His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 132

Chapter 132

Dominic’s POV

Mateo came running out of the school gates like a burst of sunlight when I went to pick him up.

“Dominic!”

I barely had time to brace myself before the boy crashed into me backpack bouncing, shoelaces half untied, face flushed. with excitement.

“You’re early,” Mateo said accusingly, but grinning.

“I always try to be when I come to pick you up,” I replied, ruffling his hair.

We walked towards the car together, Mateo talking before I had even opened the door.

“My birthday is soon,” Mateo announced, as if I could possibly have forgotten. I knew his birthday was coming up soon and was already planning a huge party for him.

“I know,” I said solemnly. “I’ve been counting the days.”

Mateo beamed. “I want to invite my friends from school. And I want to bake a cake with Mama. Not buy one. Bake one last we did last year. Mama said it was a birthday tradition. We make one for her birthday too!”

I opened the passenger door for him. “We can do better than tha”

Mateo paused halfway into the seat. “Better?”

“We’ll have a huge party,” I said. “Like the one we had for Nonna back in Sicily.”

Mateo blinked. “How will my friends come to Sicily?”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “No, no. Not in Sicily. Here. Just similar to what we had done for her birthday.”

Mateo frowned thoughtfully as he buckled himself in. “But I don’t have enough friends like Nonna to fill a big hall.”

I started the engine, glancing over at him. “You’d be surprised.”

Mateo shook his head firmly. “I just want my friends from school and my teacher. And Luca. And Chiara. And Lucia.” His face softened at the last name. “I miss Lucia.”

My chest tightened slightly at the simplicity of the things he enjoyed. “We can invite them all.”

“And Nonna,” Mateo continued. “And Mama, obviously.”

“Obviously,” I echoed. I noticed how he didn’t take Vittoria or Salvatore’s name. Even Alessia’s, for that matter. But I didn’t say anything.

“And you,” Mateo added casually.

I raised an eyebrow. “I have to be invited?”

Mateo giggled. “No. You and Mama don’t need invitations. You’ll be there anyway.”

The innocence of it hit me harder than I expected.

Chapter to

no matter what.

“I will,” I said quietly. “We both will.”

Mateo nodded, satisfied.

“And I’ll talk to Mama,” I added. “We’ll make sure it’s exactly how you want it.”

“What about presents?” I asked lightly. “Have you thought about what you want?”

Mateo scrunched up his nose. “Not yet. I’ll think and tell you later.”

I smiled. “Fair enough.”

For the rest of the drive, Mateo chattered about his last birthday, how Isabella had decorated the apartment with handmade paper stars, how they’d baked the cake together and he’d cracked the eggs wrong the first time, how she’d let him stay up an extra hour because it was his special day.

I listened with rapt attention.

Every detail felt like something precious I had missed.

Isa had done all of that alone.

No complaints. No resentment. No reaching out to me for help

She had given our son joy, stability, and warmth in the middle of chaos.

Pride swelled in my chest, heavy and aching.

She was an extraordinary mother.

And I had nearly let that slip away forever.

My mind drifted back to the night before, to the look on her face when she’d said she thought I tried to kill her.

The devastation of it still hollowed me out.

He would never.

Never.

But something about it wouldn’t sit right now.

The explosion. The gang. The chain of events.

At the time, I’d destroyed them without hesitation. Alessia had brought me the information. She’d said they were the ones responsible. She’d laid out the evidence in cold, convincing deta.

I had been too broken to question it, too enraged.

I remembered the meeting vividly. I had been on the verge of signing a peace agreement with that very gang. A fragile truce. They’d had no reason to attack me.

And yet, when Alessia told me they were behind the explosion, that they’d targeted Isabella deliberately, all bets had been

off.

I’d slaughtered them.

Without asking further questions.

Even then, something had felt off.

But grief had drowned it out.

Now, with clarity creeping back in, unease coiled in my gut.

What if they hadn’t done it?

What if the explosion hadn’t been about gang rivalry at all?

But then again, what else could it be about?

Even so, the uneasy feeling just wouldn’t go away.

And Isa said that she had sent divorce papers. But I’d never gotten any. Someone or something had intercepted them. Hadn’t wanted them to reach me. Because I would’ve tried to search for answers if they had.

The thought settled in my gut coldly.

Someone wanted me to think that Isa had died.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.

Alessia had handled most of the investigation then. I’d trusted her completely. She had been steady when I was unraveling.

But what if the foundation had been wrong?

I glanced at Mateo, still animatedly explaining how he wanted balloons shaped like rockets.

If someone had manipulated that moment, if someone had fed me false information while I was at my lowest-

My jaw hardened.

I had buried men for less.

When we pulled into the villa driveway, Mateo hopped out, still talking about party games.

I watched him go inside before sitting still for a moment longer in the driver’s seat.

There were too many coincidences, too many assumptions, and too much at stake.

I had lost five years to unnecessary grief and anger.

I wouldn’t lose another day to ignorance.

If there was something buried beneath that explosion, if someone had lied, I would find it, no matter who it led to.

AD

Comment

Send gift

No Ads