⚠️ Warning - This chapter contains descriptions of anxiety. ⚠️
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~ Daniela's POV ~
1 Week Later
"Carson."
"Carson wake up."
"Carson baby it's okay just wake up."
This time when I shook him speaking to get through to him a whimper escaped my lips when he let out another moan in his sleep, moving around the bed as if he was in absolute agony.
"Carson please wake up." I continued to shake him, trying to get through to him but it didn't seem like it was doing much to help until he suddenly sat up, a violent gasp escaping his lips as he did.
It took him a second before he began to look around the dimly lit room with frantic eyes taking in his surroundings.
"Baby it's okay, it was just a dream Carson, you're safe." When he heard my voice he turned to look at me, taking me in before he looked away to look at the room again.
"B-but we were there again...in that room..." His voice came out hoarse and thick as he looked around with wide eyes full of panic.
"We're not there Carson, we're safe." I tried to keep my voice a soft as I reached out to stroke his cheek, frowning when I felt how hot and clammy his skin was.
"Baby do you want some water?" Without a word he nodded his head before I shuffled across the bed to grab my water bottle bringing it back to him. After I opened it, with shaking hands he took it from me taking a few gulps before he handed it back to me.
"Did I wake you up?"
Tightening the cap on the bottle I put it down next to me before I moved in closer to him. "You were moving a lot, like you were in pain."
The sight scared the hell out of me.
"It was those games. The way he used to tie me up...how he made you watch..."
Nodding my head, I chose to pull him into a hug instead of saying anything stupid while he continued to take some time to calm down. "It felt so freaking real Dani."
"I know baby." As I pulled away I continued to rub his back as he let out a breath clearly still shaken up from whatever images were just going through his head as he slept. "He got his wish, he said he wanted to make me suffer and he is."
"It won't last forever Carson, it'll take some time for the nightmares to stop, but they will."
"No, you don't know that." When he shook his head I gave him a small smile, placing my hand on his cheek causing him to lean into my touch for the comfort.
"I think they will, but even if they don't, I'll always be here Carson. I'll be here to keep reminding you that it's not real, that it's a dream. I'll be here when you wake up to comfort you and give you a hug when you need it."
"I love you Dani." Leaning I pressed my lips to his before I lay down again, pulling him down with me. "I love you too. Are you ready to sleep again or you want to talk for a bit?"
As I spoke I ran a hand through his hair as he moved in closer to me, nuzzling his face into my neck.
"Let's go to sleep baby."
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"Dallas."
When my eyes finally landed on the one person I'd been looking for, I let out a sigh of relief rushing over to him in the entry hall as I clutched the file in my hand.
"I know we haven't met properly yet and we'll do the introductions later, but right now I need your help with something." When he heard my desperation he gave me smile, excusing himself from the conversation he was just having with one of the security guards.
"What's up?"
"Carson has this deal with this guy...Luciano Scavo, I think he said he was going to sign it today but I need to speak to him about it and he's not in his office."
Dallas nodded his head, glancing in the direction of the basement before he gave me a friendly smile. I didn't know the story, but I knew Carson and Grey trusted Dallas with a lot of information which is why I knew I could go to him to find Carson.
"I know where he is, I'll take you to him, it's a bit of a maze down there." When I gave him a nod, he gestured for me to follow him down the hallway and towards the stairs.
Believe it or not I still hadn't been shown around this whole house. This last week had been anything but peaceful. Carson was busy with work but he still found time every single day to sit with me and help me learn everything after I asked him to.
I hadn't seen Grey since that day I looked after his daughter although I was sure he was around. I think he was avoiding me which is why Carson was making extra effort to help me. We'd also spent every single day of the last week sleeping at the house in Long Island.
The last time we were in Manhattan was the day Carson and I went home and I surprised him with the candles in our room.
