Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 314

ASHER

I knew Ariella wanted to say something.

I could see it in her reaction after I had mentioned my mom, a woman who meant everything to me, yet a woman I had rarely spoken about. Even before Ariella, I had never wanted to talk about her. The words always felt too heavy, too sharp, like they would slice something open inside me that I had spent years stitching closed.

And I knew Ariella well. I knew her well enough to know she wanted to ask questions, gentle ones, careful ones. She would never push. That wasn’t who she was. But I also knew that conversation would lead us somewhere I wasn’t ready to go.

Not because my mother had been a horrible person.

The opposite, actually.

But every time I allowed myself to think about her… about her death… it dragged me into a depth of sadness that reopened wounds I wasn’t prepared to bleed from today. And today, of all days, was not the day I wanted to fall into that darkness.

What I wanted was simple. I wanted to continue having an amazing day with my family.

That was it. That was everything.

I should be at work. I should be tracking down whoever the hell was bold enough to come after me, after my empire. Whoever these pieces of shit were, they weren’t amateurs. They were calculated. Strategic. Dangerous. And even though I hated admitting it, they were doing a hell of a good job trying to destroy my business.

I needed to know who they were. Soon.

Lately, I had begun to suspect that this wasn’t just one enemy. The damage was too coordinated. Too precise. It felt like fighting shadows that multiplied every time I struck one down. Either I was dealing with someone far more powerful than I had anticipated… or several enemies had decided to form an alliance against me.

Neither possibility sat well in my gut. And somewhere out there, Luca was probably scrambling, doing damage control, trying to contain the fallout of everything that was spiralling out of control. The thought of it alone was enough to make my jaw tighten.

So I turned off my phone. Not because I didn’t care. But because I cared too much.

I needed to shut off the rage. The need for revenge. The weight of the people I had already lost. Good soldiers. Loyal men who had followed me into wars I dragged them into. Every loss carved another mark into my conscience, another reminder that I wasn’t untouchable.

Whoever I was up against had the upper hand right now. And I hated that feeling.

Still, I couldn’t control the way my body reacted to my wife. She was mine just as much as I was hers, bound together in ways that went beyond vows or legality. There was something instinctual about it. Something primal. Something inevitable. And I wanted to stay in this moment with her.

I knew she had liked what I had done with the room, the decorations, the little details I had tried awkwardly, maybe — to get right. I had seen her approval. I saw the softness in her eyes when she realised the effort I had put in.

I was learning. Learning how to be a husband. Learning how to be a man who wasn’t ruled only by power and control. And judging by her reaction, I figured I wasn’t doing too badly.

Maybe I deserved this reward.

Maybe I deserved her.

The thought alone sent warmth spreading through my chest as I deepened the kiss, pulling her closer, letting myself drown in the taste of her, in the quiet promise that for this moment, this single, fragile moment, the world outside didn’t exist.

It was just her and me in this moment. I ran my knuckles over her neck and she tilted her head up with a trusting smile. My desire had burst to life the moment we were alone but I had no intention to rush things or lose control.

I immediately lifted her off the ground. She wrapped her slender legs around my hip, pressing herself against me. I could feel her heat through the thin material between us. I stroked my fingers along her cheek and into her hair then tilted her head for a kiss, my tongue sliding along her lips until she parted for me. I carried her over to the bed and ripped the covers away, revealing the white sheets beneath.