Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 253

ASHER

I just sat there, staring into nothing, my heart aching so badly it felt like it had hands squeezing it from the inside. My stomach hurt too. I hadn’t eaten since last night, and the whiskey I’d been drinking since morning was burning its way through me like acid.

And then it hit me.

Ariella’s dad had died a few months after her supposed death, but her mother was still alive. And I had been a frequent guest in that house, a familiar face at their table. Ariella’s mother had always been warm toward me.....at first.

The thought stabbed me so sharply I had to sit forward, elbows on my knees, gripping my head..... She knows.

Ariella’s mother knows something about this agreement. She has to.

My mind pulled me back, unwilling but relentless, to the early days with Ariella. Her mother had loved me. She had adored me. She would bend over backwards just to make me comfortable when I visited. But then, suddenly, something changed.

After my father went to meet Ariella’s parents to talk about our marriage, after that single visit, everything shifted. Her mother’s smile became thinner. Her eyes didn’t meet mine the same way. She wasn’t cold, exactly, just careful. Afraid..... And I had felt it.

Back then, I didn’t understand why, but I’m not a fool. I know when someone’s looking at me with something they’re trying to hide, and Ariella’s mother was definitely hiding something.

Now I was sure. That must have been the moment everything changed, when my father made an agreement to marry her himself instead of letting me marry her.

The thought churned in my gut like poison, but it gave me something I hadn’t had since I opened those papers.....direction. I knew exactly where she was, and I knew I had to go to her. She was the only person alive who could tell me why this had happened, why my life had been rewritten without my knowledge......And this time, she wasn’t going to look away.

With a plan in my head and determination in my chest, I headed down the stairs. I wasn’t looking to see anyone, but Dinara was there, halfway up with a tray in her hands. She shot me the most hateful look she could manage, but I didn’t even blink. I just kept walking, straight past her, out the front door, and into my car.

I didn’t want to be seen like this..... half-drunk, exhausted, a complete mess, so I stopped at one of our diners first. I ordered breakfast for two, forced down every bite, and drank glass after glass of water until the pounding in my head dulled to a low throb.

Then I drove to Mrs. Costa’s house.

When the old family home had been torn down, my father had found Ariella’s parents a place to stay. And after her father passed away, I had felt… responsible. Obligated, maybe. Ariella was supposed to be dead, I didn’t know for sure she was alive back then, and Mrs. Costa was all alone. So I bought her a house. A beautiful one, in a quiet, safe neighborhood. I made sure money went to her every month, and that someone was hired to take care of the place. I never visited, but I made sure she had everything she needed.

Today was the first time I was coming here. I parked outside, staring at the house like it was some kind of test. Then I got out, every step toward the door heavier than the last.

For the first time, I wondered why Ariella had never asked about her parents. Not once. Not about her father. Not about her mother. Did she stay silent because she thought they were dead? Or because she knew what her parents had done with my father, the agreement, and she couldn’t bring herself to speak of it?

I shoved the thought aside as I knocked on the door. A maid opened it after a minute and told me that Mrs. Costa was upstairs but would be down shortly. I stepped inside, letting her lead me to the living room.

“What would you like, sir?” she asked politely.

“Water,” I said, my voice flat.

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