"So, you're the boss's girlfriend, right?" When he struck up a conversation, I turned my head to look at Dallas nodding my head. "I am, I'm Dani by the way, although I'm sure you knew that since you-"
"Know everything?" When he finished my sentence I let out a laugh, nodding my head. "I did, but I still like it when people introduce themselves to me."
"Well, it's nice to meet you." When I gave him another smile he nodded his head. "You too Miss Daniela O'Brien from Mansfield, Ohio. You know, when I first read your file I was surprised to see you were only 21, that's pretty young for an accountant in the mafia."
When he turned his head flashing me a smirk, I couldn't stop the laugh escaping my lips even though I was marginally creeped out that he knew everything. I guess it was his job, Carson did tell me he had Dallas conduct a background check on me before I started working for him.
"Well now that you know everything about me, what about you?" As we walked down the stairs into the basement, I held the file in my hand as I turned to look at him. "Me?"
When I nodded my head he let out a laugh before he spoke.
"I'm 19 years old, from New Jersey and I'm...well I guess I don't really have a title here. I kind of just do everything."
"So you do whatever you're asked to do?" Nodding his head, he guided me down one of the hallways I'd never been down before. "Pretty much yeah."
"You're close to Carson right? I've noticed you're really calm and relaxed around him, but a lot of the other men here aren't."
"Yeah, he...he helped me out of something, we've been kind of close ever since. I mean, not close enough that I'd invite him to my birthday party but close enough."
When he flashed me another smile I let out a laugh as we walked, an image of Carson in a party hat weirdly popping into my head. I think he'd kick my ass if he ever knew I thought about that - he was too macho for that kind of stuff.
"I'm sure he'll be disappointed to hear that." When I gave him a smile he nodded his head. "Oh you have no idea, those parties are wild Dani. I'm telling you, the cheers when I blow those candles out..."
When he shook his head in amazement, another left escaped my lips as we walked. "How are you finding your job?"
"It's been okay, I don't know enough yet to be doing anything too crazy on my own but when Carson's busy I've learned how to do some of the basic things and I guess I just use my own knowledge to get on with it."
"What's it like working with your boyfriend?" When I turned my head to look at him, shrugging my shoulders. "It's been good so far, we get to spend more time together even if we're working but we haven't argued about anything yet."
"Yet?" When he flashed me a grin, opening a door for me, I gave him one back. "You know him, he's got a short temper."
At this he nodded his head letting out a laugh as we walked into a huge gym. On one side was the weight lifting and strength training section, on another side were some cardio machines and then in the centre at the back were some punching bags and a boxing ring in the centre.
Once I was done looking around, my eyes finally landed on my boyfriend who seemed to be training with Fox. He was only wearing a pair of sweatpants with his upper body glistening with sweat as he focused on the punching pads on Fox's hands.
Honestly he was mesmerising, the way he moved so quickly, following Fox around the ring swiftly punching the pads so accurately every time. It sounded like Fox was telling him which combinations to do as they moved, sometimes doing three or four different moves and other times Carson did his own thing.
Apart from the sounds of Carson smacking the punching pads with his gloved hands, I could hear some faint music in the background accompanied by the sounds of some men talking in the background and the sounds of the weight machines.
"Is it just me or are people staring at you?" When I heard Dallas speak as he leaned in closer to me, I looked around for the first time noticing a few random stares in my direction or, more particularly in the direction of my feet. "I think it's because I'm wearing heels in a gym."
When I whispered my response to him he looked down at my feet before he let out a laugh as if he'd only just realised. With that we made our way towards the ring where I saw Grey standing, looking at his phone as we approached.
"Grey." At the sound of Dalla's greeting, he suddenly looked up from his phone and at Dallas before his eyes shifted to me.
Like I said, I hadn't seen him for a week, after that day he told me I was making Carson suffer by making him listen to me when I talked. I was actually pretty happy not seeing him, but unfortunately that didn't last forever.
First he nodded in Dallas's direction before he turned to look at me. "Dani."
I gave him a very forced tight lipped smile before I turned my attention towards the ring where Carson was still training.
