Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 402

ARIELLA

Asher helped me into the car carefully, like I might shatter if he moved too fast. The second I sat down, he followed after me, pulling the door shut behind him before anyone else could touch it.

Outside, I could still see movement near the ballroom entrance. Men collecting phones and Guards speaking in low voices. People pretending not to stare while very obviously staring.

Asher noticed my gaze immediately.

“Look at me instead,” he said quietly. "Those people don't matter."

And I did. God, I did.

Because looking at him was easier than looking at the world right now. He reached for me instantly, pulling me across the seat until I was pressed against his chest.

“You’re shaking,” he whispered.

“I’m trying not to.”

“You don’t have to try with me.”

That almost made me cry again.

I buried my face against his shoulder instead, breathing him in slowly. Smoke, whiskey, and Expensive cologne.

All Him and Safe. His hand slid up and down my back in slow strokes while the car finally pulled away from the ballroom. For a long moment, neither of us spoke.

Then quietly, almost carefully, he asked,

“Do you want to talk about your father?”

My throat tightened painfully.

“No.”

“Okay,” he whispered again.

No pushing. No pressure.Just acceptance.

I closed my eyes. “She used to love me at one point,” I whispered after a while. “At least I think she did.”

Asher didn’t answer immediately.

“I’m sure she still does.”

“You didn’t see the way she looked at me.”

“I did.”

I lifted my head slightly then.

“And?”

“And I’ve seen hate before, Ariella.” His fingers brushed lightly through my hair. “That wasn’t hate.”

I wanted to believe him. God, I wanted to. But my mother’s voice kept echoing inside my head.

'You killed him.' I squeezed my eyes shut again.

Asher must have felt the shift in me because suddenly he tilted my chin up gently, forcing me to look at him.

“Listen carefully to me now.” His tone left no room for argument.

“You did not kill your father.”

A tear slid down my cheek.

“You hear me?”

I nodded weakly.

“No.” His thumb wiped the tear away carefully. “I need you to say it.”

I stared at him silently for a few seconds.

Then finally, brokenly,

“I didn’t kill my father.”

“That’s right,” he said, as a smile appeared on his face.

More tears came anyway. Asher pulled me back against him without a single complaint, holding me the entire ride home while the city lights blurred past outside the windows.

When we got home and the car was finally parked, the driver got out, leaving just me and Asher inside the silence of the car. I took a shaky breath, bracing myself to walk inside, to somehow pretend I was okay after everything that had happened tonight.

But before either of us could even open the doors properly, the front doors of the manor burst open.

“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”

Leon.

But Leon kept staring at me like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

Then suddenly he turned toward his father.

“Dad.”

Asher looked down at him.

“Yes?”

“Who made Mommy cry?”

The air shifted instantly. Luca and Mike both went silent behind us. And Asher… God. The look on his face was just.....

But when he answered Leon, his voice stayed calm.

“Mommy got a little upset tonight.”

Leon frowned harder.

“Did someone make her upset?”

Before Asher could answer, I pulled Leon closer against me and kissed the top of his head.

“It’s okay now,” I whispered. “I’m home with my boys.”

Leon looked up at me again, still unconvinced. Then very carefully, like I was something fragile, he reached up and wiped under my eye with his tiny fingers.

“You don’t cry, Mommy,” he said softly. “I don’t like it when you cry.”

And that. That nearly destroyed me. I hugged him tighter immediately, laughing through tears now.

“I’ll try not to, okay?”

“Okay,” he said seriously.

Then he glanced toward Asher again before leaning closer to whisper loudly enough for everyone to hear,

“If someone made Mommy cry, we can beat them up.”

A choked sound escaped Mike. Luca outright laughed.

And for the first time since tonight had fallen apart, I felt something warm crack through the pain inside my chest.