Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 434

ARIELLA

My mother snapped, putting her teacup down a bit too forcefully. Tea splashed across the table, but neither of us cared.

"I am going to talk about him," I said firmly. "He is my father."

"Stop this minute." She raised her hand at me.

"Mom, I'm not twelve. I'm not sixteen anymore. I'm an adult. I have my own family. And you can't just raise your hand at me and expect that I'm going to do whatever you want."

I took a breath.

"I am here because of Dad. I went to visit his grave."

She rolled her eyes at me, and it just made me remember all those times between the three of us.

"I know that you love me. I know that Dad loved me. And I loved you too. I love both of you very much."

"I don't want to talk about your father right now. Not with you."

Her voice faded slightly, but I could see it in her face. She was about to explode. I could feel it. She didn't want me to do this, but she was going to hear it anyway.

Whatever she had to say, she was going to say it, I was going to hear it, and we were going to finally talk. Then we were going to find a way to move past this.

"No matter how much you drove Dad up the walls with your high maintenance, your shopping, and your love for luxury, even though he was just a low soldier, he gave it to you. He gave you all of it because he loved you," I told her.

A shadow crossed her face.

"Once, when I was sixteen, you made me so mad, and you two argued. I asked him why he even married you. I asked him why the two of us didn't just run away."

"That sounds exactly like something you would do," she said dryly. "It is what you did in the end. And what cost him his life."

The words hit, but I ignored them and continued.

"And that's when he told me about you. That you came from a wealthy family. That even though he was just a lowly soldier and your father threatened to disown you, you still chose him because you loved him."

I smiled softly, remembering my father.

"And he said that sometimes you just have a hard time dealing with your decisions. But he also prayed that if I ever found someone, I'd stick to my decisions and my choices. He thought the two of us were too alike and that's why we were always arguing....."

"I am nothing like you."

"Yeah," I said. "I told him the same thing."

A small laugh escaped me.

"I don't think I'm like you either." My smile faded. "But still, I'm here because I know you're here all alone. And he wouldn't have wanted you to be alone."

She looked away.

"He wouldn't have wanted us to be at odds. He would have wanted me to take care of you. He would have wanted us to be a family. He would have wanted me in your life. He would have wanted you in my life...."

"There is nothing I am interested in about your life." Her voice was cold. "It's not happening."

"If it takes me coming here every day, then I'm going to come back again. And again. And again."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Just because you don't want me here doesn't mean I'm giving up."

A bitter laugh escaped her.

"You can't force yourself into my house, just because your husband is now Don. I don't want to see you."

Then she pointed upstairs. "And that friend of your husband's upstairs? I'm going to pinch his ears red because he told me you had something important to tell me."

She shook her head. "And so far, nothing you have said has made this conversation worth it....."

"I want you in my son's life," I said.

She looked at me, confused. And just like that, I was pulling the card I had been holding in my back pocket. The only card I thought might bring her back to me.

I knew I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have used Leon like this. But... I really wanted this to work. I really did. I had already told Leon about his grandmother and grandfather.

I told him that his grandfather had gone too soon and wasn't here with us anymore. He had been a little sad, I think mostly because I was sad. But he had never met his grandfather. He had never even seen his pictures. So I understood why it hadn't affected him as deeply.

Still, when I told him about his grandmother, I don't know... I felt like it would be good for him. Maybe she could tell him stories about his grandfather. Maybe she could tell him things I couldn't....

I was just hoping this one thing would stick.