Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 450

ARIELLA

I heard Asher coming after me. Then A loud thud. I stopped instinctively and turned around, terrified he'd slipped and hit his head in the bathroom.

Instead, I found him sitting hard on the bathroom floor, the wet tiles having betrayed him. For one split second... I almost went back. Then everything I'd just heard crashed over me again.

I turned and kept running.

I ran all the way back through the underground hallway toward our house, my lungs burning, my heart pounding harder than my feet against the floor. By the time I reached our bedroom, I was shaking.

I didn't even think. I simply walked into the closet and started throwing clothes into a suitcase. Everything felt automatic and Mechanical as I haphazardly put clothes into the bag.

A few minutes later, Asher walked into the room breathing heavily. He'd managed to throw on a pair of trousers and a shirt, but... He didn't look like Asher. Not the Don.

His clothes weren't perfectly pressed like they always were. His hair was still dripping wet, and His breathing was uneven.

And the fear in his eyes... I'd never seen that before.

"What are you doing?" he asked quietly, watching me nervously.

"I'm leaving."

"You can't leave, Ariella. You know there's someone out there waiting for a chance to pounce."

"That's it." I zipped the bag shut. "I am done."

I walked toward Leon's room and started pulling clothes from his wardrobe.

"I've been living for five years on my own with our son." I stuffed another shirt into the suitcase. "We were doing just fine without your security."

Another pair of trousers. "Without your guards." Another handful of clothes. "Without everybody constantly getting on my fucking nerves."

I slammed the suitcase shut.

"I've had it up to here."

He stepped closer hesitantly.

"I can't let you leave."

He took another step.

"No matter how angry you are, Ariella, we can talk about this."

I immediately stopped packing. Then, slowly, I turned to face him.

"You can't let me leave?" I repeated quietly. "What am I?"

Silence.

"Am I still your prisoner?"

His expression fell.

"Am I still the woman you met three years ago in that room full of men and liquor?" I asked. "The woman who had your son....protected him....raised him.....with nothing to her name.....without an education...... And without a path?"

My voice trembled.

"The woman you locked away in one of your houses. The woman you treated like a whore whenever you needed her.The woman you kept inside a cage."

I looked straight into his eyes.

"Is that still who I am, Asher?"

He didn't answer. He couldn't. I knew I shouldn't have brought that up. I knew those memories destroyed him every single time. But I couldn't stop. Not anymore.

His silence was enough. I grabbed the suitcases and pulled them toward the hallway. That's when small footsteps came racing upstairs.

"Mom?"

"Dad?"

Leon stopped in the doorway. His bright little face looked from me... to the suitcase...then to Asher.

"What's wrong?"

I quickly wiped my tears away, only realising then that I'd been crying the whole time. I forced a smile.

"It's all good, buddy," Asher responded.

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