Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 360

ARIELLA

I woke up to feel light kisses on my face.

I opened my eyes to find Asher hovering over me, pressing soft kisses against my skin. I let out a small laugh as he brushed his lips against mine before straightening.

He was already dressed. Tie in place. Hair perfectly styled. Everything about him was sharp, controlled, put together.

I knew Asher was a good-looking man. Very handsome. Smart. Expensive. Calm, collected, effortlessly commanding. But today… There was something different about him. Something in the air. Something in the way he moved, the way he got ready.

It felt as though he was preparing for something significant. Something heavy. And immediately, alarms went off in my head.

“Where are you going?” I asked, voice still hoarse from sleep.

“Just work,” he replied.

No explanation. Nothing.Which was strange, because the past few days he had been open with me. Honest. Letting me in. But not today.

He turned toward the mirror, adjusting his tie, avoiding my eyes. That was enough. I pushed the covers off, swung my legs over the bed, and reached for the robe on the chair, slipping it on quickly before walking toward him.

“What’s happening?” I asked, grabbing his tie and pulling him slightly toward me.

I adjusted it myself, keeping my eyes locked on his so he wouldn’t look away, so he wouldn’t dismiss me.

He took a deep breath. “There’s no lying to you, is there?”

“No,” I said simply, finishing the tie and smoothing his jacket, though really, I was just keeping him close. “There is not.”

He ran a hand over his face. Then,

“Today is the funeral.”

I stilled.

“For the soldiers? The ones you lost that night?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked immediately, already turning toward the bathroom, rushing to get ready.

But his hand caught mine, pulling me back.

“Wait.”

“What?” I said, turning to face him. "I promise I'll be really quick. I'm so sorry I forgot."

"It's fine. You don't have to go."

“We’re supposed to go together,” I told him. “You’re the Don. You lost your men. I’m coming with you. You can’t go there without me.”

The words came out before I could even think about them. Before I could even process that I meant them.

“You don’t have to,” he said. And then, more serious now,

“After everything that’s happened… I don’t want you out there in the open, until I know exactly who we’re dealing with. Until I know I’ve handled it. Right now, I don’t even know who I’m fighting.”

“No,” I said firmly. “We’re going together, I'm not letting you go through this alone. No way.”

He looked at me then. Really looked at me. And for a moment, it felt like we were fighting without words.

Then he sighed and walked to the bed, sitting down.

“I don’t want you in danger,” he said. “There are going to be a lot of people there. Not just my people. The Russian mob. The Irish. A lot of people from the underworld will be there. It’s going to be chaos.”

His hand tightened slightly on mine.

“You’re the glue that holds us together. I can’t put you in danger. One of us has to stay back. One of us has to make sure he’s safe. One of us has to stay out of it.”

I bit my lip. I hated it.

Hated that he was making sense.

Hated that he was using Leon.... The one thing he knew would break my resistance.

“Look at me,” he said.

I did.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” I said, my voice breaking slightly. “And I hate it when you say that we don’t need you. Because we do. We need you.”

I shook my head.

“Leon is six, Asher. He has your blood. Your name. Your legacy. Your enemies. If something happens to you, someone will come for that throne....and they will see Leon as a problem to eliminate.”

My voice trembled.

“I can’t lose you,” I whispered. “I can’t survive without you. Those five years without you were the hardest of my life. I kept thinking… maybe if I hadn’t run… maybe if I had stayed…”

I shook my head.

“It was hell.” I summarised.

He pulled me into him, and I held onto his jacket, probably ruining it, but neither of us cared.