His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Dominic’s POV

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The map of Florence was spread across the conference table, pins marking Vitelli holdings like infected wounds.

I stood at the head of the table, sleeves rolled up, jacket discarded, my attention split between strategy and the quiet, relentless pull of Sicily in the back of my mind.

Isabella and Mateo.

It irritated me how easily they occupied my thoughts now, how everything else bent around them.

Eduardo tapped a point near the river. “This warehouse is their fallback. We hit it hard, fast, and we don’t linger.”

“Good,” I said. “I want this finished quickly.”

Alessia, seated to my right, lifted a brow. “Quickly is relative. The Vitellis won’t fall in a week.”

“They don’t have to fall,” I replied coolly. “They just have to be neutralized enough that Florence becomes safe again.”

Eduardo glanced up. “You’re serious about bringing them back.”

“Yes.”

No hesitation. No qualifiers.

Silence followed, brief, but loaded.

Alessia studied me for a moment longer than necessary. “You’re restructuring everything around this,” she said. Her tone wasn’t accusing, just observing.

“I already told you that,” I replied.

Eduardo leaned back slightly. “I’ve started transferring some operations from New York to Florence. It’ll take time, but it’s doable.”

Alessia’s head snapped toward him. “From New York?”

Eduardo nodded. “Dominic wants a stronger base here. Permanent.”

Her gaze returned to me, sharper now. “You’re uprooting half your empire.”

“For my family,” I said simply.

The words felt heavier than I had expected. Final.

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Chapter 37

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But with them, also came the clarity that I was doing the right thing. Isabella and Mateo were my family. Five years ago, my neglect had led to where we were today. But I’d learned my lesson now. I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes again.

Alessia’s lips parted slightly, surprise flickering through her carefully composed expression before she smoothed it away.

“You’re changing the way you’ve done things for decades,” she said. “That’s quite significant.”

“So are they,” I replied honestly, looking right into her eyes as I did so.

Something flickered in her expression at my words, but it was gone before I could sense it. I brushed it off. If there was something she wanted to say, she would. But there was no changing my mind about this.

I turned back to the map.

“The Vitellis will retaliate,” Eduardo said. “They always do.”

“Let them,” I answered. “But we don’t overextend. No unnecessary bloodshed. No risks that put civilians in the crossfire.”

Alessia tilted her head. “You’re softening.”

I looked at her then. Really looked.

“No,” I said calmly. “I’m focusing.”

There was a difference.

She exhaled slowly, fingers tapping once against the table. “Dominic, you know I respect Isabella. Truly. But you can’t deny she complicates things.”

Eduardo stiffened almost imperceptibly.

I didn’t.

“She isn’t built for this world,” Alessia continued, her voice measured. “And Mateo-”

“That’s enough,” I cut in. My voice was not raised, not angry. But final.

Her mouth closed. A flicker of irritation passed through her eyes before she tucked it away. “I’m only saying

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“I know what you’re saying,” I interrupted. “And you’re wrong.”

Alessia stared at me, clearly not used to being dismissed so cleanly. I usually listened to whatever advice she had to give when it came to business. But this wasn’t business. This was my family. There was a difference. Alessia needed to see that. And the sooner she did, the better it would be for her.

“They don’t need to be built for my world,” I continued. “My world will adjust to them.”

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Chapter 37

Eduardo said nothing, but I caught the faint curve of approval at the corner of his mouth.

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Alessia leaned back, crossing her arms. “And if Isabella decides she doesn’t want you? Or this life? Or any of

it?”

The question struck closer than she had probably intended.

“That’s her choice,” I said. “But it won’t change what I do.”

“And what is that?”

“I end this war,” I replied evenly. “I make Florence safe. And I give my son a life where he never has to look over his shoulder.”

Alessia searched my face, as if looking for cracks.

She wouldn’t find any.

After a moment, she nodded once. “Very well. Then we proceed as planned.”

Good.

We went over timelines, supply routes, contingencies. The work was familiar, grounding. Violence with purpose.

But underneath it all, my mind kept drifting back to the video call that ended wrong, to Isabella’s sudden coldness, to the way she had looked at the screen before she masked it.

I hadn’t missed it.

I just hadn’t understood it yet.

She had been talking to me just fine, but then I started talking to Alessia about work, and it was like all her walls had gone right back up.

Did she not like me working?

I understood that the mafia world wasn’t for everyone. But she had grown in it just like I had.

Was she worried that I’d push Mateo into it just like my father had done to me?

Is that why every time I mentioned work, she seemed to move away from me?

But I’d already told her I would keep Mateo far, far away from all this.

Then why-

“….and I’ll coordinate with the Florence team,” Eduardo’s voice made me look up and I realised that the meeting had wound up already. I’d missed the last of it. Shit.

“Good,” I said to him, easily masking the fact that I hadn’t been paying attention towards the end. “Keep me

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Chapter 37

updated hourly.”

He nodded and left.

Alessia lingered.

“You’re serious about this,” she said quietly.

“Yes.”

She hesitated. “Don’t lose yourself in the process.”

I almost laughed.

“I already did,” I said. “A long time ago.”

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She studied me, then inclined her head. “I’ll support you. Whatever you need.”

I didn’t respond.

Because support wasn’t what I needed anymore.

As she turned to leave, my phone buzzed on the table.

A message from my mother.

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A picture of Mateo asleep, one arm flung over a stuffed animal, curls mussed, mouth slightly open. Isabella sat beside him, reading, unaware of the camera, her face soft in a way I hadn’t seen in years.

Something tight in my chest eased.

That was the world I was fighting for now.

Not power. Not dominance.

Them.

I closed my eyes briefly, committing the image to memory,

Then I straightened.

Vitelli would fall.

Florence would be safe.

And when Isabella looked at me again, really looked, I intended to be a man worth trusting.

A father worth staying for.

Even if it took everything I had.

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