"You hit like a girl." Of course we all knew he didn't, but Fox for some reason loved to wind Carson up. "Put the pads down and let's go then."
As he spoke, Carson dropped his gloved hands, taking a step away from Fox catching his breath as they both came to a stop.
"Are you sure about that? You look kinda tired."
"Oh don't you worry, I can take you." Carson sent him a glare while Fox just smirked, nodding his head, taking the pads off his hands. "Fine."
"Before you kick Fox's ass, can I talk to you?" When they heard my voice, they both turned to look at me while my boyfriend smiled and his friend sent me a glare.
"Sure beautiful." I watched as he came towards the edge of the ring taking off his gloves revealing some tape on his hands which he also took off. Jumping out of the ring he came over to me, leaning into press a kiss to my lips when I suddenly stepped back.
"Ew no."
My rejection caused Dallas to laugh next to me while Grey went over to talk to Fox, probably to get away from me. "What the hell? Why?"
"You're all sweaty." Raising an eyebrow at my response, a smirk tugged at his lips. "You don't complain about that when I-"
"Carson!"
"I'm leaving now."
Carson let out a laugh at my horrified reaction while Dallas quickly scurried away across the gym before he heard anything that could possibly make things even more awkward than they already were.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" When I glared at him all he did was laugh again this time leaning in to press a quick kiss to my cheek before I could move away. "What do you want to talk to me about?"
"Did you sign that deal yet? With Luciano?"
"No, I was going to do it now when I finish my workout, why?" As he spoke to me, he took a bottle of water that was handed to him by Fox who came over to us with Grey in tow.
"I was reading it and I think there's something you need to check before you sign it. He kind of buried it in the fine print, I missed it the first time but I saw it now and-"
"Show me." When he cut me off, I opened the file I was holding finding one of the last pages where he'd included a clause in the fine print. Handing it to Carson, I watched as he read over the extremely long clause, a frown forming on his face after a few moments.
"He's sneaky, I'll give him that."
"What is it?" When Grey questioned him, Carson handed the file to Grey taking another gulp of his water before he tossed the bottle on the floor. "In a very long winded way, he basically stated that if we buy from him we're not permitted to sell any product on for a profit unless we give him 35% of the profits made on every 50kg of product."
Surprisingly Grey let out a laugh as he read the document before his eyes met mine. "How did you understand this? He might as well have written it in freaking Latin, it doesn't make any sense."
"I don't know, I just read it." When he heard my awful explanation he just cracked a smile nodding his head as he handed it back to me. "You're going to tell him to go to hell right?"
"No I'm signing the deal." When I heard Carson's response to my question I gave him a confused look. "What? Why?"
"It's not the first time someone has done something like this and I'd like to see that fool tell me I owe him my profit. I'll put a damn bullet in his head if he tries."
"Carson, that's a stupid reason to sign it." When I gave him my opinion he just gave me a smirk nodding his head. "I know, but who's going to stop me?"
"Well technically, as your accountant I-"
"You can't do jack and you know it." He let out a laugh while I just narrowed my eyes at him, unfortunately without a comeback since he was absolutely right. "Well, if you're just going to ignore my advice that you're paying me for, I have work to do so I guess I'll see you for dinner then?"
Dinner with his family.
Carson let out a laugh at my words nodding his head as I began to turn away but before I could leave Fox grabbed my hand.
"Hold on, you're not leaving that fast." Turning back to face him, I watched as he let go of my hand giving me a glare. "He's not going to kick my ass."
When I realised why he stopped me, a laugh escaped my lips as I glanced over at my boyfriend who in my opinion looked the strongest out of the three of them.
I wasn't biased or anything, I promise.
"Of course he will."
"How do you know?" Shrugging my shoulders I just gave him a smile. "I just know."
He just continued to glare at me, clearly unhappy with my response, before his eyes suddenly lit up and smirk tugged his lips.
"You think Carson could kick my ass, but what about you?"
