His Ruthless Redemption (Isabella and Dominic) novel Chapter 240

The city continued around us as though nothing extraordinary was happening. Cars rolled past. Someone laughed across the street. A cyclist rang his bell as he weaved between pedestrians. Somewhere nearby, church bells began chiming the hour.

Life carried on but mine felt as though it had quietly stopped.

Dominic was the first to break the silence.

He pushed himself away from the car and walked towards me, his steps slow, almost cautious, as though he were approaching a frightened animal that might bolt if he moved too quickly.

When he finally stopped in front of me, there was barely an arm’s length between us.

His eyes drifted briefly to the folder in my hands before returning to my face. “What was this place?” His voice was calm when he asked, almost too calm.

I looked down at the folder. There wasn’t much point pretending. I’d already told him at the hospital itself that I was going to leave. “I’m making arrangements.”

He waited. “For what?”

I took a slow breath, then forced myself to meet his eyes. “To leave.”

The words settled heavily between us. For the briefest moment, something flickered across his face, not anger or even disbelief but something quieter, something infinitely sadder.

He didn’t interrupt, didn’t ask where, didn’t tell me I was overreacting. He simply/stood there, looking at me as though he were trying to memorize my face.

Finally, almost in a whisper, he said, “You’re really going.”

“Yes,” I answered anyway even though he hadn’t framed it as a question.

Another silence followed.

“So,” His throat worked slightly before he managed to continue. “So that’s it.”

Again, it wasn’t a question. It sounded more like a man trying to convince himself that the words he’d just heard were real.

I nodded. “I’ve made up my mind.”

He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them again, they looked tired, far older than they had any right to.

“Where?”

“I’m still deciding.”

“I see.” He nodded once, very slowly.

Then asked the question that had clearly been weighing on him from the moment he’d seen me walk out of the building.

“Are you leaving because of me?”

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The vulnerability in his voice caught me completely off guard.

Dominic Russo wasn’t a man who asked vulnerable questions.

He was a man who gave orders, who negotiated, who threatened, who commanded rooms simply by walking into them.

But the man standing in front of me wasn’t the feared head of the Russo family.

He was simply Dominic. A man who looked as though his heart was already breaking before I’d even answered.

I shook my head gently. “No.”

His brows drew together slightly. “No?”

“I’m leaving because of the life around you.”

The distinction was important, painfully important. Because it was true. God, did I know how true it was.

“You,” I smiled sadly. “You’re no longer the reason I want to leave.”

His breathing seemed to falter at my words.

I continued quietly.

“If we’d had this conversation years ago, my answer would’ve been very different.” I looked down at my hands. “When I left New York, I blamed you for everything.”

My voice softened. “And maybe back then, some of that blame was justified.”

I lifted my eyes to his again. “But not anymore.”

He stared at me without speaking.

“I understand you now. I understand why you made the choices you did.” I laughed softly, though there wasn’t any humor in it. “I’ve spent so much time trying to hate you, and somewhere along the way, I realized I couldn’t.”

Because it was true. I couldn’t. Not anymore.

“I understand why you agreed to marry Alessia, made the choices that you did. I understand why you kept pushing me away.”

Another pause.

“I understand why you kept making decisions that hurt me even though he didn’t mean for them to.” My eyes burned with unshed tears.

“They weren’t made because you didn’t love me.” I swallowed hard. “They were made because you loved me too much.”

A tear finally slipped down my cheek.

“You thought every sacrifice you made would protect Mateo and me. The problem is,” my voice cracked. “they still hurt.”

Dominic lowered his head, his shoulders rose slowly with a deep breath before falling again. “I know.”

“So many times,” I continued quietly, “I’ve tried to look past the consequences because I understood your intentions.”

I thought about his countless promises to fix everything, about the hospital, about Aspen, about the vineyard, about every apology he’d ever whispered into my hair while holding me together.

Chapter 240

“You’ve redeemed yourself,” I said it without hesitation. “Completely.”

His head lifted sharply and I held his gaze.

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“I don’t question your love anymore. I don’t question your heart. don’t question your intentions.” A small, broken smile found its way onto my lips. “I know exactly what kind of a man you are now. And that’s what makes this so much harder

He looked as though he wanted to say something, anything.

But I wasn’t finished.

“I still love you.”

The confession came quietly without any hesitation.

“I probably always will.”

His entire body went completely still.

“But love isn’t what keeps waking me up in the middle of the night.”

I placed a hand unconsciously over my chest.

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“It’s fear. I check on Mateo every few hours. I watch every unfamiliar face. I question every phone call. My heart stops every time I can’t see him.” I shook my head slowly. “I don’t know how to live like that anymore.”

Fresh tears blurred my vision.

“I lost one child.” The words almost refused to come out but it had to be said. Sadly enough, it was the first time I’d admitted it out loud. “I can’t spend the rest of my life wondering whether I’m going to lose another,” I finished, saying everything I thought I needed to say to him.

I was leaving, and I didn’t want anything to be left unsaid between us. And this was my way of making sure there wasn’t. I hadn’t imagined having this conversation with him like this, but one way or another, it needed to be done. Better now than never, I guess.

For the longest time, Dominic didn’t move, didn’t speak, didn’t even seem to breathe.

Then, so quietly I almost didn’t hear it, he asked, “So if none of this existed, if I were just me….just Dominic…”

He couldn’t even bring himself to finish the sentence. But I understood exactly what he was asking.

I stepped closer until there was barely any space left between us.

“If you were just Dominic,” a sad smile touched my lips. “I’d never dream of leaving you.”

The words seemed to knock the air out of him. His eyes closed.

And after fighting it with everything he had, one single tear escaped, tracing silently down his cheek.

He didn’t even wipe it away.