His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Dominic’s POV

:

(49」

The moment Eduardo walked into my office, I knew. He carried a manila folder in his hand, thin but heavy in the ways that mattered. His face confirmed what my instincts had already decided.

“Tell me,” I ordered.

Eduardo set the file on my desk with deliberate care. “We ran it three times. To be certain.”

I stared at the folder like it was a live bomb. Because it was. My heart pounded behind my ribs almost

violently as I waited for Eduardo to tell me the truth I’d known all along.

“Mateo Bianchi,” Eduardo continued evenly, “is Mateo Russo.”

Silence reigned in the room after his statement.

I opened the file slowly, fingers steady only because rage and relief counterbalanced one another. There were photos, medical history, digital copies of birth records, and genetic results.

99.98% match.

Father- Dominic Alberto Russo.

I felt the hit like a bullet.

My son.

Something inside me locked into place, a truth so absolute, denial couldn’t survive it.

It was not a possibility. Not a suspicion.

Not a ghost of a life that might have been. It was the truth, raw and unyielding.

I had a child. A living, breathing child who laughed like he owned the world. Who existed without me learning his first word, without me seeing his first step, without me hearing him call me Papa.

Five years of moments I would never get back.

My throat burned. I shut the folder because I couldn’t look at it anymore, and because I would never stop looking if I didn’t.

“She knew,” I said. The words were low, lethal.

Eduardo didn’t answer.

“She knew.” My anger surged upward suddenly like a wildfire. “She carried my child, she gave birth to my child, and she disappeared.”

21:43 Wed, Jan 14 d.

Chapter 13

There were a thousand knives behind that truth. Isabella’s tearful confession the night she told me she was pregnant came to my mind, my own cold voice refusing to believe her, pushing her away.

She must have thought I would do something unspeakable. She must have thought she had to run.

And God help me, she wasn’t wrong.

49

Rage for myself, rage for her, rage for that terrified woman who thought she had nowhere safe to go bubbled in the pit of my stomach.

“I drove her to this,” I muttered, pressing my fingers hard against my brow. “And she kept him alive. She raised him better without me than I ever could have with her back then.”

It was the truth, and I tasted bitterness admitting it.

Eduardo shifted his stance. “What do you want to do?”

What I wanted was to hold my son. To hear his voice. To protect him. To undo every mistake that had poisoned the past.

What I needed was to make sure no one touched them. Not my enemies. Not my world. Not even me, not the version of me who had made her run in the first place.

“I want them back,” I said. “Both of them.”

And hell or blood wouldn’t stop me this time.

I stood, straightening my jacket like armor. “I need to see him. Them. Both of them.”

Eduardo nodded, already moving.

I looked down at the folder once more. At Mateo’s face, so like mine it hurt, gazing up from a candid school photo.

A small handprint on the page next to his drawing assignment. The teacher had written- Mateo loves rockets and wants to go to the moon someday.

My chest twisted.

“I wasn’t there,” I whispered. “But I will be now.”

My son would know me. And Isabella, she would face me again.

Not as the man I was, but as the man I would become for them.

I closed the file.

And vowed to never let either of them slip from my hands again.

***

21:43 Wed, Jan 14

Chapter 13

Isabella’s POV

0:0

49

Luca stirred sugar into his espresso with that careful patience I’ve always admired about him. We’d taken a quiet table at the café near Mateo’s school, the one with mismatched chairs and potted olive trees shielding us from the street.

Mateo was inside, showing his teacher his newest rocket masterpiece. Completely unaware of the fear sitting like a stone in my gut.

“You didn’t sleep again,” Luca said without looking up.

“It’s nothing.” A lie. One he didn’t buy.

“It’s been two days,” he countered. “Same car, same distance, same pattern. If it were safe, they’d have approached by now. Asked questions. Something.”

I folded my arms across my chest, gripping myself as if that might hold the pieces together.

“I know it’s Dominic,” I said finally. “He’s watching. He’s waiting.”

Luca clenched his jaw. “And what happens when he gets tired of waiting?”

The question sliced through me.

There had been no communication from Dominic ever since he came to see me at my apartment two days ago. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t return.

It was only a matter of time before he did.

I didn’t want to uproot Mateo again. Florence was his home. His school, his friends, they were all here. He’d just gotten comfortable sleeping through the night, trusting that nothing would steal his mother away.

Leaving because Dominic Russo had reappeared felt like letting him win.

But staying might be more dangerous.

Luca leaned forward, forearms braced on the small metal table. “We need to know exactly who we’re dealing with before we do anything drastic.”

“I know.”

“And if it’s not Dominic’s people? Then we’re looking at a different kind of threat.”

That possibility chilled me.

“We can’t confront anyone without proof,” he continued. “If it’s him, we strategize. If it’s someone else, we identify them. But we do not make assumptions.”

“So what do you suggest?” I asked, though a part of me already knew.

“A private investigator,” Luca replied. “Someone who can track vehicle registration quietly. Someone who

21:43 Wed, Jan 14 d.

Chapter 13

won’t show up on the Russo radar if that’s who it is.”

I nodded slowly, weighing the idea.

It was smart. Logical. Controlled.

The opposite of how Dominic made me feel.

:

49

Still my fear pressed harder each hour that unknown car appeared behind us. Fear not just for myself, I had learned to survive fear, but for the boy who trusted me to keep his world safe.

“We’ll hire someone today,” I said, voice steadier than I felt.

Luca’s shoulders relaxed. “Good. I’ve already talked to someone I know. We’ll meet them today.”

I nodded, once again feeling grateful to have him in my life.

We sat in silence for a moment, the low hum of morning chatter surrounding us. I glanced towards the school window just in time to see Mateo’s small silhouette bouncing excitedly, his rocket drawing held high.

My heart softened, and cracked.

“I can’t let him lose everything again,” I whispered.

“We won’t let that happen.” Luca’s voice was firm. “Dominic or whoever that is behind us, they won’t touch a hair on that kid’s head. I promise you.”

Promises. I had stopped believing in them a long time ago.

But Luca hadn’t given me a reason to doubt him yet.

The bell rang, and the class began settling in. We stood to leave.

As Luca paid the bill, I glanced instinctively towards the street.

There it was. The black car. Engine idling. Watching.

My stomach flipped.

Luca followed my gaze and rested a steadying hand on my arm. “Let the PI handle it. Today is just another day. Okay?”

I nodded, because Mateo needed normalcy.

Because I refused to let Dominic, or anyone else, turn our life into running again.

Because fear didn’t get to dictate our story anymore.

But as we walked away, I could feel eyes tracking us.

And somewhere deep inside, I knew that the world as I knew it was going to change real soon.

21:44 Wed, Jan 14 ..