A Mafia Man's Chains

part 21

Many hours later she woke up again. In my arms. Grace looked up at me, "sorry about yesterday.." she whispered, I simply kissed her head. She had no reason to be sorry. She had every reason to be scared. The last thing she would've remembered was me getting shot. I was scared when I woke up too. I had 20 nurses fired at the hospital because no one would tell me if my Grace was okay.

We both lay in bed together for 20 minutes before I eventually get up. "Where you going?" She puts at me while gripping into my T-shirt so I can't leave. "I'm going to get in the shower then I'll help you get bathed and dressed. Okay?" I smile at her as her grip on my shirt loosens.

I hop in the shower and walk out wearing just my towel. I can feel the girls eyes on me but decide to ignore it. As usual, I put on my suit but leave 2 buttons un done. I look towards all if Grace's clothes and struggle to know what to get for her to wear. Comfy will be easier if she needs to go to the bathroom or when she needs her bandage changed.

I grab one of my T-shirts and a pair of her shorts and some clean underwear for her. I walk out the wardrobe and place the clothes on a chair. I walk into the bathroom and fill up a large bowl with soapy water, grab the sponge and walk back out.

"Oh god, this is going to be really awkward isn't it?" She chuckles nervously. "Not necessarily, can be at times but if we keep talking through out it'll be fine.." I smile at her comfortingly.

I help her strip down Into her bra and underwear, I'll take those off when we clean the area. But just to make her a bit more comfortable I'll leave then on as long as possible. I start by brushing the sponge over the furthest arm from me, across the top of the chest then the arm nearest, I take off the bandage across her belly and give it a quick wipe before putting a new one on.

I finnished all the uncovered areas leaving only 2 areas.

"Bra or underwear off first?" I squeeze her hand to comfort her. I know that she feels embarrassed right now, not being able to bathe yourself must be patronising and there's only so much I can do to help.

"Chest.." she replies not making eye contact with me. I keep talking through out to keep her distracted. We were talking about a show we were watching before the ball. Jane the virgin. Her choice not mine. I got my pick last time which was peaky blinders.

I reached for the new bra and placed it on. "Ugh I don't want to wear a bra!.." she whined.

"You don't have to but I just figured you'd want to as it won't be just me changing your bandage and you'd have to take your shirt off..." I mumbled unsure what to do.

"3rd draw down are some braletes. There more comfortable. I'll wear one of those." She smiled. I nodded before going to get one. I put it on before realising what the final part of the bed bath was.

"Uh... I need to take off your underwear, okay?" She nodded her head as I began to take them off. Once I'd finnished I grabbed the new underwear and helped her Into them. I grabbed the T-shirt and baggy shorts before dressing her.

"There, all done. You okay?" I noticed how upset she looked through out the last part and felt awful. She nodded her head while playing with her fingers. I knew she wasn't. She was so clearly embarrassed. Tears welled in her eyes. I felt awful. "I can hire a nurse to do the bed baths in the future if you'd like?" I try and offer. She hesitates before nodding her head.

"Okay... what so you want to eat? Egg on toast? Pancakes? Omelette? Waffles?" I start giving her options for food.

"What cereal have we got?" She mumbled while finnaly looking up at me. "Uh loads, hold on I'll get one of my men to send a photo of all the options..."

Soon enough the photo was sent, I pulled it up and showed Grace. She went silent for a moment before choosing. I went downstairs to made her cereal and a coffee for her.

I returned with it on a tray, she let it rest on her legs and sipped the coffee while eating small portions of the food at once. Eventually she finnished it all, well I'm assuming because when I was downstairs making my own breakfast a maid came down with the girls tray.

I finnished my breakfast quite quickly and went back up to check up on Grace. She was asleep again. I tucked a solitary hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek before going up to my office. I was going to work in my room today but it'll be too noisy if she's sleeping plus I have to interview a few nurses now.

I interview 6 in total. I had a good feeling about the 6th but wanted to see what Grace thought. Slowly, I opened the bedroom door incase she was asleep which she wasn't, she was sat up watching netflix.

"Grace, this is Lucy. She's a nurse I'm interviewing. Lucy this is Grace. Can I leave you together for 5 minutes just to make sure you feel comfortable around her?" I turn to the girl laying in bed who nods her head.

*Grace's pov*

Daniel leaves the room leaving Lucy and I. She was a relatively old women. Maybe late 50's.

"So uhm how long have you been nursing?" I ask hoping it's a question your allowed to ask in the medical word.

"26 years dear, I left last year because my husband got very ill and I had to look after him, much like how Danilo is looking after you at the moment." She smiled sweetly at me.

"Okay, would you just be doing the bed baths?.." she nodded at my question, "Yes. Danilo was very precise that I only do one
Your bed bath at 9am then get you dressed for the day and leave immediately to avoid you feeling uncomfortable." The elder women smiled.

I asked the women multiple questions over the next few minutes before Danilo walks back in. "You two okay?" He says but only smiles at me. I return it while nodding my head. "Great, well Lucy I'll get back to you soon. Get one of my gaurds to walk you to the door." He nodded his head once as a goodbye.

Soon enough the boy sat on the bed next to me and I was quick to move closer to him, he chuckled and put an Arm over me.

"So what do you think of Lucy? I can keep interviewing more if you'd like.." he asked while scanning my face clearly trying to  guess the answer by my body language.

"I like her. Just hire her and if my mind changes then we can interview someone else." I didn't want him to waste any more time on me then he had to.

"Okay then.. what time is it?" He looks at his watch which says 12 O'clock, "Time to change your bandage, do you wanna take your shirt off while I go get new bandages" He says with a sweet smile, I do so as he walks into the bathroom. But when I lift My shirt I see the whole bandage is drenched in blood rather then just a little bit.

Danilo walks out the bathroom and sees me staring at the blood soaked material around me.

"Why are you bleeding so much? Did you pull your stitches out?" He asked frantically whole climbing onto my side of the bed.

"I... I don't know.." I could only manage to get out. He sat me up and unwrapped it, my stomach had blood on it too. He got up and grabbed a wet towel to wipe it so he could check my wound.

"You've pulled out most your stitches some how, did you not feel it?" I shook my head no. I honestly didn't. But how..

I saw him reach for his phone and start dialing a number. He hung up a few moments later. And started wrapping the wound up quickly before helping me get my T-shirt back on. He looked at the Iv in my arm. "Sorry love this may hurt a bit." Suddenly he pulled it out and I winced. He took the heart monitor off my finger and lifted me up.

"Danilo?... Danilo?! What's going on?!" I cried as he carried me down the stairs, "They said to being you to the hospital so you can get it stitched back up and a blood transfer. But you have to be awake for it so I've got to get you there before you pass out." He mumbled as we reached the car.

He placed me in the back seat and went round to the front. Before I knew it the car shot off. I could feel my heart thumping against my chest.

Thump.
Thump.
Thump.