His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 161

Chapter 161

Isabella’s POV

For a moment, I heard nothing. Not the ocean outside. Not Luca’s voice in my memory. Not even my own. breathing.

Just silence.

The words I’d seen on the screen flashed through my mind’s eye every time I closed my eyes like they had been branded into my brain.

Russo-Moretti Alliance Confirmed. Engagement Imminent.

Engaged. He was getting engaged to Alessia. And then he would marry her.

My fingers tightened around the phone until they hurt.

“Dominic,” Caterina said quietly. “Is getting married?”

I didn’t realize I had spoken out loud.

Her face went pale. “To Alessia?” she asked, though she already knew.

I nodded once. It felt like moving underwater.

She walked towards me slowly. “Let me see.”

I handed her the phone without looking at her.

She read it. Once. Twice.

Her jaw tightened. “He did not tell you.”

It wasn’t a question.

“No.”

The word came out steady, too steady.

Caterina looked at me carefully.

“Isa-”

“I need some air.”

I didn’t wait for permission.

I walked past her and out onto the terrace.

aking rhythmically against the

Everything looked normal. Unchanged.

And yet something inside me had just been severed.

I didn’t cry.

That surprised me. I had thought heartbreak would feel loud. Shattering.

But this?

This was quiet, the cold realization settling bone-deep.

He chose.

I replayed the last forty-eight hours in my mind.

The way he held me. The way he said I love you. The way he told me to be strong. The way he looked at me like he was memorizing my face.

He knew. He knew when he said goodbye. And he let me leave without telling me.

That was the part that cut deepest.

Not the marriage. Not the politics.

But the silence.

He denied me the dignity of the truth.

A breeze swept across the terrace, lifting my hair.

He chose safety, power, strength. Because this alliance will give him all that and then some.

Of course he chose that.

That was always who he was.

And I?

I was the variable. The expendable piece.

My chest tightened slightly. Not with rage. With clarity.

I had told him once that I will not be second choice.

I had meant it. I still did.

And now he had made it clear.

The world shifted around me, reorganizing itself into something simpler. There would be no more waiting. No more hoping he would untangle politics from love and come back to me. No more standing in between him and Alessia while pretending it was temporary.

Temporary had just become permanent.

Behind me, I heard the terrace door open softly.

Caterina didn’t come closer. She stood near the doorway.

“I did not know,” she said quietly.

“I know.”

Her voice trembled slightly. “He would not do this lightly.”

“No,” I agreed. “He wouldn’t.”

We both understood what that meant.

If Dominic agreed to this, it was because he believed it necessary. For power. For stability. For Mateo.

Which made it worse.

Because that meant he thought losing me was an acceptable cost.

I wrapped my arms around myself.

Two days ago, I had wondered whether he was sleeping in the same bed as Alessia.

Now I knew the answer didn’t matter.

He was going to marry her. Publicly. Legally. Politically.

And I would not stand beside that.

“Isa,” Caterina said carefully, “this may not be what it appears.”

“It is exactly what it appears,” I replied softly.

She fell silent.

The sea continued its steady rhythm. I felt something inside me harden. Not bitterness. Not hatred.

Protection. For myself. For Mateo.

I cannot raise my son in a house where his father’s loyalty is divided publicly. I cannot teach him that love waits in the shadows. I cannot allow him to grow up watching his mother tolerate being replaced.

No.

If Dominic believed this was the only way to protect us, then I would protect us differently.

By stepping away. Fully.

I walked back inside slowly.

Caterina followed.

Mateo was in the living room, building something with blocks.

He looked up and smiled when he saw me.

“Mama! Look!”

I knelt beside him. “That’s amazing.”

He grinned proudly. The innocence in his eyes anchored me. This is what matters. Not headlines. Not alliances. Not political strategy.

This child.

His future.

His sense of stability.

If Dominic marries Alessia, the narrative changes. And I will not allow Mateo to become a secondary presence in his own father’s public life.

The thought didn’t bring anger.

It brought resolve.

Caterina watched me carefully.

“What will you do?” she asked quietly.

I looked at her.

For the first time, my voice felt completely calm.

“I will wait for him to call.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then that tells me everything.”

She swallowed. “And if he does?”

I stood slowly. “Then he will explain.”

And I will listen.

But I will not beg. I will not compete. I will not cry in front of him.

He chose strategy.

Now I choose dignity.

That night, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling.

The phone rested on the table beside me. Silent.

Each minute stretched long and hollow.

I didn’t text him. I didn’t call.

If he wanted me to know from him, he would reach out.

If he respected me at all, he would.

Hours passed.

Nothing.

A strange calm spread through me.

This is it. This is the line.

The love didn’t disappear. It was still there.

It just moved from my heart to my spine.

I will not be second. No matter how much I love him. No matter how much it hurts.

I turned off the lamp.

And in the darkness, I made a quiet decision.

If Dominic marries Alessia, I walk away.

Not in anger. Not in chaos.

But permanently.

And this time, there will be no explosion.

Only absence.