Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 473

ASHER

Years of loyalty.

Years of friendship.

Years of fighting side by side.

Every battlefield. Every victory. Every secret. Every drop of blood we had spilt together. All of it stood between us in that single moment. The world around us seemed to disappear. The shouting, the soldiers and the gunfire echoing in the distance. Even Bastian cursing on the ground.

None of it mattered anymore. There was only Luca. The man I had trusted with my life, the man I had trusted with my wife, the man I had trusted with my son... The man I had called my brother. I stared at him, unable to reconcile the man standing in front of me with the one I had known for so many years.

"You were my brother," I said.

Luca swallowed.

"I know."

The answer was so quiet it almost broke something inside me. My chest tightened.

"Then what is this? Why this?"

For a long moment, he didn't answer. His eyes drifted away from mine. Almost as if he couldn't bear to hold my gaze. Finally, he spoke.

"Because I was tired."

My brows drew together.

"Tired?"

"Yes, I was tired of us losing. I was tired of them beating us at every turn. We were always playing defence, and they were still hitting us." He said without flinching.

I frowned, my eyes never leaving him.

"So you thought you would switch sides?" I asked.

My voice was low. "You were my brother, Luca. More than blood." The words came out rougher than I intended.

Luca swallowed.

"I know."

So quiet. So calm. As though he hadn't just shattered everything I thought I knew. Apart from my family...Ariella and Leon, he was the man I trusted with my entire life. With everything. If he had told me he wanted to be Don so badly, I probably would have let him have it.

As long as my family was safe.

As long as I still had my wife and kid with me.

But he had gone and done this instead. I didn't know how to come back from it.

My jaw tightened.

"Then why?"

For a long second, he didn't answer. He looked down before lifting his eyes back to mine.

"Because I had to."

I stared at him. Could this really be the same man I had grown up with? The man who had been closer to me than my own father, closer than my own brother, closer than anyone in the world before Ariella came into my life?

Slowly, he lowered one of the guns, though the other never left Bastian.

"You promised me something years ago."

I frowned.

"When?"

"We made a promise to each other," he said. "Well... we made a lot of promises when we were twelve."

A bitter smile crossed his face.

"And then we did it again when we were sixteen."

The memory came back immediately. Two stupid boys, covered in blood after picking a fight with men twice our age and twice our size. I had offered him my hand while he sat on the hood of a car.

"Whatever happens, we trust each other."

"Even if the whole world says otherwise?" he had asked. "Even if one day it looks like I betrayed you?"

"Especially then," I had answered.

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