Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 76

Chapter 76

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My eyes widened to saucers. What do you mean? I asked, my voice small, trembling, as my eyes blinked rapidly-once, twice, too many times.

My father looked at me, and there was nothing but sadness in his expression.

“You’re very smart, Ariella,” he said quietly. “I think you can see it.”

But I couldn’t.

I didn’t.

And now, hearing him say it, my mind began to race. Had I missed something? Was there a piece I hadn’t seen, a truth I hadn’t dared to believe?

He took a breath, long and shaky. “I didn’t tell you everything about my meeting with the Don,” he admitted. “Because I didn’t want you to fear for your life. I didn’t want you to be scared.”

My throat tightened. I swallowed hard.

“I feel like a failure,” he said next. “I feel like I failed you. I feel like I failed your mom. I feel like I failed our family. What kind of father am I?”

“Don’t say that,” I whispered, reaching for his hand and folding it into mine. “Don’t say that, Dad. Please, don’t. I’m so proud to be your daughter. I know this is just the way things are. I know if you could… you would’ve done something.”

He shook his head slowly. “Maybe I should’ve shot him.”

The words hit me like a thunderclap.

“Shot who?” I asked.

He looked at me, and I didn’t need him to answer. I saw it in his eyes.

The Don.

“You couldn’t have,” I said, shaking my head. “He had his consigliere with him. Even if he didn’t, they would’ve killed you. They might’ve killed all of us in retaliation.”

I squeezed his hand harder. “I know you did everything because you were trying to protect us. To save

Mom. To save me.”

But his eyes were distant.

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“I know you think this plan of yours is going to save you,” he said softly. “That it’s going to save your love. Your relationship. But you’re wrong. You’re dead wrong.”

He exhaled, and the weight of it felt like a thousand unsaid things.

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Chapter 76

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“I didn’t tell your mom everything,” he added, “just like I didn’t tell you. But she is right about this one thing

…”

He turned to me.

“Getting pregnant for Asher… was the wrong move baby.”

I shook my head. “It can’t be. I mean… the Don wouldn’t want to kill me now. I’m pregnant. This baby is related to him. His grandchild. Probably the next heir. If he knows about this, he won’t do anything to me.”

My father laughed-but it wasn’t joy or even disbelief. It was something hollow. Sad. The sound of a man who knew too much.

He turned his face toward me, eyes tired. “You don’t know him,” he said, voice low, like a warning. “You don’t know Domenico Romano. You haven’t seen the other side of him.”

I blinked.

“You see the tailored suits, the immaculate hair, the polished manners. But in his eyes,” he continued,” you can see everything he hides. Every dark thing he’s done and is willing to do again.”

I didn’t speak. I couldn’t.

“This is more than just a baby, Ariella. More than you and Asher,” he said, almost bitterly. “This baby means nothing to him but an obstacle. The relationship with the Russians means more to him than any grandkids you could ever have Asher’s marriage to the Russians is a calculated move. A tool. It’ll strengthen Domenico’s power, and end a war-maybe-for long enough to refocus on business. While money flows. While product moves.”

He shook his head slowly like the truth was poison.

“He won’t care that you’re pregnant.”

I stared at him, my heart hammering. I didn’t want to believe him. But he wasn’t the kind of man to lie, not

like this.

Still, I grasped for something. Anything.

“What if I tell Asher?” I whispered. “He’ll protect us. I know he will.”

Dad nodded.

But it wasn’t an agreement. It was resignation.

“Yeah,” he said, voice quiet. “I’m sure Asher loves you. Just the way you are. I’m sure when he finds out, he’ll be happy. Ecstatic, even. Maybe he’ll want to marry you right away.”

I almost smiled-until he finished.

“But when he tells his father… Domenico won’t hesitate to kill you.”

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Chapter 76

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The air in the garage changed. Thicker. Harder to breathe. It was the first time he had said it so clearly. So bluntly. So full of hurt.

Someone wanted me dead. And not just anyone.

The Don.

It cracked something inside me. A new fear I hadn’t felt before crept into my skin like cold.

And for the first time, I was scared.

I wanted to speak, to say something-anything-but the words just wouldn’t come. My lips parted, but no sound followed. I didn’t know what to say.

My father nodded, reading the silence on my face like he had expected it.

“You think,” he said, voice tight, “that when the Don came to see me… when he told me about his plan,

about this contract to marry you-you think I just agreed? That I was okay with it?”

His eyes turned glassy.

“You think I wanted this? That I wanted to give my daughter to him? To a man older than me?”

“No,” I whispered.

He nodded grimly.

“If Domenico is older than me, why would I willingly hand my daughter over to him?”

“Because… he’s the Don,” I said quietly, remembering my mom’s words.

My father shook his head, scoffing bitterly.

“You listen to your mother too much,” he said. “You know I am not like that. I’m not loyal to power. If anything, I hated this. I hated him. I knew Asher was going to be Don one day anyway. You were happy. You were in love. I would never take that from you. I thought you knew that.”

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