All Chapters of Claimed by My Ex's Mafia Father: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The ring was already off her finger before she'd even decided to take it off.Eliora Aster stared down at it sitting in her open palm—six carats, custom-cut, the kind of ring people photographed for magazines—and felt nothing but a strange, cold clarity. Around her, three hundred guests had gone completely silent. The string quartet had stopped mid-note. Candlelight flickered over faces she'd known most of her adult life, all of them now watching her the way people watch a car accident, unable to look away.She had spent her career building nights exactly like this one for other people. Perfect timing. Perfect flowers. Perfect endings. Tonight was supposed to be hers.Twenty minutes ago, it had been."Eliora, please." Caius's voice cracked across the terrace, his shirt buttoned wrong, his face raw with a shame that hadn't cooled into anger yet. "We can fix this.""There's nothing to fix." Her voice came out steady. That surprised her more than anything else happening right now. "You di

Eliora woke to sunlight.For a moment she didn't move, didn't open her eyes fully, caught in that strange, disoriented space between sleep and waking where nothing yet made sense. The bed beneath her was soft, unfamiliar. The air smelled like salt and something floral she couldn't place.Then memory crashed back in—the courtyard, the hands on her neck, the fight, his arms closing around her before her legs gave out.Her eyes snapped open.She was lying in a large bedroom she had never seen before, all soft cream walls and tall windows, sunlight pouring in over furniture too elegant to belong to any hotel. Through the window, she could see the sea stretching out endlessly, cliffs dropping away toward the water far below.She sat up fast, heart pounding, her body still wearing yesterday's torn dress. Her hand went instinctively to her throat—the pendant was still there, still hers, still a mystery.A knock came at the door before she could speak."Come in," she said, though her voice bar

"My father," Eliora repeated. "What does my father have to do with any of this?"Severin gestured to the chair across from his desk. She didn't sit. She wasn't ready to make this conversation comfortable for either of them, and some part of her needed the distance after what had just passed between them—whatever that had been."Fine," he said, something almost like a rueful smile tugging at his mouth. "Stand, then."He walked to the window, hands behind his back, looking out at the sea for a moment before he spoke again, and Eliora found herself watching the line of his shoulders, the careful control in every part of him, wondering what it might take to actually see it break."Your father's name was Alaric Aster. He was a financial investigator. One of the best in Europe." His voice was steady, but slower now, like he was choosing each word with care. "We met through business, a long time before you were born. He wasn't afraid of me. Most people are. He spoke to me like I was just a ma

Eliora's phone buzzed on the desk between them.Severin glanced down at it, and whatever color remained in his face drained away. He turned the screen toward her without a word.One line, from an unknown number: Tell her the truth, or we will."Who sent that?" Eliora asked."I don't know." Severin set the phone down, his voice controlled but tight. His hand, she noticed, had moved closer to hers on the desk without either of them quite acknowledging it. "The number traces to nothing. A burner, wiped after sending.""Tell her the truth, or we will." Eliora repeated the words out loud, testing their weight. "Someone thinks you're keeping something from me. Are you?""I've told you everything I know for certain." His eyes held hers, steady despite the tension in his jaw, and something in the way he said it felt like more than simple reassurance—like he needed her, specifically, to believe him. "What I don't know, I can't tell you. That's not the same as hiding it.""It feels the same from

"I need to call Camille."Eliora was already reaching for her phone before Severin could respond. Two missed calls from the last hour. A voicemail she hadn't listened to yet."Wait," Severin said. "If Santoro already knows about the pendant, I want eyes on anyone close to you before you make contact.""She's my business partner, Severin. Not a threat.""I didn't say she was a threat. I said I want her protected before you tell her anything that makes her one."Eliora's hand paused over the screen. The logic landed harder than she wanted it to."Fine," she said. "But I'm calling her. Now."Severin nodded to Lucien, who stepped out of the room already dialing someone on his own phone. Eliora waited a beat, then hit call.Camille picked up on the first ring. "Eliora, thank God. Where have you been? I've called you six times.""I'm safe. I'm sorry, it's been—" Eliora glanced at Severin. "Complicated.""Complicated doesn't cover it. There are rumors everywhere. Someone's saying Caius's fat