His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Dominic’s POV

Florence felt different now.

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449

It wasn’t just a city anymore. It was the place where my son lived. Where Isabella breathed. Where five stolen years waited like a wound, still open and bleeding.

I stood in the living room of a protected Russo-owned house my father had bought years ago, a space to relax and unwind for a few days if need be. It had also been a safehouse of sorts, a place to get away to if need be. I, however, had come here to settle an issue with one of our enemies back home who had their base here. But the documents related to that scattered over the desk meant nothing. I couldn’t focus on anything but the truth in that damn folder.

Mateo. My son.

Every instinct in me screamed to go to Isabella’s apartment. To knock down her door if I had to. To see him. I’d already asked the driver to bring the car around to the front so I could go.

I moved towards the door, ready to leave, when the door opened and Eduardo strode in without knocking. He looked tense. Hesitant. Rare for him.

“What?” I snapped, already irritated at anything keeping me from Isabella and Mateo.

“We’ve confirmed something new,” he said. “About a car that’s been tailing them.”

My blood stopped cold.

“You’ve been watching them for two days,” I said slowly. “I know that.”

Eduardo’s jaw twitched. “Yes. And he noticed that a car had been tailing them continuously. We didn’t want to jump the gun until we were certain who they were. But now we are.”

The silence stretched. I could feel the threat before he spoke it.

“The car belongs to the Vitellis.”

Cold fury sliced through me.

The Vitelli family. The very reason I had come to Florence in the first place, to crush the last of their operations, to make sure they never threatened the Russos again.

And now they were tailing Isabella and Mateo.

My vision sharpened like a blade.

“You’re telling me this now?” My voice was quiet, too quiet. “You waited two days?”

Eduardo held his ground. “I wanted solid intel first. The Vitellis are smart, they’re using local proxies to avoid

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Chapter 14

detection. But there’s no doubt now.”

Rage burned under my skin.

“How much do they know?” I demanded.

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“We don’t think they know the kid’s yours,” Eduardo answered carefully. “If they did, they wouldn’t be keeping distance.”

He didn’t need to say the rest.

If the Vitellis knew about Mateo’s bloodline, they would’ve already gone for leverage. For a kidnapping. For

power.

My hands curled into fists.

“I won’t let them get close,” Eduardo added.

I walked to the window, staring at the bright sun outside.

“They shouldn’t even be in this equation,” I said. “Isabella should be safe from all of this.”

He didn’t respond, because we both knew why she wasn’t.

Me.

It always led back to me.

I exhaled, breath shaking despite my best control.

For the first time in years, I actually felt fear. Not for me, no. But for the family I’d only just found.

“I’m not afraid of dying,” I muttered out loud. “But them? If something happened to Isabella or that boy, I would tear this city apart. I would burn everything down to get them back.”

The admission settled like lead in my chest. Heavy. Brutally real.

“They’re your family,” Eduardo said.

My family.

I had spent so long convincing myself I didn’t need one. That love was weakness. That vulnerability got people killed.

But Isabella and Mateo existed. They were real. And they made every belief I had clung to feel like ash.

Conflicted didn’t even begin to cover it.

If I pulled them into my world, danger would always circle them.

If I stayed away, danger would still find them, because of who I was.

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Chapter 14

I had destroyed every path to safety by simply existing.

But I didn’t have the luxury of indecision. Not anymore.

“I’m going to protect them,” I said with finality. “No matter what it costs.”

Z49

Eduardo nodded, relief flickering through his expression, because a decisive Dominic Russo was the most dangerous kind.

“What’s the plan?” he asked.

I turned, eyes hardened.

“First, I move them. They’re not staying in that apartment. Not with a Vitelli car circling like a fucking vulture.

I want them somewhere secure, somewhere I can watch every door and every window.”

“And second?” he prodded.

“Second,” I said, voice lowering into something lethal, “I make sure Isabella understands the situation, the whole truth. And I show her that she and Mateo are safest with me.”

Even if she hated me.

Even if she tried to run again.

No one would touch them under my protection.

No one.

Eduardo paused. “She may not accept your help easily.”

“I know.”

Because I had given her every reason to fear me.

I saw her again in my mind, at the door of her apartment, rage and heartbreak flickering in those dark eyes. The way she had shielded the inside of her home from me.

The way she had stood between me and our son.

“I won’t let her slip away again,” I vowed. “She may not believe me yet, but I’m done losing what matters.”

I moved towards the door.

“Let’s go.”

“To Isabella’s?” Eduardo guessed.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m done watching from a distance. She deserves answers. And Mateo-”

My voice caught for just a fraction of a second.

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Chapter 14

“He deserves a father.”

Eduardo opened the door for me. “We’ll tighten the perimeter around them. No one gets close.”

.(49)

“Good,” I replied. “Because if the Vitellis think they can use my son as leverage, they’re about to learn exactly what fear feels like.”

I stepped into the hall, every muscle coiled with

purpose.

I had spent five years burying love beneath anger and grief.

But now? Love was a weapon.

And I would use it to protect what was mine.

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21:44 Wed, Jan 14 …