His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Isabella’s POV

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I woke up to the low hum of engines and the faint vibration beneath me, unfamiliar, and unsettling.

My head throbbed.

My limbs were heavy.

The faint scent of leather and expensive cologne drifted through the air.

Panic clawed up my throat.

No.

No, no, no-

I pushed upright, my breath punching out of me when I saw Mateo curled up on a small couch a few feet away, blanket rising and falling with his soft breathing.

We were on a private jet.

We were in the air.

My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it hurt.

I stumbled to Mateo, hands shaking as I touched his cheek.

“Mateo,” I whispered urgently. “Sweetheart, wake up.”

He didn’t stir.

Cold terror crashed over me.

“You drugged him,” I breathed, voice shaking violently. “You drugged my son.”

“No,” came Dominic’s voice from behind me. “Never.”

I spun to face him at once. Anger, fear, betrayal, all surging within me like a tidal wave.

He stood a few feet away, hands open, palms out, like approaching a wild animal.

“He cried himself to sleep,” Dominic said quietly. “After I told him we were going somewhere safe with you.”

The words in my chest snapped like wire.

“And you drugged me?” I spat.

Dominic’s throat bobbed. “I needed-”

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Chapter 29

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“You NEEDED?” My voice cracked into a scream. “You drugged me because YOU needed something?”

He flinched.

Good.

“You took away my choice,” I hissed. “You took away my ability to protect my child.”

“I was protecting you both.”

“No.” My voice sharpened into a blade. “You were controlling us.”

His men shifted behind him, Eduardo and Marco both visibly tense, ready to restrain me if needed.

I saw red.

“You think this is protection?” I demanded. “This is kidnapping is what it is.”

Dominic’s expression tore open, hurt, guilt, something deeper and uglier.

“It’s not ”

“You stole me out of my own life!” Tears gathered and fell hot down my cheeks. “You decided for me! You decided for my son!”

He stepped forward instinctively, like he wanted to comfort me, and I struck.

My palm cracked across his cheek.

The sound echoed like a gunshot.

His head jerked to the side, a red bloom appearing instantly where I’d hit him.

His guards surged forward, hands on weapons.

Dominic didn’t move.

He just raised one hand.

“Stand down,” he ordered, voice low and deadly calm.

They froze instantly.

He turned back to me.

Shock still trembled through me. My hand stung. I wanted to hit him again. I wanted to scream until there was nothing left inside.

“What else are you planning, Dominic?” I spat. “Cut off my friends? My job? You going to lock me in some glass palace while you rule your dark kingdom?”

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Chapter 29

His eyes burned, not with anger.

With agony.

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“I would tear this entire world apart before I let it touch you again.”

“That’s not love,” I whispered. “That’s obsession. That’s fear.”

“And fear keeps you alive.”

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“Oh, don’t you dare,” I snarled. “Don’t you dare pretend you’re doing this for me. You’re doing it because you’re terrified of losing control.”

He flinched. Again.

His voice broke when he spoke next, “I spent five years wishing I had died with you.”

It should have softened me.

But all it did was made me rage even harder.

He had no right saying that when he was the one who had orchestrated the whole thing in the first place.

“I survived without you!” I cried. “Mateo thrived without you! We built a life, one you didn’t get to ruin, and now you’re ripping us out of it because YOU can’t handle that we were better off without you!”

He stepped closer, slow, and controlled, but his voice shook.

“You think I don’t know that?” he breathed. “You think I don’t realize every day that I failed you? That I made you run? That I drove you to fear me more than death?”

My breath faltered.

Because hearing it aloud from him, hearing him accept it so candidly was a blow I wasn’t prepared for.

His voice dropped to something tragic.

“You think this was easy for me? Drugging you, betraying your trust like that?” He swallowed hard. “Do you think I didn’t consider that you might hate me forever for it?”

“You made sure of that,” I said coldly.

His face crumpled at my words.

“I can live with your hatred,” he said softly, “I can’t live with your coffin.”

My chest felt like it was caving inward.

“Dominic,” My voice splintered. “You can’t just force me to choose the life you want.”

He looked at me, truly looked, and his voice dropped to a whisper that scraped against old wounds,

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Chapter 29

“You wouldn’t choose me.”

Silence.

Thick and suffocating.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

He stepped back, breathing uneven.

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“I know you don’t trust me, especially after what I did today,” he said. “But I will spend the rest of my life earning that trust back. Even if it takes forever.”

I wiped my cheeks with furious hands. “You don’t get to say that now. Not like this. Not after what you just did.”

He nodded once, accepting the blow.

“I’ll take your anger,” he murmured. “All of it. But I won’t take chances with your life.”

I sank into a seat, my legs trembling too hard to hold me.

I stared at Mateo’s sleeping form, so small, so unaware.

Dominic watched too.

His jaw clenched.

“I’m taking you somewhere no one can reach you,” he said quietly. “A place even the Vitellis don’t know exists.”

“And then what?” I whispered. “You keep us locked up like precious possessions?”

“No.” His chest rose and fell. “I keep you both alive.”

I shook my head slowly.

“You can’t protect me by taking away who I am,” I murmured. “You’re saving the body but killing the soul.”

Dominic closed his eyes.

I didn’t know if the battle would change him.

But it was clear whe

re the war lines were drawn.

He made his choice.

Now, I would make mine.

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Chapter 29

Even if it tore us both apart.

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The plane flew on into the night, towards a future neither of us agreed on.

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