Claimed By The Mafia Don (Ariella and Asher) novel Chapter 77

Chapter 77

I cried.

Not just with tears-but with sound, with trembling, with my whole body. The kind of crying that strips. you bare and leaves you raw.

My father pulled me into him, his arms strong and warm, wrapping me in a quiet shield. He didn’t say anything. He just held me, patted my back, and whispered things I couldn’t even hear through the roaring in my chest. The more he tried to soothe me, the more I broke. And I kept crying. Until there was nothing

left.

No tears. No words. Just silence.

I sat there, staring at the nothing in front of me. Eyes open, but seeing nothing. Feeling everything.

Then he spoke.

“Whatever decision you make… you’re an adult now. Like I told you-I’m not afraid to die. The only thing I am scared of is to lose you, my precious baby girl.”

His voice cracked a little, and it hurt to hear that.

“Everything I’ve ever done has always been for you. I think about you before I think about anything else. So if you want to keep this baby… if you want to tell Asher… whatever it is if you want us to run away… I’m behind you. Always.”

He kissed my forehead-gently, like a goodbye. Then he left.

I didn’t follow him. I think he needed the time. That was why he had come out here in the first place-to

the garage, his sanctuary.

Everything around me felt like it was falling apart. My world. My hopes. My love.

And it was only now, sitting in this silence, that I saw it clearly for the first time. That I wasn’t going to marry Asher. That maybe I never was.

I was going to have to lose him.

Maybe it was selfish. Maybe it was noble. I didn’t know anymore. But I knew one thing.

It was for this baby. I had to break up with Asher.

And I didn’t know how to do it.

Didn’t know if I could.

So I stayed there. In that cold, oil-scented garage. Sitting in the broken pieces of my heart. Until Mom came to find me later. She didn’t say much. Just looked at me. Maybe she knew the condition I was in.

Maybe she saw everything.

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Chapter 77

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Maybe she finally understood.

She didn’t say a word as she helped me to my feet, guiding me silently back into the house. Her steps were soft, and gentle, as if speaking would shatter me further. I followed because I had no will left to

resist.

She took me to my room.

To the bathroom.

She ran the water-warm, comforting-and helped me into the tub. She washed my hair like she used to when I was small. I sat there, hollow, letting her do what she needed to do. She dried me and dressed me in soft clothes. I felt like a child. And if I hadn’t been so broken, I might have let myself enjoy it.

But I wasn’t in the moment. I couldn’t feel anything. She left the room and came back with a bowl of

soup. She set it beside me, her voice gentle but firm.

“You have to start taking care of yourself now. You’re carrying a human being inside you.”

I might’ve scoffed-maybe even laughed-if I wasn’t so drained. The irony wasn’t lost on me. Just hours ago, she wanted me to get rid of the baby. And now she was feeding it.

But I didn’t have the strength to fight. Not tonight.

She climbed into bed beside me, her fingers slowly moving through my damp hair. I lay there, not knowing if I would sleep, not even sure if I could. My head felt full-too many thoughts, too many

decisions, and no clear answers.

Her fingers kept moving. Soft. Soothing.

And then, quietly, she began to speak. Her voice was a whisper, almost a secret shared between the strands of my hair and her hands.

“I know you love Asher.”

A pause.

“Young love,” she said, shaking her head faintly. I felt the motion more than I saw it.

“It’s so strong. Overwhelming. At first, it hits so hard.” Another pause, the kind that meant she was choosing her next words carefully. “I know I act like I don’t understand… but I do. I do, Ariella.”

I closed my eyes.

“I was just hoping you wouldn’t fall in love with him,” she whispered. “I knew Asher would hurt you. I just didn’t know it would be like this. I never saw this coming.”

Her voice broke slightly on that last line. And even though I didn’t say a word, I felt something shift between us. Maybe for the first time in a long time, she wasn’t just my mother-she was a woman who had once been a girl in love, too.

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Chapter 77

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But there were still parts of me….defiant, refusing to let Asher take the blame. So I said, with quiet stubbornness,

“Asher didn’t hurt me. He’s not going to hurt me. I’m the villain in our love story… because I’m the one who’s going to have to hurt him.”

My mother didn’t respond at first. She just kept running her fingers through my hair, gently, like it could untangle the storm in my heart. And then, her voice shifted. The soft comfort was replaced by the

woman I’d come to know too well.

“We’re going to have to move up the wedding,” she said, her tone now business-like.

“You’re going to have to marry the Don sooner than we planned-before he finds out you’re pregnant. He has to believe this baby is his.”

My eyes snapped open. Sleep vanished like it had never been there. I sat up abruptly, her words crashing

into me.

“What are you saying?” I asked, my voice rising. My chest tightened, as anger stormed through me.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I shouted, my eyes locked onto her, demanding something-anything- that would make this make sense.

She didn’t flinch. She didn’t even move. She sat still, letting me scream, waiting for the tears to catch up with my rage. Only when I began to break-when the edge in my voice gave way to something raw-did she speak again. Slowly. Cautiously. Like someone calming a lion or a tiger.

“We know everything now, Ariella. There’s no way out of this. The wedding has to happen…quickly. You’ll have to consummate it soon, make him believe the baby is his.”

I stared at her, mouth open, unable to breathe, unable to scream again.

“And I will help you,” she continued. “I will guide you through it. You love Asher. You want to keep this baby. You want something of him. A symbol. A reminder of your love.”

She paused, her voice softening just enough to sound like she meant it.

“And I will help you keep that. But this… this is the only way.”

She stood then as if the conversation was over. She leaned down and kissed my forehead like she hadn’t just shattered me all over again.

“Think about it,” she whispered. “We’ll talk more in the morning.”

And then she walked out, leaving me with a choice that didn’t feel like a choice at all.

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