His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 6

Unfinished Business

The conference room smelled faintly of coffee and expensive leather, with tall windows overlooking Florence’s skyline. I stood near the head of the table, reviewing my notes for the presentation I had practically memorized over the last two nights.

I’d barely slept. Not from nerves about the project, but because I knew who would walk through that door.

Before I could think too much and spiral for the umpteenth time since I’d gotten to know that I was going to face him again, the click of polished shoes on marble echoed down the hallway outside.

I didn’t have to look up to know it was him.

Dominic Russo had a presence that warned of his arrival before he even entered the room.

When the door opened, my breath hitched despite every wall I’d built.

He walked in flanked by two men I vaguely recognized from old memories, Eduardo, his right-hand man, and Marco, one of the younger lieutenants. Dominic himself looked older, somehow. Harder around the edges but also worn, like someone who had fought too many battles and won too few of them cleanly.

The moment his eyes met mine, the air in the room shifted.

He stopped mid-step.

For several seconds, no one spoke.

Eduardo started to greet the team but faltered when Dominic’s expression froze.

I stood perfectly still, spine straight, hands clasped in front of me as if I were simply hosting any other business meeting.

But inside, my pulse thundered. Old memories rushed back in waves, the way he’d held me late at night on our marital bed after we’d just made love, the way he’d sometimes take me out for lunch just because, and then, the way his gaze had hardened when he’d threatened to kill our unborn child and me.

I barely concealed the disgust in my expression as I continued to stare at a seemingly flabbergasted Dominic.

His voice was low, rough, almost disbelieving when he said, “Isabella?”

It wasn’t a question so much as a ghost trying to confirm it wasn’t hallucinating.

Chiara stepped in to bridge the awkward silence, smiling at Dominic and his team.

“Mr. Russo, welcome. This is Isabella Bianchi, our Director of Curation. She’ll be presenting the plans for the exhibit.”

The name seemed to hit Dominic like a blow. He blinked once, his jaw tightening, but his gaze never left my face.

I offered a cool, professional nod, every inch the woman who had rebuilt her life from ashes.

“Mr. Russo. Thank you for coming.”

My voice was steady, betraying none of the chaos inside.

Dominic’s hands curled into fists at his sides.

“Five years,” he muttered, barely audible, but I caught it.

“Yes,” I replied evenly, adjusting the papers in front of me as if we weren’t standing in the middle of the world’s most charged reunion. “Shall we begin?”

Chiara and the others busied themselves setting up, unaware of the storm brewing just beneath the surface.

Dominic hadn’t moved an inch. He was still staring at me like I had clawed my way out of a grave, and maybe I had. I sure felt like a completely different woman from the one Dominic had tried to kill. I was no longer the young woman who once waited for scraps of affection for a man who didn’t give a shit about her. I was no longer the quiet, meek woman who didn’t have any self worth.

Now, I was a self-made, independent woman who headed an entire team of professionals with ease, someone whom people looked up to.

“What name are you using these days?”

The question sliced through the room, silencing even Eduardo and Chiara.

I kept my hands steady on the table. “Isabella Bianchi,” I said, without a hint of hesitation.

A muscle in Dominic’s jaw ticked.

Chiara, oblivious to the underlying tension, jumped in.

“Of course, Isa’s name carries weight in Florence’s art scene now. She’s curated three exhibitions that received international recognition.”

Dominic’s gaze didn’t leave mine.

“I’m sure she has,” he said, voice deceptively neutral, but his eyes, his eyes promised a storm.

I clicked to the final slide.

“If there are no further questions, we can discuss the contracts with our legal teams later this afternoon.”

No one spoke.

I closed my laptop with calm precision, but inside, my heart pounded so loudly I wondered if everyone could hear it.

I had just stood in front of the man I once loved, and lost, and I hadn’t flinched.

But as I gathered my notes and turned to leave, Dominic’s low murmur stopped me in my tracks, “You and I have unfinished business, bella mia.”