His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 159

Chapter 159

Dominic’s POV

I stood there long after the gates closed.

The dust from the tires settled slowly against the gravel. The engine noise faded. The road curved out of sight.

And still, I didn’t move.

It felt like something had been physically removed from my chest. The Villa was quieter without them. Not peaceful. Just empty. It didn’t feel like home without them. No place ever would.

Marco approached cautiously. “They’ll reach the airport in thirty-five minutes.”

I nodded.

“Perimeter reinforced. Men rotated.”

“Good.”

He waited, like he expected further instruction.

I didn’t have any.

Because the next move was no longer tactical.

It was political.

I turned and walked back inside.

The hallway still carried the faint scent of Isabella’s perfume. Mateo’s laughter echoed faintly in memory.

You’re doing the right thing. Safety first. Always. I repeated it like a mantra as I went to my office.

By the time I closed the door behind me, the silence became suffocating.

I sat down slowly.

For the first time since yesterday, there was no immediate crisis demanding action. Just decision. And the weight of it.

I picked up my phone and stared at Alessia’s name. This is the moment. Once I made this call, there was no returning.

I thought of Isabella in the car. The way she had searched my face. The way she had said it’s not like we’re going away forever.

She had no idea.

I closed my eyes briefly.

If I do this, I lose her. Completely.

Because she will not tolerate being second choice. She shouldn’t.

But if I don’t do this, if I try to dismantle my inner circle without reinforced alliances then the Vitellis push harder. The mole adapts. The breaches continue.

And one day I won’t arrive five seconds early.

I pressed dial.

Alessia answered on the second ring. “Dominic?”

“Are you with

your father?”

A pause. “Yes.”

“Put him on.”

There was rustling. A low murmur. Then her father’s voice came through, steady and composed. “Yes.”

“I’ll agree,” I said.

There was silence on the other end for a while. Not shocked. Just confirmation.

“To the alliance,” I clarified. “Publicly.”

“Understood,” he replied.

“We move quickly.”

“Yes.”

“Announce within forty-eight hours.”

“Of course.”

I ended the call before he could say anything else.

Forty-eight hours. That’s how long Isabella had before the world shifted under her feet.

I set the phone down slowly. It didn’t feel like triumph. It felt like surrender. To necessity. To strategy. To the brutal mathematics of this life.

Father first. Leader second. Lover last.

I leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling.

Mateo’s voice echoed again.

Dominic wasn’t scared.

He was wrong. I was terrified. Not of enemies. But of losing her.

I pulled up the secure council channel.

Emergency meeting. Tonight.

Within minutes, confirmations began to appear.

The machine was moving. And I was the one who set it in motion.

By evening, the penthouse was full. Not of celebration. Of calculation.

Alessia stood across the room, pale but composed. When our eyes met, hers filled with something fragile. Hope.

It twisted something inside me.

Her father spoke first, outlining the strategic consolidation.

Public unity. Merged security networks. Shared assets. Reinforced legitimacy.

The men around the table nodded.

They saw strength. They saw deterrence. They saw the correct move.

None of them saw Isabella standing in a hallway last night, asking me what I wasn’t telling her. None of them saw the way she held our son.

“Dominic?” her father prompted.

I stood.

“This alliance is not personal,” I said evenly. “It is structural. Effective immediately, our operations will coordinate.”

A murmur of approval.

I continued, voice steady. “The engagement will be announced publicly within two days.”

The words tasted like ash. I watched as Alessia’s breath hitched slightly, her hope solidifying into relief.

She stepped closer after the meeting dispersed.

“You won’t regret this. We will always be together after this,” she said softly.

I looked at her. She believed that.

“I don’t regret necessary decisions,” I replied.

Chapu

But that wasn’t the same thing.

Later, alone in the penthouse, I walked to the window. The city stretched below me, glittering and indifferent.

I imagined Sicily.

Isabella unpacking. Mateo running towards the water. My mother watching them carefully.

She might already feel something shifting. She knows me. She always has. I checked my phone. No message from Isabella vet

Good.

She’s still in the air. Still in the small pocket of ignorance before impact.

Forty-eight hours.

I allowed myself one selfish thought.

Maybe she’ll understand. Maybe when she sees the escalation, when she hears the reasoning, when she understands I did this for Mateo-

No.

She will see betrayal. And she will not beg. I know her inside out. She will go cold.

And that will be worse than anger.

My chest tightened painfully.

I imagined her reading the headline.

Russo-Moretti Engagement Confirmed

Her face going still, her spine straightening, the quiet before she walks away.

I briefly wondered if I should’ve told her before she left. But what good would that have done anyway? Whether I told her or not wouldn’t make a difference. She would still hate me for it. She would still believe I betrayed her. That I gave her up.

I gripped the edge of the window frame until my knuckles whitened.

You chose this. The thought echoed my mind. There’s no point thinking of the what ifs now.

Yes. I chose her safety. Even if it cost me her love. Even if it cost me my son’s forgiveness one day.

I would rather be hated and have them alive than be loved and burying them.

That is the cruel truth of this world.

I closed my eyes.

Chapter 159

Goodbye, Isabella.

Not forever.

I don’t allow that word.

But for now-Goodbye.

田

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