His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 140

Chapter 140

Isabella’s POV

Hospitals have a strange kind of silence.

Not quiet exactly, there are footsteps, murmurs, machines, but it’s a heavy silence that presses against your chest.

I sat in the waiting area outside Alessia’s room, my hands clasped together so tightly my knuckles had gone pale. The fluorescent lights hummed above me. Every few seconds someone walked past, but everything felt distant.

My ears still burned faintly.

From shock.

From the way her words had landed earlier.

You let me fall.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a second.

I had tried.

I really had.

I replayed it over and over in my mind. The tilt of her body. The split second where our fingers touched. The weight shifting too fast for me to hold.

If I had leaned just a little further-

If I had grabbed harder-

Stop.

That road led nowhere.

Footsteps approached.

I looked up, expecting Dominic.

Instead, I saw Alessia’s mother.

She walked with the kind of poise that didn’t waver even in tragedy, dark hair pulled back neatly, tailored coat still immaculate despite the rush. Her eyes, however, were red.

She stopped directly in front of me.

“Are you Isabella?” she asked.

Chapter 140

Her voice was calm, too calm.

“Yes,” I replied, standing instinctively.

I barely had time to register the shift in her expression.

Her hand came out of nowhere.

The slap cracked through the waiting area.

My head snapped to the side.

The sting bloomed across my cheek instantly.

For a second, I didn’t even understand what had happened, the sound echoing in my ears.

A few nurses turned to look.

I lifted my hand slowly to my face.

She didn’t give me a chance to speak.

“That,” she said sharply, “is very little compared to what you’ve done.”

My shock dissolved into something colder.

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“What are you talking about?” I asked, my voice steady despite the burning.

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“My daughter told me everything,” she snapped. “You never wanted her to have Dominic’s baby. You didn’t believe her when she told you the baby was Dominic’s. You hated her.”

I inhaled slowly. “And?”

“And you stood there and let her fall!” she shouted. “You could have saved her!”

The accusation landed heavy.

“Her baby is dead because of you.”

There it was.

The blade.

I straightened.

“Yes,” I said evenly. “I don’t like your daughter.”

Her eyes widened slightly at my bluntness.

“Yes,” I continued. “I didn’t want her to have Dominic’s baby. Yes, I didn’t believe her.”

The words felt like stones being laid down deliberately.

“But that does not mean I would ever take a life.”

Her jaw tightened.

“It was an accident,” I said firmly. “I tried to grab her. It happened in seconds.”

“You expect me to believe that?” she demanded.

“I didn’t correct her in there because she is grieving,” I said, my voice rising now. “She is in pain and I understand that. But that does not give you the right to slap me and accuse me of murder.”

Her nostrils flared. “You’ve always resented her.”

“Yes,” I said again. “But resentment is not the same as violence.”

She stepped closer. “She lost her child.”

“I know,” I replied, my own voice breaking now. “And I am sorry. But I did not push her. I tried to save her from the fall, but I couldn’t. My intent was never malicious.”

She opened her mouth again, something cutting already forming, when a voice came from behind us.

“Isabella?”

It was Caterina’s voice.

Both of us turned.

Caterina was walking towards us hurriedly, her face lined with worry.

Her eyes immediately went to my cheek.

“What happened?” she asked sharply.

Before I could answer, Alessia’s mother spoke.

“That is very little punishment for what she has done.”

Caterina’s expression hardened instantly. “What do you mean?”

“She let my daughter fall,” she said coldly. “She didn’t save her.”

Caterina’s posture straightened. “No,” she said, without hesitation.

Alessia’s mother blinked.

“No?” she repeated.

“Isabella would never do something like that,” Caterina said firmly.

The words wrapped around me like armor.

“A mother could never hurt another child. Isabella does not have a vicious bone in her body.”

My throat tightened.

“She hated my daughter,” Alessia’s mother insisted.

“Hate does not turn into murder,” Caterina replied sharply. “And I have known Isabella long enough to know that if she could have saved her, she would have.”

Silence hung between them.

For the first time, Alessia’s mother seemed slightly taken aback.

“She is grieving,” Caterina continued, her tone softer now. “And so are we. But we will not turn grief into lies.”

Alessia’s mother looked at me once more, her gaze long and searching.

Then she exhaled slowly.

“Come,” she said to Caterina. “You should see her.”

Caterina squeezed my hand briefly before walking past me.

And just like that, I was alone again.

My cheek still stung.

But something inside me burned hotter.

Anger. Humiliation. Sadness.

I stared at the floor for a long moment.

I did not push her.

I did not.

Footsteps approached again.

Dominic.

He stopped when he saw my face, his eyes narrowing. “What happened?”

I almost said nothing.

Almost brushed it off.

But then I remembered how we needed to work on communication, on telling each other things more. If I expected transparency from him, I should be giving it to him where I could, too.

So I told him.

“She slapped me,” I said plainly.

His entire body stiffened. “Who?”

“Alessia’s mother.”

His jaw clenched so tightly I thought it might crack.

“She said I let Alessia fall.”

Dominic’s eyes darkened instantly. “I’m going in there,” he said.

“No,” I said quickly, grabbing his arm.

“She had no right-”

“I know,” I cut in. “And Caterina and I handled it.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“It does,” I insisted.

He looked furious. Protective. Ready to explode.

“Dominic,” I said quietly, forcing him to look at me. “Right now, this is not about us. It’s not about pride. It’s not about revenge.”

His breathing was heavy.

“She just lost her grandchild,” I continued. “Alessia just lost her baby. They are not thinking clearly.”

He exhaled sharply.

“And you?” he asked. “You’re just supposed to accept that?”

“I can handle it,” I said. “But if you go in there now and fight them, it will only make everything worse.”

He searched my face.

“They need you focused on her,” I said softly. “Not starting a war in a hospital corridor.”

His shoulders slowly dropped. I could see the battle inside him.

Then, he nodded once.

“You don’t deserve that,” he muttered.

“I know,” I replied quietly.

For the first time since this nightmare began, I felt something solid between us.

Not romance, not even reconciliation, but partnership.

We stood there in silence.

Both grieving. Both exhausted.

And both knowing somewhere in our hearts that this tragedy wasn’t over yet.

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