His Merciless Redemption novel Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Isabella’s POV

Sundays used to feel like a luxury.

Now they felt like a pause between storms.

:

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I’d been distracted enough because of the parents breakfast thing at Mateo’s school. But ever since I’d returned, I kept replaying the conversation from the party like a broken film in my mind.

You are still my wife.

His voice, shocked, and fractured looped on repeat.

How could he

say that?

How could he believe that?

I stared at my phone for a long time before finally calling the lawyer’s office back in New York. My hands shook so badly I almost dropped the phone twice.

He answered on the third ring. His voice was groggy, and thick with sleep. Time zone difference.

“Hello?”

“Good evening. It’s Isabella. I’m not sure if you remember me—”

“Of course, I do, Mrs. Russo,” he cut in, sounding much more alert now.

Not Russo. Not anymore. I swallowed the correction. It didn’t matter.

“Sorry to bother you at this hour and after so many years, but I need to know if the divorce papers were ever delivered to Dominic Russo.”

There was a pause. Then, papers shuffled, the click of a keyboard. Finally, his voice returned, more alert this time.

“The courier shows there was an issue at the drop-off address, Something about restricted access. But I’ll need to dig further and call you back. The office is technically closed today.”

Restricted access. Of course. Dominic’s villa was a fortress.

And I had assumed, I had convinced myself, that he had received them.

“Please look into it,” I said quietly. “I need to know.”

When I hung up, I felt hollow.

What did it matter now?

13:04 Sat, Jan 17

Chapter 71

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I’d already made peace with the fact that Dominic had moved on. Alessia. The pregnancy. A life that wasn’t

mine.

What did it change, if the divorce had never legally gone through?

It didn’t make him mine. A piece of paper didn’t change the reality of who he went home to at night. Didn’t change the fact that he was already married to someone else now.

Still, the confusion gnawed at me.

How could he think I was still his, when he already had a wife? Did he want two or something? One for the mafia and one for appearances? One for the world and one for the shadows?

And then the worst thought crept in like poison that maybe I’m convenient. The mother of his child. He wants to claim us, not love us.

At Mateo’s school breakfast activity, people smiled at us, like we were a family. Like nothing had ever broken.

Dominic didn’t correct them.

He let them believe the illusion.

Back home, I swallowed down the ache and made myself smile for Mateo. He splashed into the pool with the joy only children could conjure so easily. I followed him in, grateful for the distraction.

The water was cool, grounding.

Mateo laughed. I smiled. I forced myself not to drift back into the spiral.

One conversation. One answer. Then I would know where we stood.

Where I stood.

With or without him.

But, did I really want to have that conversation with him? Did I really want to hear what he had to say?

It’s not like it was going to change anything.

So, what was the point, really?

“Mommy, look!” Mateo’s laugh rang out as he cannonballed back into the pool, droplets sparkling around him like shattered diamonds.

I wish I could live in this moment forever.

Just him. Just us.

***

Dominic’s POV

13:04 Sat, Jan 17

Chapter 71

I wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted me when I returned.

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Sunlight flickered across the pool. Mateo’s laughter echoed. And Isabella, in a simple navy swimsuit, waded through the water, her hair dark and dripping down her back, skin glowing in the afternoon light.

It hit me like a punch.

Not lust. Not exactly.

Yearning. A hunger so familiar it made my throat tight.

Every man in this world had seen her strength. Only I had seen her softness.

Only I had held her while she slept, sunlight in her hair, trust in the curve of her body against mine.

Luca’s hands around her at the party flashed in my mind and jealousy stabbed sharp and mean under my ribs.

He didn’t get to touch her. He didn’t get to know her like I did. He didn’t get to laugh with her like I used to. Like I still wanted to.

I watched her laugh with Mateo and something in my chest twisted.

This was what I had wanted from the beginning.

A life that was ours.

Not perfect, but shared.

Yet every time I reached for it, it slipped through my fingers like sand.

Because I had been the one to break it. And now I didn’t know how to fix it without breaking her again.

Isa looked up and saw me, surprise flickering in her eyes before she masked it.

I wondered what she was thinking.

If she was thinking of Luca. If she still tasted the hurt from last night. If she still believed she wasn’t my wife.

She didn’t know I had mourned for her, cried for her, buried her like a widow.

God. I needed to talk to her. I needed clarity, not another argument, not another night ending with her walking away from me. Somehow, every time I talked to her, it ended up turning into an argument and we were back to square one.

This time, I would not lose control. This time, I would not let her slip.

I stepped closer to the pool.

“Isa.”

13:04 Sat, Jan 17

Chapter 71

She pushed her wet hair back, wary.

“I need to talk to you.”

:

Her breath seemed to stall at my words and she swallowed visibly.

For once, she didn’t look ready to run. But she didn’t look ready to stay either.

And somehow, that scared me more than any bullet ever had.

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