Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 446

446 /463

ARIELLA

Whatever Asher was worried about... Whatever danger he felt was coming... If it came... We would face it together.

I knew that with every part of me. I knew He would be right beside me, and I would be beside him. I knew together, we would protect our son just as he would do everything in his power to protect the two of us.

Nothing would break us. Not me, not him, not our family. As I lay there listening to his heartbeat, I realised something. Asher kept thinking he was failing us, because we couldn't walk freely through the streets without soldiers... Because danger still lingered somewhere in the shadows... Because someone out there wanted to hurt us... He wasn't giving us the life he wanted us to have.

But he couldn't have been more wrong. We were already living the life I had dreamed of. Leon woke up every morning with his father. He went to sleep every night knowing his father loved him. I woke up beside the man I loved, the man who chose us every single day.

We ate together, laughed together and loved each other without fear inside these walls. To Asher... The soldiers, the security, and the constant vigilance were proof that he was failing. To me... None of those things mattered because at the end of every day... He came home.

He came home to me.

He came home to our son.

And we were together.

That was the life I had always wanted. One day... All of this would be over. Whoever was working against him would be found. The danger would pass, and the constant fear would disappear.

And when that day came... I hoped Asher would finally see himself the way Leon and I already did. Not as a man who had failed to protect his family... But as the man who had already given us everything that truly mattered.

A husband.

A father.

A home.

A family.

*****

I had been right.

Everything really did seem to be getting better. Over the next week, we visited my mother several times, and then we started inviting her to the house. Before long, she was coming whenever she wanted, which, apparently, was every single day.

I even suggested giving her a room in the house so she could stay with us. She declined immediately.

"The only thing I'm interested in," she said, smiling as Leon ran circles around her, "is my grandson."

She adored him completely. She spoiled him with gifts, snacks, stories, and attention. She even started interrupting his study schedule because, according to her, "A grandmother has rights too."

That, of course, led to a very serious sit-down with Sia about Leon's classes. Sia wasn't taking very well to Leon's attachment to his grandmother. Thank God we sorted that out.

After that... Everything just became easier, Better. There was no attack, no explosions and no threats. Just... Silence.

I thought the silence was a blessing. Asher didn't. The quieter everything became, the more worried he grew.

He worked tirelessly, barely sleeping, determined to uncover whoever was behind the attacks before they could make another move. I wouldn't let him completely drown himself in work, though. Sometimes, after Luca told me where he was, I would simply show up at one of his warehouses or clubs, wherever he might be.

Every single time, it shocked him towards a heart attack.

"How dare you come out here?" he'd snap, marching straight toward me. "It's not safe right now."

Of course, he had a point. But I also knew how exhausted he was. Seeing me there usually forced him to stop working for at least a little while, and eventually it had the effect I wanted.

He started working from home more often. At home, I had much better access to him and to his schedule than he would have liked. Whenever he buried himself in paperwork, I would close the files, steal his pen, sit on his lap, or simply refuse to leave his office until he took a break.