Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 412

ASHER

I started walking toward the door slowly. Not because I was in a hurry, but because I wanted her to understand that this conversation was ending because I was allowing it to end.

Silence followed me. Then,

“You're destroying her.”

I looked over my shoulder. She was still standing there, clutching her robe tightly around herself like it was the only thing holding her together.

“You've turned her into one of you.”

I stared at her.

“No,” I said quietly. “I gave her something she had been searching for her whole life. Something she never thought she needed but yearned for so long.”

Her eyes flashed with anger.

“She was happy before you.”

I almost laughed at that. Almost.

“Ariella was surviving before me. She started living when she met me.” The words came out calm. Cold. “She smiled for people. She obeyed people. She lived for people.”

I looked directly into her eyes.

“She spent her entire life becoming whatever you wanted her to become. Becoming whatever everyone expected of her.”

I took one step toward her. “And if you're going to hate me, then at least hate me for something real.”

Her face tightened.

“I didn't break your daughter.” My voice dropped. “You did that well enough on your own.”

She froze. For a second, I thought she was going to scream at me again. Instead, her lips trembled.

“She used to sit beside me,” she whispered suddenly.

My eyebrows pulled together slightly. What the hell was she on about now?

“She used to sit beside me while I cooked.” Her eyes weren't looking at me anymore. They were somewhere else. Somewhere years away. “She would steal pieces of vegetables and run away laughing.”

I said nothing.

“She hated onions.” A tiny laugh escaped her. “God, she hated onions.” Her breathing shook. “And when she was little, she used to cry whenever I braided her hair too tightly.”

I watched her. Because suddenly... Suddenly she wasn't angry anymore. She was just a mother. Just a woman who had lost too much.

“She would run to her father afterwards and complain about me,” she whispered with a weak smile.

Then her face broke. And tears started falling again.

“She stopped doing that.”

Silence.

“She stopped coming to me.” Her voice cracked. “And I don't know when....”

Something hit my chest at that. Because for the first time since I walked into this house... For the first time... I saw it. Not hatred. Regret.

And suddenly I understood something else: she wasn't just mourning her husband. Not completely. She was mourning her daughter too. Because somewhere along the way... She lost Ariella long before she ever thought she died.

I walked out and sat in the car, staring at the house for a few moments before finally deciding to go see Luca. As the car pulled away from the curb, I leaned back into the seat and pulled away from the house.

Halfway there, my phone rang. Luca.

“Don, where are you?”

"Our."

“I'm just leaving your house right now, I saw your wife in your office,” he said.

“I had something personal to deal with.” There was a brief pause. “Have you seen Leon?”

“No. He was studying and I didn't want to interrupt.” I loosened my tie slightly. “But I have something important to tell you about. I have to see you.”

“Okay, good. I'm coming to the house. We can talk about it when I get there.”

“Yes, boss,” he responded.

Then the call ended.

The rest of the drive was quiet. My mind wasn't on the road. It was on Ariella. On her crying in my arms last night. On her mother. On the attacks that I had yet to get a picture of.

I thought about it. Slowly and Carefully. Because if my instincts were right, if this was what I thought it was .... Then the pieces to the puzzle had started falling into place.

“You're right,” I said quietly. “And if this is what we think it is... then something huge is coming.”

Luca nodded. “We are close. We have to watch him even closer.”

“Yeah,” I replied, “but I don't want him getting suspicious.” I leaned against the desk. “If we're going to get to the bottom of this and find out their plan, he has to stay in the dark.”

I looked at Luca.

“So do not put a leash on him.”

Luca nodded slowly.

“You're right.”

Then he sighed heavily.

“I'm just tired of all this.”

He rubbed his face.

“I wish I could unlock your patience. I want to know who I am at war with without all this bullshit in the middle.”

I let out a breath through my nose.

“If we get rid of him, they'll just find someone else to take his place.”

“You're right.” Luca nodded.

“What do you think?” he asked. “All of them are in on this?”

“I don't know.” And that was the truth.

“But I do know they know I'm not looking into Bastian.”

I looked out the window.

“And that's why he's the one behind the curtain.”