His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 5

His Return

5 years later

“Mamma, faster!”

Mateo’s laughter rang through the sunny apartment as he sprinted across the living room, bare feet slapping against the wooden floor. I pretended to chase him, catching him just before he could duck under the table. I scooped him up, spinning him around until he squealed with delight.

His curls bounced into his eyes—Dominic’s eyes—and for a moment, I froze, my chest tightening with an ache I thought I’d long buried.

I kissed my son’s forehead, forcing the memory away.

“Alright, alright. Time to calm down, little hurricane. Mamma has work.”

Work.

The word meant something different now than it had five years ago.

No longer was I just an employee with something to prove. I was now Signora Bianchi, Director of Curation and Exhibitions—a respected leader in the Florence arts scene, sought after for my innovative ideas.

My colleagues had become my friends, my family. They knew me as a single mother who had made her life from scratch, and they admired me for it.

None of them knew the truth.

That morning, I was halfway through sorting the final list for an upcoming joint exhibition when Chiara knocked on my door, looking pleased but slightly tense.

“Isa, do you have a minute?”

“Of course.”

Chiara closed the door and sat across from me.

“We’ve been offered a huge partnership, an international sponsor for the Renaissance Reborn project. It’ll open doors for all of us. Funding, recognition, press. But…”

My pen stilled mid-note. “But what?”

“The sponsor is the Russo Group.”

The name hit me like a fist to the gut.

Chiara continued, oblivious to my rigid posture.

“The CEO himself is flying in for the final negotiations from New York. We’ll need our head of curation at the table. Which means you.”

I stared at her blankly, heart pounding so loudly I barely heard anything else.

“Isa? You alright?”

I forced a smile, thin and shaky. “Yes. Of course. Just… surprised. I didn’t know the Russo Group dealt with projects like that.”

Chiara nodded. “They only started a few years back. But they’ll be a good start to take our business international, you know? The kind of connections they have is just what we need.”

I nodded, still trying to wrap my head around the information I’d just gotten.

When Chiara left, I sat frozen, fingers clenched around my pen until it snapped in two.

Leaving Dominic had been the best decision of my life and over the years, I’d built something beautiful from the ashes of the betrayal and pain he had left behind.

But now, Dominic was coming here.

And I wasn’t sure I was ready to face him yet, or if I’d ever be.

That evening, Mateo climbed onto my lap with his favorite book, demanding a story. I read, smiling when he giggled at his favorite part, but inside my thoughts churned.

I hadn’t told anyone about Dominic. Not my friends. Not my son.

And now I was going to have to walk into a room and face the man who thought I was dead—who had, in a way, helped kill the woman I used to be.

I hugged Mateo closer, inhaling the scent of his shampoo.

Whatever Dominic Russo thought he could do to me now, he’d learn soon enough that I wasn’t the same woman who used to wait for scraps of affection.

I was stronger. Bolder.

And most importantly, I wasn’t alone. I had my friends with me. They’d shown me what it felt like to be truly loved and cared for. And my son had grown surrounded by the same love, care and affection from everyone around him.

I’d be damned if I let anyone, let alone Dominic Russo take that away from us.

This time, I wasn’t running.

I would show Dominic I wasn’t the same pathetic woman he had once tried to kill.