24| Tesoro

The moment they stepped off of the plane, everything flashed by. Three things Grace noticed in the time from when she stepped off of the plane and the bullets started to fly towards her. The first was that the shots were aimed at Victor and not her, the second was that half the men on this strip seemed to be Victor's men, and the other half she assumed were part of the Demani gang. The third thing she noticed was only when she was sitting on the ground next to one of Victor's men taking cover behind a car. The shooting had stopped momentarily.

"It's time to go!" Victor called loudly to his men when Grace felt the third and final thing, a burning sensation from her right side. She looked down to see her white dress soaked in blood. She had only felt the pain once she had noticed the injury. Her shaking hands flew to her side as she touched the wound

"Victor?" She said softly, he turned to look at her, she was pale and before he could ask her what was wrong he saw the bright red on the palm of her hand. His eyes met hers, and for the first time in a long time, he felt fear for what might happen to her. His mind went blank for a split second as the noise erupted around them.

"We need to go now," one of Victor's men called, bringing his attention back as Grace swayed on her feet. He caught her against him before she fell. He lifted her quickly, making her hiss as he carried her the few feet to the car that waited for them. Bullets followed the car as it sped away. Victor held Grace in his lap, her blood now coating his hands as he held the wound closed. He pulled up her dress, trying to see the wound, but from what he could tell, it was just a surface cut probably caused by the ricochet of a stray bullet. What he couldn't understand was why there was so much blood.

"Am I going to die?" Grace asked, feeling weak already

"You're going to be just fine," Victor assured her as he instructed one of his men to have the doctor ready as soon as they got to the house. "You need to stay awake." He looked at Grace, "tell me a story."

"I don't think I can," She said softly, looking at her pale, tired face. Victor had never been more scared of anything in his life than right now at this moment.

"Tell me about you Grace, do you want to get married? Have children? What do you want for your future?"

"I never thought about it. I just wanted Debbie and Owen to be okay, " She said, taking a breath, even talking, felt like work."Perhaps if I'd been given the choice, I'd have liked to get married.

"You still can," Victor said. "What flowers would you have at your wedding?"

"Perhaps roses." She smiled, closing her eyes

"Look at me, Grace," Victor demanded

"You're so demanding, Victor. You need to chill out. " She smiled, and Victor couldn't help but smile with her. "I'm sure you mafia people have access to a lot of drugs. You should take some. " She winced in pain "and give me some too"

"There will be no drugs for you, Grace." Victor gave her a small smile as they stopped at the mansion. He had Grace back in his arms as she hissed at his movements again.

"The doctors upstairs in her bedroom," Darla told Victor as they entered. She gave Grace a heartwarming smile as Victor carried her up the stairs. He lied her down on the bed as the doctor began cutting off her dress.

"It's just a surface wound," the doctor confirmed as he poured disinfectant over the cut. Grace hissed as it burned her skin.

"So much blood for a surface wound?" Victor asked

"I believe Grace is anemic, but I'll do a test after. For now, we need to close this up." The doctor looked at Grace. "It's going to hurt,"

"Okay," Grace nodded her head.

Without warning, the doctor inserted a needle through her skin, making her cry out in pain.

"It's okay," Victor said, taking her hand as the doctor continued stitching her wound closed. It hurt more and more with each stitch. Victor stayed holding her hand as she pinched her eyes shut, and tears streamed down her face.

"All done," the doctor confirmed after the seventh stitch. He bandaged her up, and by the time he was done, Grace had fallen into a quiet sleep. "These are some painkillers," the doctor handed Victor an orange container. "She should be fine. It'll hurt for a day or two, " He added before leaving.

Victor sat down on the bed watching Grace sleep, his fear being replaced with relief to know that she'd be okay. He took her hand in his kissing it softly. "If I had to choose a term of endearment for you, it wouldn't be mio caro. It would be tesoro because that's what you are. My greatest treasure." He said softly.

"I didn't know you spoke Italian" Grace said groggily

"I speak many languages" Victor looked at her "You need to sleep"

"Sí" Grace smiled softly before falling asleep again. Victor kissed her temple softly before heading out to his office. It was time to figure out what to do and he knew now that finding Frank Brennan wasn't an option anymore. Demani may as well have declared war because whether he liked it or not a war was going to happen. He would not let Demani live after hurting what was his. No, he was going to pay. He called Vincent requesting he is home by the end of tomorrow, he would send a few men in his place to protect Debbie and Owen. When that was done, he sent out men to gather and supply more weapons, they'd have enough weapons to put the military to shame already but you couldn't be careful enough. There was no such thing as too much when it came to war.

"Mr. Bernardi?" Darla knocked on his office door

"Yes?" He called

"Breakfast is ready sir, should I wake Ms. Brennan?" She asked

"No, let her sleep." Victor shook his head "I'll have the chef prepare something for her when she wakes"

"Yes sir," Darla said before turning to leave

"Darla?" Victor stopped her

"Yes sir?" She asked

"Have Ms. Brennans' things moved to my room when she wakes"

"Yes sir" Darla smiled surprised at his request before leaving.

Once Grace woke up and had food in her stomach Victor had decided he would tell her how he feels. She could have died today and if she had he knew that the thought of her not knowing, would eat him alive.