His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 209

1:32 pm

Chapter 209

Chapter 209

Dominic’s POV

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The apartment had finally gone quiet. The kind of quiet that only came after Mateo had exhausted himself talking. laughing, and negotiating bedtime like it was a political summit.

I stood in his doorway, arms folded, watching him dramatically arrange his blankets like a tiny king preparing for battle.

“You know,” he said seriously, “babies should probably be quieter.”

I leaned against the frame. “That sounds like something you should discuss with the baby directly.”

He nodded like that was perfectly reasonable. “I will tomorrow.”

“Excellent. Let me know how that goes.”

He grinned. Then, softly called out to me, “Dominic?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you staying tonight?”

There it was. That small, innocent question that somehow hit harder than any threat ever had.

I walked over and sat on the edge of his bed. “For a little while.”

He seemed to consider that. Then accepted it with the quiet wisdom only children somehow had. “Okay.”

I brushed his hair back gently. “Go to sleep.”

“Tell Mama not to work too much.”

“I’ll add it to my very long list of impossible tasks.”

“And tell Nonna not to make soup with too many vegetables.”

“That one is definitely impossible.”

He laughed sleepily, and a few minutes later, he was out, peaceful and warm

I stayed there longer than I needed to, just watching him breathe. For five years I had missed. Sometimes I still didn’t know how to carry that without it crushing me. I would spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it. And maybe it still wouldn’t be enough.

But I would try.

I owed him that.

I owed all of them that.

When I finally stepped back into the living room, I found my mother exactly where I knew she would be Sitting on the sofa, waiting with her arms crossed. That posture alone told me this was not going to be a casual conversation. Wonderful.

I sighed and walked over. “You look like you’re about to interrogate me.”

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Chapter 209

“I am.”

Perfect.

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I sat across from her, preparing myself for the worst.

She didn’t waste time. “What are you doing?” she asked, straight to the point. Very on brand.

I leaned back slightly. “That depends. In life? Tonight? Emotionally?”

“Dominic.”

“Right. Serious face.”

Her expression didn’t change. “You are about to have another child with Isabella,” she said. “While still planning to marry another woman. Explain to me how exactly you think this makes sense.”

I rubbed a hand over my jaw. This was a conversation I was both dreading and needed to have. “It doesn’t.”

“No, it does not.”

“But that doesn’t mean I’m not fixing it.”

She stared at me, her gaze sharp and careful. “If you are giving her false hope,” she said, her voice low now, “if you are telling her you will leave Alessia while planning no such thing-”

“I’m not.” The words came fast, firm. Because that mattered. More than anything.

“I’m not leading her on. Not at all.”

My words were met with a skeptical silence.

Then I said it plainly. “I want to leave Alessia.”

My mother’s brows lifted slightly.

‘I want to spend the rest of my life with Isa. With Mateo. With this baby.” The words felt right as I said them. Solid. Like truth finally spoken out loud.

I exhaled. “And honestly? I want to leave all of it.”

She frowned slightly. “All of what?”

I met her eyes. “The mafia.”

That actually shocked her.

I saw it immediately.

For once, Caterina Russo was speechless. A rare and terrifying event.

She blinked slowly. “Are you being serious?”

“Yes.”

She sat back, studying me like she was trying to determine if I had hit my head recently. “Dominic, do you understand the

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Chapter 209

gravity of what you are saying?”

I almost laughed. Because if anyone understood it, it was me.

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“Of course I do.” I leaned forward. “I know exactly what it means. I know what walking away would cost. I know I can’t just disappear and pretend the world won’t come after me,” I paused. “But I’m done with this.”

And God, I meant it.

“I’m tired,” I admitted. “I’m tired of blood and threats and politics and pretending this life is worth sacrificing everything else for.”

I looked towards the hallway where Isa’s room was, towards Mateo sleeping, towards the life I actually wanted.

“I just want a simple life. My wife. My kids. You too, if you still want to be part of that life.”

Her eyes softened then. And suddenly she wasn’t the terrifying family matriarch. She was just my mother.

“Of course I want to be part of your life, idiota.”

I smiled. “There she is.”

She shook her head. “I never liked this life either.” Her voice grew quieter as she continued, “I lost your father to it long before I actually buried him.”

That hit hard.

She looked down for a moment. “The stress. The paranoia. The constant looking over his shoulder. The enemies. The threats. It takes pieces of you, little by little, until there is nothing left. I hated it. I hated all of it.”

She looked back at me. “So no, I am not angry that you want to leave. I am relieved.”

Something in my chest loosened. Because I hadn’t realized how badly I needed her approval, her understanding, her trust

until then.

‘But,” she added sharply, because of course there was a but, “you cannot just wake up one morning and decide you are done. This is not a bad haircut, Dominic. It is the mafia.”

I snorted. “Very comforting comparison.”

‘You understand my point.”

‘I do.”

And I did.

I’m not being reckless. I’m planning carefully. Every move matters. I need time. Patience. Trust.”

She stared at me for a long moment, long enough that I almost started defending myself again.

Then finally, she nodded. “I trust you.”

The words were simple but they landed like something much bigger. And for a second, I was ten years old agam, trying to prove I could carry things I probably shouldn’t have had to.

I smiled faintly. “Thank you.”

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Chapter 209

She waved it off like she hadn’t just emotionally disarmed me.

“And thank you for taking care of Isa.”

She narrowed her eyes. “That is my job. Yours is not to make her life harder.”

“Apparently I keep failing that one.”

“Spectacularly.”

Fair.

Then she pointed a finger at me. “Her appointment is next week. You will not miss it.”

“I won’t.”

“I mean it.”

“I know.”

She nodded once, satisfied. “Also, Vittoria called.”

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I groaned immediately. She did not like Isa, and so, I did not like her either. Our last few conversations hadn’t been particularly pleasing either. “Why do I suddenly feel physically unwell?”

“Because you have instincts.”

“But she wants to meet,” my mother continued. “Her and Salvatore. And apparently Alessia.”

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