His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 154

Chapter 154

Isabella’s POV

Dominic had just texted that he will be home with Mateo soon. I frowned at the text a bit. He had brought Mateo home early. Was everything okay?

Even so, I walked outside the moment I heard the gates open.

Then, Mateo stepped out of the car and ran towards me with his arms outstretched.

“Mama.”

I dropped to my knees and pulled him into my arms so tightly he let out a small surprised noise. I hadn’t realised how worried I’d been about him until I saw him right in front of me. It was a good thing Dominic had brought him home early. Maybe he was feeling the same way too.

“How are you, amore?” I asked him, wanting to hear it from him.

“I’m fine,” he said quickly. “A man came to get me.”

My blood ran cold.

“What man?”

“He said you were sick,” Mateo continued earnestly. “He said I had to go with him because you weren’t feeling well.”

The world tilted.

“He said I should hurry,” he added. “But then Dominic came.”

My head snapped up. Dominic was standing a few feet away. His appearance looked fine to me, but then I noticed his knuckles which had blood crusted on them.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

Mateo twisted in my arms to look back at him. “It’s fine,” he reassured me. “Dominic hit him. For lying.”

My heart stopped.

“You what?” I breathed, staring at Dominic.

He didn’t flinch under my gaze.

Mateo looked almost proud. “He told him to let me go. And then he hit him.”

I tightened my arms around my son, pressing my face into his hair. The scent of his shampoo. The warmth of his skin. He had been seconds away from disappearing.

Tully,

He blinked.

“You never go with anyone. Ever. I don’t care what they say. I don’t care if they say I’m sick, or Dominic sent them, or the school said it’s fine. You do not move unless I come. Or Dominic comes. Do you understand?”

He nodded slowly.

“No,” I insisted softly, cupping his face. “Say it.”

“I won’t go with anyone else,” he repeated. “Only you and Dominic.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

My throat burned.

“Can I go change now?” he asked hesitantly. “My shirt feels weird.”

“Yes,” I said quickly. “Maria.”

Maria stepped forward at once. “Come, piccolo. Let’s get you upstairs.”

Mateo glanced back at Dominic once before following her inside. The doors closed.

And the silence descended like a guillotine.

I stood slowly. “What happened?” I asked.

Dominic’s jaw tightened. “It was a kidnapping attempt.”

The words didn’t register. “A what?”

“They forged documents. Claimed you were sick. Signed authorization papers.”

My knees almost gave out.

“They were walking him to a car when I arrived.”

Something inside me snapped.

“No,” I whispered. “No. No, that’s not-”

“I intercepted them.”

Intercepted. Like it was business. Like it wasn’t our child.

“They were seconds away from putting him inside,” Dominic continued, his voice controlled. Too controlled. “If I had waited until dismissal-”

I lunged forward and grabbed his shirt. “Don’t,” I choked. “Don’t even finish that sentence.”

A hundred images assaulted me at once.

Mateo crying in a car. Mateo calling for me. Mateo being driven away. Mateo never coming home. My chest constricted so violently I couldn’t breathe.

“What if you hadn’t gone?” I sobbed. “What if no one realized? What if they’d taken him? What would they have done to him, Dominic?”

He caught my shoulders. “They didn’t.”

“But they could have!” I cried. “They were right there. They were right there and I was here, waiting for him to come home like it was a normal day.”

Tears blurred my vision. I had always kept him safe. Always.

When I left Dominic five years ago, I did it to protect my child. To give him peace. Stability. A life untouched by violence.

And now?

Now nowhere felt safe.

“They used me,” I whispered. “They told him I was sick.”

Dominic’s hands tightened fractionally. “Yes.”

“I could have lost him because of this life,” I said hoarsely.

His life. The words hovered on my tongue.I wanted to scream at him. This is your fault. Our life was calmer before you came back.

We were safer before your war followed us. The accusations burned inside me.

But then I looked at him, really looked.

The blood on his knuckles wasn’t abstract. It was swollen, skin split open. His jaw was clenched too tight. His eyes held fear, not for himself, but for our child.

He had been afraid too. He didn’t choose this life. He was born into it. And he had run towards our son today to protect him. That’s all he had ever done. Mateo and my safety was all he had ever wanted. How could I lash out at him then?

And yet, the threat was real. The danger was real.

“You could have been too late,” I whispered, voice breaking again.

“But I wasn’t.”

I pressed my hands against my face, trying to steady myself.

“If I were alone,” I said quietly, “I could handle this. I could live with it. I could survive the mess.”

His expression shifted.

“But I refuse,” I continued, my voice trembling, “to put Matco through this. I refuse.”

The thought had already formed, solid and sharp.

Maybe it was best if Dominic stayed away.

Maybe that was the only way.

“I will not let my son grow up flinching at footsteps,” I said. “I won’t let him look over his shoulder every time a car slows down.”

“He won’t,” Dominic said firmly. “Not here.”

“How can you promise that?” I demanded. “They got into his school.”

His silence lasted half a second too long. Then, “We’ll reinforce everything. Double security. Change procedures. Rotate men.”

“That’s not the point!” I cried. “Security failed today.”

He stepped closer. “And I fixed it.”

“You happened to be there,” I shot back. “What about next time?”

“There won’t be a next time.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I will make sure of it.” His voice wasn’t loud. It was absolute.

“I have protected you so far,” he said, lower now. “I will protect you with my life going forward, too.”

I believed him. That was the worst part.

“I know you will,” I whispered.

And I did. He would bleed. He would kill. He would burn the world down. For us.

But what if that wasn’t enough?

“This feels too much,” I admitted. “I’m scared for him, Dominic. I’m terrified.”

He reached for my face carefully, as if I might break. “I will end this.”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet.” His jaw tightened. “But I will.”

He held my gaze. “I just need time,” he said quietly. “And I need you to trust me.”

Trust. The word felt fragile.

“I do,” I said automatically.

Because part of me did.

But another part?

That part was already calculating. Already thinking about exits. About quiet cities. About disappearing before something worse happened.

I couldn’t lose Mateo. Not to this.

I wouldn’t survive it.

“I trust you,” I repeated.

But inside, confusion churned.

If I stay, I risk him.

If I leave, I break us.

Which one is worse?

Dominic brushed his thumb beneath my eye, catching a tear. “He’s safe now,” he said. “Inside these walls, nothing touches you.”

I nodded. But I didn’t feel safe. Not anymore.

“I need to check on him,” I whispered.

“Go.”

I turned to go inside; my legs heavy.

Before I stepped inside, I looked back.

Dominic was still standing there, blood drying on his skin, eyes fixed on the door like he was guarding it with

sheer will.

He would fight for us. I never doubted that. But love and protection were not the same thing as peace.

And my son deserved peace.

Upstairs, I found Mateo in his room, already changed, sitting on his bed.

He looked up when I entered. “Mama?”

I crossed the room and pulled him into my arms again.

He sighed dramatically. “I said I’m fine.”

I pressed my lips to his hair. “I know,” I whispered.

But I wasn’t.

Downstairs, I heard the front door open and close. Dominic had left.

I felt something cold settle inside me then.

If this doesn’t stop, I will leave.

And this time, I will tell him first.

Even if it destroys us.

田

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