Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 203

ARIELLA

Asher gets off the stool slowly, like a man weighing violence in his bones. Then he raises a finger at me.

Not to hit me. But the gesture cuts like a warning, like a slap in its own right.

“I was right,” he says coldly. “Something did happen with you and a neighbor.... You kissed him.”

His voice is calm in that dangerous way that always comes before the storm.

“Which neighbor was it? I want to know.”

He starts pointing vaguely toward our left. “It couldn’t have been the old guy over there.” He scoffs. “Was it that poor woman’s husband? Is that it?”

I blink, stunned, not because he’s close to the truth, but because he’s so wildly off.

And that’s when it hits me: whoever told him about it… didn’t tell him much at all. Maybe they were afraid. Maybe they wanted to protect me. Or maybe they just wanted to stir chaos without getting burned.

Either way, he doesn’t know everything.And strangely, that doesn’t make me want to lie.

“It wasn’t her husband,” I say quietly.

“Then who was it?” His voice rises. “Who was it?! Or is it someone across the street? Come on, Ariella, don’t make me drag it out of you.”

I straighten my spine, chin high.

“Look, Asher, this....all of this....isn’t doing anything, it's not helping.... Yes. I kissed him. And yes, I told you before that I did. So what now? Are you going to punish me?”

My eyes flash. “Go ahead. Punish me. Me and my son.....Your son.” I say the last word as a whisper

But before I can say the words out loud, before I can finally tell him Leon is his, he cuts in, like he’s deaf to my voice.

“My wife…” he mutters, like he’s spinning the word around in his mouth. “My wife has nothing to do with thi. with us.”

My chest tightens.

“This is the last time, I want you to never bring her into our conversations again,” he says sharply.

“Oh, I see. okay,,” I sneer. “So it’s like that. She’s the precious jewel, and I’m just what....an extension? A tool? A distraction?”

“No,” he says. “That’s not what I mean. My marriage.....it was never about love.”

He looks at me, eyes burning. “It was based on power. It was about territory, expansion, alliances. It was about peace. It was never supposed to have anything to do with love. So Dinara shouldn’t even be in this conversation. This is about you and me.”

“Dinara,” I say, rolling the name over my tongue. “This is the first time you’ve said her name.”

He raises his hand again, sharply this time, to silence me but no. No. Not this time.

I bend down slightly to hug Leon, wrapping my arms around his small body, grounding myself in the feel of him. He smells like sunshine and playground dirt. He’s real. He’s the only real thing in this house right now.

“Did you have fun?” I ask, forcing my voice to be light. Normal.

He nods enthusiastically. “Yes! Maria took me singing with the choir!” He flings his arms up like wings and laughs. “And I was the best singer they ever had!”

I smile. “That’s my brave boy.”

I laugh as I turn toward Maria, who's also laughing.

"And who told you you're the best singer I've ever had?" I ask her, teasing, before my attention shifts back to him,

"the choir master.' he says proudly. "Mom, you should really start going to church. We should all be going to church. Every Sunday, Mom," Leon says with a grin.

I laugh again. But this time, my laugh is hollow, a laugh stitched in pain.

Because I know this is over. I know that the next time Asher shows up back here, we’ll be packing our bags and leaving.

I just know it. And as much as I want to keep this smile on Leon’s face, this light, this innocence, I know I have no power to.

So I know, deep down, I’m just going to have to hurt Leon. When I tell him we're leaving.