Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 304

ARIELLA

Asher was gone before I woke up. AGAIN.

This time he didn't bother waking me up to say goodbye. He just left me a note on his pillow and sent me a bunch of flowers when I went down to have breakfast. I knew the flowers were an apology and I wanted to be angry at him for it.

I know something bad happened last night. I could see and feel it even though Asher didn't want to talk about it. It killed me that he was going through something rough and didn't want to tell me his troubles. Didn't want to let me share his burdens and let me lighten the load.

I wondered if I should call Luca and ask him what the hell was going on. Asher was so happy when we were faraway from here, but now that we got back, he is rarely even home. And when he is, his Always so stressed out and tired. It terrified me.

I picked at my breakfast without tasting it, my thoughts spiralling. When we were away—on the island, with the sun and the sea and nothing but time—he had been lighter. Present. He laughed more. He slept. He was mine in a way that felt uncomplicated.

I glanced at my phone, my thumb hovering over Luca’s name again.

Luca would know. He always did. He was careful with me, respectful, but loyal to Asher to the bone. If something serious was happening, he’d either tell me or shut me down completely. Either way, I’d learn something.

I set the phone down without calling. Not yet.

Instead, I went back upstairs and looked at our bed, wrapping my arms around myself. I wasn’t weak for wanting answers. I wasn’t wrong for needing to know what kind of danger hovered over my husband’s life, and by extension, over our son’s.

Asher thought he was protecting us by staying silent. But silence was its own kind of threat.

Whatever storm Asher was dealing with, I wasn’t going to be left behind, smiling over flowers and pretending everything was fine.

When he came home, if he came home early today, I wouldn’t fight him. But I wouldn’t let him shut me out either.

Because I was his wife. And this was my family too.

Knowing that staying inside my bedroom like this will only drive me crazy, I decide to go downstairs and add my touch to the house.

I ask William into the living area, where I have already chosen pictures I want to be added to the house, and ask him to help me get them framed for the house. William then gets more interested in my little suggestion than I would have thought and tells me the house hasn't had a makeover in a while.

So we decided to start our project of giving the mansion a makeover, one room at a time, throwing suggestions here and there. I am more invested in renovating the bedroom and getting rid of Asher's dad's photos from the house, but I let William pull me into redecorating the whole mansion.

"Hi, stranger", I whisper back, smiling.

"Is he asleep already? " Asher asks, but I know he understood why I called him a stranger.

"Yes. It was a long day, and William took us to see the boats. Leon went a little over the top as usual." I say smirking down at Leon.

We all stare down at Leon smirking in our own way and our own thoughts, although when my gaze travels to Asher, his is fierce.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask trying to hold his gaze.

He seems to shake from whatever had taken hold of him and smiles back at me.

"You weren't thinking of spending the night here were you? I would be crushed to be in the dog house, not even a week back in," he says it as a joke, forcing a chuckle.

"Why would you think you're in the dog house. Have you done something wrong?" I ask with a raised eyebrow without downplaying it with a smile