Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 353

ARIELLA

Asher shook his head.

“Nothing to be concerned about. Just family drama between him and his sister. You know how siblings can be.”

I gave a small, humourless smile.

“I wouldn’t know. I never had any.”

He looked at me.

“You’re lucky. You were an only child.”

“I never thought so,” I said quietly. “I always wished I had an older brother… or a sister.”

Something shifted in his expression then. Subtle, but there. And then he said after a little hesitation,

“Sometimes…” he said slowly, “I really miss Damien.”

I went still.

He didn’t talk about him. Not really.

“I loved him,” Asher continued, his voice quieter now. “He was my brother. I would have done anything…”

I stayed silent. Because I understood, in that moment, this wasn’t just a memory. This was something he still carried. Something that had never really left him.

“I loved him,” he repeated again. Almost like he wanted to let it out.

His voice was quieter now. He wasn’t looking at me anymore.

“I really loved him. And I would have done anything for him… anything. Even laying my life down for him. I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.” He shook his head slightly.

“I’m so sorry,” I said softly.

He shook his head again.

“Yeah, I know. But sometimes…” he paused, exhaling, “sometimes I feel like I could have changed the ending. Maybe he wouldn’t have died.”

I didn’t interrupt him.

“Sometimes I think I made the wrong choices when it came to dealing with him. Sometimes I feel like… if I hadn’t married Danna, he would still be alive. Leon would have had an uncle.”

“That’s not....” I started.

“You know?” he continued, cutting gently over me. “Sometimes I think… maybe if we hadn’t gone down this life… if we had just lived normally… if we didn’t have this position to fight over, didn’t have to be so cruel, so violent…”

He let out a breath.

“Then he would still be alive.”

Silence settled between us.

“Maybe he would have been a teacher,” he went on, a faint, almost broken smile touching his lips. “Or a DJ or something. He never liked hard work. But when we were young… he tried. He really did.”

I watched him carefully, quietly.

“But then Dad…” he shook his head again, “Dad kept pushing me in his face. Telling him how special I was. The firstborn. The heir. ”

His jaw tightened slightly.

“I never wanted to disappoint my father, especially growing up. I had to live up to the Romano name. So I did everything he asked. And I did it well.”

A pause. “And I think… in the end… that made Damien resent me.”

I exhaled softly, letting myself shift with him and the change of topic.

“You know your son,” I said. “He can’t stop talking about her. And we only spoke to her for, what, fifteen… twenty minutes? But he’s acting like he’s known her all his life.”

Asher chuckled.

“So it's a given then, I’m guessing.” I didn't respond.

“As in....you like her too?. Did you like her?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I thought I would wait for you to come back before making a decision. What do you think about her? How do you know her?”

He shrugged lightly.

“Well… growing up, Damien and Luca's young sisters looked up to us. They followed us around because we were the big brothers and cool.” A faint smile touched his lips. He seemed to go down memory lane.

“And she’s always been a good girl. respectful. Nice. I’ve always seen her as… a little sister, I guess.” He paused. “All I know is she’s a good person, and she’s been teaching at the school for a few months. I’m sure they’ll miss her because she's very good with kids.”

Then he looked at me fully.

“If you’re okay with her.....because you’re the one making the final decision. But I think she’ll be perfect..”

“You’re probably right,” I said. Even though… I still wasn’t completely convinced of the idea.

He saw the hesitation in my face and stepped closer. He took both my hands in his,

“If you don’t want to hire her, it’s okay,” he said gently.

I shook my head almost immediately.

“But she’s Luca’s sister. How can I not hire her? That would be crazy.”