"Me?" Nodding his head, he stepped towards the ring with a challenging smirk. "Or are you scared?"
"I'm not scared, I know self defence."
"Oh really? Because Grey said you wanted me to teach you self defence." When I didn't respond since what he said was kind of true, Carson suddenly took my hand guiding me towards the ring. "Show him what you can do baby."
At first I was confused when he encouraged me to get in the ring with his trainer, but when I saw the amused smile on his face I knew what he was doing. Nodding my head, I placed my hand on his arm to balance myself as I slipped off my heels, thankful that I decided to wear jeans today instead of a dress.
Once I was finally in the ring across from Fox, I could feel the eyes of most of the men in the gym on us as he bounced on his feet in front of me. It must have looked so odd with a muscular 6ft something guy standing across from a barefoot 5'3 little thing like me.
"Are you sure about this Fox?" When he heard my concerned tone, he let out a laugh nodding his head. "Show me what you can do little girl."
This time I narrowed my eyes at his words which were meant to make me feel inferior at least, taking a step towards him to show him I wasn't going to back down. My actions caused Carson to let out a laugh from outside the ring where he tapped Grey on the shoulder excitedly. "Watch this."
I heard him say the words before I turned my attention back to Fox glaring at him.
"Attack me then." Once again he just laughed, nodding his head before he suddenly came towards me with the aim of grabbing me by my waist I think. Before he could, I placed my hand on his shoulder, bringing my knee hard into his area.
The moment I made contact with him he let out a groan dropping to his knees as a few chuckles sounded around the room, especially from right beside the ring. "That's not self defence."
He said the words through his coughs as he tried to work through the pain on the floor in front of me.
"Funny, that's exactly what Carson said when he challenged me to the same thing." With a satisfied smile I stepped over him heading out of the ring well aware of the fact my boyfriend was now glaring at me while Grey was struggling to control his laughter even more now.
Even though he was clearly annoyed that I just told everyone I'd once kicked him in the balls, he was still sweet enough to let me hold onto his hand while I put my shoes back on.
That's how you know you found the right one.
When I was done, I gave him a smile leaning up to press my lips to his only to make him feel better since he was now pouting.
"I'll see you later baby." Giving him one last smile I left the gym with Dallas next to me again, still hearing Grey laughing in the background.
"Bro she kicked you in the balls?"
I didn't need to turn around to know his groan that cut off his laughter was because Carson hit him, like I said, he has a short temper.
<<<<<<< >>>>>>> <<<<<<<
"Hurry the hell up, we're going to be late."
"Has anyone ever told you to have some more patience?" When I called out from the walk in closet where I was currently adding the finishing touches to my make up, Carson didn't bother to respond to me from the bedroom.
I really needed to teach him to have more patience, even when he woke me up he'd try nicely once and then each time get progressively more irate.
By the end he'd be saying 'wake the hell up' which was actually the second thing he ever said to me after telling me to 'wake up'.
Finally, I put down my lipstick happy with how my simple yet sophisticated look turned out. I'd chosen to keep my make up light and neutral, my brown hair in it's loose natural wavy state and I opted for a fitted nude knee length dress and heels.
"Can I come in now? I have a present for you." When I heard Carson's irritated tone from outside the door, I told him that he could without looking up as I shuffled through my purse making sure I had everything.
"Damn." When I heard his voice I turned my head to look at him, smiling when I saw his eyes focused on my behind. "Wow you really know how to make a girl feel beautiful."
When he heard my teasing tone, his eyes shifted away from my body that if I do say so myself, looked pretty good in my figure hugging dress, his gaze instead meeting mine.
"You look better than beautiful." He gave me a smile as he stepped into the closet, coming over to where I was standing by the vanity. "Here."
When he lifted his hand up I looked at the shopping bag he was holding, frowning when I saw the logo written on the front.
"What's that?"
"A present. I'm still making up those two weeks to you, since you know, you still haven't forgiven me." His smile faltered a little when he mentioned those
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