Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 211

ASHER

When I left Ariella in the bathroom, my phone was ringing.

I went toward my clothes, dug into my pocket, and pulled it out. Luca. Of course.

I picked it up.

"Where are you?" His voice came in sharp, tense. "This is not good, Asher. People will start pointing fingers when they realize you're not here. They’ll start suspecting you of Alex's death. You have to come back."

"I know," I said, jaw clenched. "You think I’m an idiot?"

But after being away from Ariella for so long, after she snuck out of my life, after everything...I couldn’t think straight. All I wanted was to be near her. Close enough to feel her. To hold her. To make things right.

When she was gone, all I did was regret. Regret not telling her how I felt. Regret not letting myself be with her. Regret not letting myself love her. And that’s what I wanted now. Love. Her.

"I love her," I say instead.

"What are you saying?" Luca asked slowly.

He sounded cautious, skeptical... maybe even afraid. As if he already knew where this conversation was heading but didn’t want to hear it aloud.

"Yes," I said, reading his hesitation. "I want to be with her."

There was silence for a beat. Then he sighed, long and hard. The kind of sigh you let out when you’re trying not to panic.

"Asher," he said, tone low and deliberate. "You’re married to Dinara Volkov. There is no unloving Ariella, I get that. But this… this is different. The Russians won’t take it lightly if you decide to leave their daughter. Right now, it doesn’t work like that. You know it doesn’t.... There are no divorces in the Mafia."

His voice was level, like he was explaining this to a child, trying to get through to me without triggering something worse.

"I know," I said again, quietly. But Luca and I both knew the truth.

"You understand more than anyone about the state of my marriage."

We both knew I wasn't in love with Dinara. Hell, I never had been. We both knew the state of my so-called marriage.

We both knew what went on in my house, under my own roof, behind all those golden walls.

"So yes," I said, grounding my voice. "I want to be happy. And the only person who can do that for me... is Ariella."

I paused, breathing it in, letting the truth take up space inside me.

"I want to be with her," I said again, this time like a vow. "Look," I said, exhaling again.

I could feel it, Luca was on the edge of losing his shit.

"This is why I didn’t want to tell you where she was," he snapped.

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