leon than me? You think that you want to protect him more than I do?”

My fists were clenched. My chest heaving.

“You will never know,” I hissed. “You will never know what I had to go through. All the things I had to do, had to endure, just to protect him. All the things I’m still going through to protect him.”

My voice cracked, my eyes burning.

“You really think I would still be here if I didn’t have to think about Leon? I would’ve been far away from here. I don’t care about myself......I don’t care if you guys catch me again and again and again. But you know who I am thinking about? Leon.”

My voice softened, broken. “I can’t be with him on the run. I’m trying to give him something I don’t even have control over.”

Luca’s voice dropped low. “You better calm down.”

He held his hands out, voice sharp. “Look, Luca. I respect you, okay? I know a lot of things have been happening, but I have always respected you. But when it comes to my son....that’s somewhere I think we should draw a line.”

He took a step closer.

“Yes, because you think you’re a perfect mother, huh?” he challenged. “Are you a perfect mother, Ariella? Are you saying that you’re a perfect mother?”

“Everything okay here?” Maria asked.

Neither of us answered. Maria called for Luca.

"Luca.."

Luca didn’t move at first. Then, finally, he said, “You’re staying. For now.”

His voice was clipped. Final.

“But I can’t stay any longer,” he added, glancing down at his phone, then at his watch. “I have to go now.”

But just as he reached the threshold, he turned back toward me. His eyes locked onto mine, cold, piercing, merciless.

“No more Dana. No more Alan. No more next-door neighbours trying to understand you,” he said, voice hard like steel. “In fact, from this moment on, unless it’s someone you really have to be close to....really, really—like you’re at the hospital... make sure it’s a female doctor treating you.”

My stomach dropped.

“If it’s a man,” he continued, “do your best to avoid him. Don’t talk to him. Don’t breathe near him. Change him if you must. Because if I see you in close proximity with any man again.....and yes, I will know....”

His tone sharpened like a blade unsheathed.

“Just remember I have people watching this house. Watching your every move....."