Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 310

ARIELLA

I hesitated, not wanting to engage in his thoughts before adding, “And I know you have a lot on your plate, but… we have to talk about him.”

“What about him?” Asher asked, instantly serious.

“No, it’s not anything bad,” I reassured him. “I mean… we have to talk about his life here and school.”

“Ah,” Asher nodded slowly. “Yes. Of course.”

“We have to decide if he’s going to get homeschooled or if he’s going to go to school.”

“Homeschooled?” Asher asked, his eyes widening as he looked between us.

“Why would he be homeschooled?” Asher continued, his tone calm but firm. “He has to go out there. He has to show them what he’s made of. He has to start making allies.”

I swallowed, trying not to let my emotions spill over.

“Leon is just six years old,” I said carefully. “He doesn’t need to make allies.”

“When you’re young, that’s when you’re true,” Asher replied. “That’s when you realise who people really are because they’re not pretending yet. Do you think Luca and I would have become such good friends, do you think I would trust him the way I do—if that trust hadn’t been built brick by brick?”

He paused before continuing.

“Leon has to go out there and mix with his own kind. He has been away from this place, from his family, for too long. He has to catch up.”

There was something in his tone I didn’t like. Something hard. Something final.

I bit my lip, reminding myself that Asher had taken time off work to spend time with us. I didn’t want our day to turn into an argument. I didn’t want our first real family day to end in silence and resentment.

“You know what?” I said softly. “We’ll talk about this later. When Leon isn’t hovering over us, okay?”

“Fine,” Asher said after a moment. “He’s going to the school where you did, where I did, and where every Famiglia member sends their children.”

I swallowed, deciding to step back instead of pushing further. The last thing I wanted was for our first real disagreement as a married couple to explode in front of Leon.

I turned to leave.

“Wait,” Asher called.

I stopped and turned back toward him. Leon was already distracted with something on his tablet, humming quietly to himself.

“I was looking for the right moment to tell you this,” Asher said, running a hand through his hair, “but it seems like there’s no right moment.”

“Tell me what?” I asked, my body already tensing.

He hesitated.

“When I came back home… the day before yesterday…”

“You mean when you came home bleeding and cut and.....”

“Yes,” he interrupted gently. “Something happened that night. Something big.”

My stomach tightened.

God, it was tempting.

The idea of staying hidden. Of avoiding the pressure. Of not stepping into a room filled with grief, expectations, and judging eyes.

But I also thought about him standing there alone. I thought about the weight he carried. The men he had lost. The leader he had to be, even while mourning.

And I had promised myself that I would carry his burdens with him. “I’m going,” I said finally, lifting my chin and holding his gaze.

“We’re going to do this together. The Don and his wife. Together. As a family. As a unit.”

His grip on my hands tightened.

“You’re not doing this alone anymore,” I continued. “The death of your soldiers is the death of my soldiers too.”

Emotion flickered across his face, raw and unguarded.

“It’s time they meet me,” I said softly. “It’s time to make my grand entrance back into the world… into your world… into our world.”

I held his gaze for a long moment, repeating the mantra in my head until my nerves finally settled and I allowed myself to smile at him. It was as if he knew I was bracing myself, pushing myself forward. He didn’t rush me. He simply waited, patient and steady, until I reached my decision.

Then he leaned down and kissed me. It was soft. Sweet. Reassuring. Gentle in a way that always surprised me, because it was everything Asher wasn’t… and yet somehow, everything he was.

“Thank you,” he murmured against my lips. “Thank you so much for this.”

“You don’t have to thank me, this is our family.” I whispered back. “You’re my husband. I love you. We are one.”