Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 273

ASHER

I didn’t move. Instead, I glanced at Dominic.

“Dominic, she’s using you. Once she’s done with you, maybe she’ll use the next person who can solve her next problem; maybe that problem might be you. She doesn’t really love you. Just open your eyes. Just l a month ago, she was talking to me about us being a family again, about us being in a real marriage. Does that look like someone who is planning to love you forever?”

“Don’t listen to him! " Dinara interrupted. “You know, I was only doing that so that she wouldn’t get suspicious about.....”

But I could see it in Dominic’s face. I had planted some seeds of doubt. And something else.

“Dominic,” I continued, my tone now like ice, “would my men... our men, our world, ever accept you if you were to marry my wife? If you were to marry your brother's old wife? I know you’re trying to act slick, but there is the simple fact that you and your sister‑in‑law are too close. What would the men think of you? Wouldn’t they want you to marry a quiet, beautiful Italian woman? A virgin, pure and untouched? Are you really going to lose your faith? People doubt you, because you married her?”

The silence after my words was heavy, electric. Dinara’s eyes blazed. Dominic’s jaw clenched. I felt air in the room shift just slightly, just enough for doubt to take some root.

“Do not listen to him, Dominic,” Dinara hissed, her voice trembling with anger. “He’s trying to come between us. He’s trying to manipulate you.”

For a moment, Dominic hesitated, then he nodded sharply.

“Yeah, I know, Asher. I know how manipulative he is. You can’t pin us against each other. Asher, I’ve meant it. You’re done.”

I turned my eyes towards Dinara, my tone slow and deliberate, ignoring Dominic.

“And you, Dinara… do you really believe Dominic loves you? I mean....do you even think he does, or is that not important to you?”

Dominic’s brows furrowed, but I didn’t give him a chance to speak.

“At the brothels and the strip clubs where he used to work,” I went on, “he didn’t just watch over the place, he used it and all the women in his vicinity. You think he only had that one girlfriend?"

"No. He used her as a shield. We have an agreement." Dinara argued

" Not really. I have pictures. Videos. Him getting it on in all the rooms of the clubs.”

Dinara’s eyes flicked to Dominic. He stiffened.

“What I mean is, just this morning,” I pressed, “where were you, Dominic? You were supposed to be at the docks. Where were you, if you weren’t back inside one of our places?”

“No,” Dominic snapped quickly, too quickly. “No. He is trying to come between us.”

But if you knew Dominic the way I did, you knew all his tells. And there it was, his voice cracking at the edge, that flicker of panic he couldn’t hide.

Dinara saw it too. Something changed in her face, just a shadow, a tremor of doubt. Slowly, she turned toward him.

“Where were you yesterday, Dominic?” she demanded, her voice quieter now, dangerous. “You went out, and when you came back, you weren't wearing the same outfit. You had changed your clothes..... I thought you said that you love me.”

The room went still. Dominic’s eyes darted between us, and for the first time, the confidence in his posture slipped. The seeds I’d planted were beginning to take root.

Dinara looked pissed. I locked eyes with her.

“I’m talking to you now, Dinara.”

His eyes widened. “What?” and then he smiled wickedly, "You really think you’re going to be the Don?” he sneered.

“I don’t need to. As long as the two of you are out of the way, someone will become Don. But I’m pregnant, you see.” She tapped her stomach with one hand, eyes glinting like steel.

“I’m going to have Dominic's child. And he is a Romano. They’re going to think he is yours, Asher. And he is going to be the next Don, and I’m going to be his mother. So, I’m going to be just as powerful as he is. Because he’s going to learn everything from me. Now....”

She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a whisper, “I do not need you. I do not need any of you.”

“What are you saying, baby? Stop talking crazy,” Dominic said, his voice trembling, almost shivering.

But then, a gunshot.

The crack of it tore through the room like lightning. Dinara didn’t even hesitate. Her arm was steady, her eyes cold as steel as she pulled the trigger. The bullet hit dead-center. Dominic’s head snapped back. He dropped right there, next to me, lifeless before he even hit the ground.

I was frozen. For a heartbeat, I couldn’t breathe. My brother, my own brother.....was dead.

I didn’t even realize the gun was pointed at me until I heard the second sound.

Another gunshot.

Shoot.

Bang!