His Ruthless Redemption (Isabella and Dominic) novel Chapter 249

Chapter 249

Dominic’s POV

I had just settled behind the wheel of my car when my phone rang.

Maria.

A small smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.

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She was probably calling to tell me that Mateo had fallen asleep the moment he had reached the apartment. The little guy had looked ready to pass out during Isabella’s speech.

I answered almost absentmindedly. “Maria?”

All I heard was crying and not the quiet kind either. It was the kind of hysterical sobbing that made every muscle in my body lock at once.

“Maria?”

She tried to say something but I couldn’t understand a single word through her cries.

My stomach dropped.

“Maria.” I forced my own voice to remain steady despite the icy dread already spreading through my chest. “Take a breath.”

She continued crying.

“Maria.” I closed my eyes briefly. “Listen to me. Take a deep breath, okay? Then tell me what happened.”

A shaky breath sounded through the speaker. Then another.

“I–I came back….” Her voice broke. “I had only gone to see my son while you guys were at the opening. When I came back….” She couldn’t finish because she had started sobbing again.

Cold terror wrapped around my ribs. “What happened?”

“I…” She was practically hyperventilating now. “There is blood everywhere.”

My heart stopped. “What?”

“Marco.” She began crying even harder. “Marco has been shot.”

The world narrowed to a single point. “What did you say?”

“Marco…. he’s lying outside the apartment. There are more men too. And so much blood…” Her voice cracked into another sob. “And Caterina…I can’t wake her. And I can’t find Mateo.”

Everything inside me froze. No. No. No.

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15:00 Mon, Jul 13

Chapter 249

“Maria.” My own voice sounded strangely calm, too calm. “Listen to me. Is my mother breathing?”

“Yes.”

“Is Marco alive?”

She sniffled. “I think so. He’s breathing but barely.”

That was enough.

I was already starting the engine. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

No, in five.

I ended the call before she could reply.

Then immediately dialed Eduardo. He answered on the second ring.

“Boss?”

“I need every available man.” My voice came out colder than I’d ever heard it. “Now.”

“What happened?”

“My son has been taken.”

Silence. Then, “I’m on my way.”

“Meet me at Isabella’s apartment.”

He didn’t ask another question. He simply hung up.

Good. I needed men, not questions.

My next call was to Isabella.

But the call simply wouldn’t go through. It showed that it was unable to connect.

A knot tightened painfully inside my chest. I called again. Still nothing.

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My hands tightened around the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. I couldn’t waste time calling her. Besides, she was heading home, too. I would catch up with her within minutes.

I pressed harder on the accelerator. The ten–minute drive blurred into flashing traffic lights and screeching tyres. I kept my eyes peeled for Isabella’s car but couldn’t see it anywhere.

Where was she, dammit? Maybe I’d missed her? Maybe she had taken a different route? Maybe she had already reached?

Five minutes later I slammed on the brakes outside the apartment building.

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15:00 Mon, Jul 13

Chapter 249

I looked automatically toward Isabella’s parking space. Empty.

My heart lurched. She wasn’t here yet. Where was she?

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I looked up towards her apartment and hurried upstairs to my mother, taking the stairs two at a time.

Before I even reached the apartment, I smelled blood.

Then I saw Marco.

He lay sprawled just outside the front door, his body surrounded by so much blood that for one horrifying second I thought he was already dead.

“Marco!” I dropped to my knees beside him. His pulse was weak, but there. Thank God.

“Boss..” His eyes fluttered weakly.

“Don’t.” I squeezed his shoulder gently. “Save your strength.”

I walked in, seeing more of my men, some wounded, some barely alive.

Everywhere I looked, there was blood, broken furniture, bullet holes, signs of a violent struggle.

Someone had clearly come prepared.

Someone had wanted Mateo badly enough to shoot through my entire security detail.

A wave of rage unlike anything I’d ever experienced surged through me.

Whoever had done this, I was going to kill them.

“Dominic.” Maria’s voice pulled me back.

She sat on the living room floor, tears streaming endlessly down her face.

My mother lay with her head in Maria’s lap, completely motionless.

“Mamma.” I crossed the room in seconds, dropping beside her. Her skin was warm, her pulse strong. No obvious gunshot wounds.

Thank God.

She was probably unconscious.

I grabbed the nearest bottle of water from the dining table, twisted the cap off and sprinkled it gently across her face.

“Mamma.”

Nothing. I tried again.

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15:00 Mon, Jul 13

Chapter 249

“Mamma.”

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Her eyelashes fluttered. Then slowly, she opened her eyes. For a second she looked confused, disoriented. Then panic flooded her face.

“Mateo.” She sat upright so abruptly I had to steady her.

“Mateo!”

“Mama.” I held her shoulders. “Tell me what happened.”

She stared at me. Then burst into tears. “We had just come inside.” Her breathing became uneven. “Luca was with us. Mateo was talking about the exhibition. We’d barely closed the door when….” She squeezed her eyes shut. “They came out of nowhere.”

“Marco heard the shouting. He came running.” Then she flinched. “The shooting started. I grabbed Mateo. I tried to run. I thought- I thought I could lock us inside the bedroom.” A sob escaped her. “But someone hit me. The next thing I remember….” She looked around the destroyed apartment. “…is waking up like this.”

I closed my eyes for a second.

Because if I didn’t, I was going to lose control.

This was my fault, every single bit of it.

My war. My enemies. My family. My failures.

They had finally reached the people I loved.

A string of furious Italian curses left my mouth before I could stop them.

The apartment door burst open again.

Eduardo.

He took one look inside. Then swore just as violently.

“What the hell….”

His eyes swept across the room. At Marco, at the wounded guards, at my mother and the blood that was everywhere.

He looked back at me. “Boss…”

“Did you see Isabella downstairs?”

He frowned immediately. “No. I came straight up but she wasn’t anywhere downstairs.”

Cold dread settled even deeper inside my chest.

No.

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15:00 Mon, Jul 13

Chapter 249

She should’ve been here. She should’ve been home by now.

I pulled out my phone again and called her.

This time, it rang. But there was no answer.

I hung up and called again immediately. Again, there was no answer.

My pulse pounding painfully inside my ears.

Where was she?

For one terrifying, irrational second, a thought entered my mind.

Had she staged this? Had she used the attack to disappear with Mateo?

The thought died almost as quickly as it had appeared.

No.

I looked at my mother, still crying. At Marco, fighting for his life. At the blood covering the floor.

No.

Isabella would never, not if innocent people had to pay the price. She would never have risked Never Marco. Never my men.

Which meant only one thing.

Someone had taken Mateo. And someone had taken Isabella too.

My stomach turned violently.

God. Please. Not her too.

I had already failed Aspen.

I wasn’t going to fail them, not again.

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