Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 274

ASHER

The second shot tore through the air, a hot, sharp sting across my shoulder. Pain flared, but I didn’t falter. My instincts kicked in before my mind could process.

I spun, gun raised, and caught the glint of Dinara’s weapon aimed directly at me. Her eyes were unflinching, burning. The chaos around us, the overturned furniture, shattered glass, the bodies of my men and the attackers, was like a blur. All I could see was her.

“Dinara,” I growled through gritted teeth.

She smiled, but it was a predator’s smile, one that didn’t reach her eyes. “It ends tonight, Asher. You just haven’t realized it yet.”

I lunged to the side, using the couch as cover, bullets whizzing past. My shoulder throbbed, but adrenaline numbed most of the pain. Every muscle in my body was coiled, ready, calculating. One misstep could be the last.

I spotted her reflection in a broken mirror, her stance, her aim, the way she was anticipating my next move. She was good. Too good. And she had Dominic, as proof that I couldn’t ignore the cost of hesitation.

But I wasn’t finished. I rolled, came up behind a fallen pillar, and fired, forcing her to duck. “Dinara! You think killing him makes this yours? You think taking Dominic gives you power over me? You’re wrong.”

Her laugh was low, almost amused. “Wrong? You still don’t get it. This isn’t about you. Never has been. It’s about the Romano Empire. And tonight, the empire shifts.”

I tightened my grip on my gun, taking careful aim. Every second counted. One mistake, and I could be next. And then, through the ringing in my ears and the smoke-filled room, I heard it: a sound that made my blood freeze. More footsteps.

That hesitation was my downfall. Suddenly, Dinara was in front of me. Her finger tightened on the trigger, eyes locked on me. She didn’t hesitate. The gun was aimed straight at me, cold and precise.

Then, the door burst open.... Luca. For a fraction of a second, she paused, registering him. That tiny hesitation was all it took. She swung the gun toward Luca and fired.

The bullet whizzed past him, missing by inches. Luca’s eyes narrowed, instincts kicking in. Without a moment’s hesitation, he raised his weapon and fired back. The shot hit Dinara squarely. She stumbled backward, her gun slipping from her hand.

Her eyes widened in shock as she collapsed, blood spreading across her chest. The light drained from her face almost instantly. She didn’t move again.

I stared for a moment, stunned, but the adrenaline kept me alert. Luca lowered his gun, his expression grim.

“She’s gone,” he said, voice steady, leaving no room for argument.

The room was silent except for the distant echo of gunfire fading outside. The threat was over, the chaos ended, but the cost was clear.

Dominic and Dinara.

The two people closest to me.

My wife and my own younger brother.

Two people who should have been family. Who should have protected me as fiercely as I had protected them? And yet here they lay, dead by the result of their own plan. Their plan to assassinate me. Their plan is to get me out of the picture.

But now… they were the ones out of the picture.

I didn’t know how to feel at that moment.

“Well, I don’t know how I’m supposed to tell you again that I was not responsible for Alex’s death. Everyone knows who did it. There’s all the evidence pointing to the person who did it, and I don’t know why this keeps coming up. I had to hear it from Dinara all the time, and now I have to hear it from you.”

Alex Volkov went quiet for a moment. “Alex was a lot like me, but I outgrew that phase. It’s too bad I had to lose my lovely son… my favorite son, if I’m to be honest.”

“Sorry again for your loss,” I said tightly, “but this call is not for Alex Volkov. It’s for Dinara."

"Well, she tried to kill you, so you killed her. I don’t know what else to say.”

“You do know she was sleeping with my brother, don’t you?”

“That’s news to me. How am I supposed to know what happens in your marriage? I am not your marriage keeper.”

“Fine. Then would you want me to make arrangements for you to collect the body and bury her?"

"She is a Romano and not a Volkov anymore,” he said curtly, and hung up on me.

What an asshole.

So now I had two funerals to deal with. Two!

A wife and a brother. Both of them are evil snakes.... lying, backstabbing. Both betraying me in ways I still couldn’t fully wrap my head around.