Mafia Lord's Mute Sweetheart

Chapter 5: Chapter 5 James Evermont

The elevator stopped, doors sliding open with a soft chime.

4th Floor – VVIP Wing.

The sign was gold-plated, mounted on a marble wall. The hallway stretched before them, unnaturally quiet. No nurses rushing past, no visitors chattering. Just thick carpet, soft lighting, and the faint smell of antiseptic mixed with expensive flowers.

This floor was reserved for the most important patients. Politicians. Billionaires. Celebrities who needed privacy. And James Evermont, Cedric’s grandfather, had the most spacious wardroom here.

It had almost become his second home. He had been staying here for three years. Three years of hospital food. Three years of physical therapy. Three years of watching his grandson and Daisy visit once a week, his daughter-in-law twice a month, and his son only when lawyers were present.

Daisy and Cedric had been married for two of those three years.

Daisy held Cedric’s arm, her fingers curling around his sleeve, gentle but firm. She looked up at him with her big, beautiful dark eyes, eyes so expressive they held more words than her mouth could ever form.

She looked worried.

Her brows were slightly drawn together, her lips pressed into a soft line. Her gaze said everything she couldn’t speak: Please. Calm down. We’re going to see Grandpa. He’s sick. He doesn’t need your anger. He needs you to be kind. Just for a few minutes. Please.

Cedric looked down at her. For a moment, an unknown expression flickered in his blue eyes, then he looked away.

He straightened his shoulders. Rolled them back. Took a slow breath in through his nose and let it out through his mouth.

He controlled himself. He had to.

Grandpa was the only reason he had married this mute girl. Grandpa controlled the company shares and he could destroy his inheritance with a single phone call. So Cedric would be polite and loving. Would be the perfect grandson with the perfect wife.

He forced his jaw to unclench. He forced his expression to soften. He even forced a small smile onto his lips, the one he reserved for business partners and elderly relatives.

Then he walked forward, Daisy still holding his arm, and pushed open the door to the wardroom.

The room was nothing like a hospital room. It was larger than most apartments. Polished hardwood floors instead of tiles. Warm cream walls decorated with landscape paintings and family photographs in silver frames. A small, elegant chandelier casting soft golden light across the space.

In one corner, a full kitchen gleamed with stainless steel appliances and marble countertops. A small dining table with four chairs. A refrigerator covered in magnetic poetry words that someone had arranged into clumsy sentences: Hope is a small bird. Morning brings light again. Grandpa loves cookies.

In another corner, a seating area with two plush armchairs, a sofa, and a television mounted on the wall but turned off. A mystery novel lay open on the armchair,

And in the center of the room, near the large window that overlooked the city skyline, sat James Evermont.

An armchair had been positioned to face the window, and James sat there with a blanket over his lap, his hands resting on the armrests. He was thin. His skin had the pale, papery quality of someone who had spent too long indoors. His white hair was still thick, still combed neatly back, but his blue eyes, the same blue as Cedric’s, had dimmed with age and illness.

Nearby, in a smaller chair, sat his caretaker. A middle-aged woman with kind brown eyes, her hair pulled back in a simple bun, wearing a modest blue dress. She was knitting something, a scarf, pale yellow, and looked up when the door opened.

Her name was Margaret.

Cedric had found her two years ago. She was a widow with three young children at home. The pay Cedric offered was generous, enough to support her kids and send them to good schools. She had accepted without hesitation.

She had been here for two years now. She rarely left the hospital. Her children visited on weekends, climbing onto Grandpa James’s bed, showing him their school projects, calling him Grandpa Jim lovingly. The old man had become part of their family.

Daisy liked Margaret. Margaret was one of the few people who looked at Daisy and didn’t see a mute, but a person.

When Margaret saw Daisy enter the room, she smiled warmly. "Dear, you look lovely. White suits you."

Daisy smiled back. She released Cedric’s arm and walked toward Grandpa James.

The old man reached out both hands. "Daisy, my child. Come here. Let me look at you."

Daisy knelt beside his chair. She took his thin, veined hands in hers and pressed them to her cheeks.

James’s eyes glistened. "My beautiful girl," he whispered. "Every time I see you, you remind me of your mother. Such kindness in your eyes. Such gentleness."

Daisy’s eyes filled with tears, glowing with all the gathered weight she never let fall.

"You know," James said, looking up at Cedric with a playful glint, "I keep telling this grandson of mine, when am I getting a great-grandchild? I’m not getting any younger."

He laughed, a weak, wheezing sound, and patted Daisy’s hand. "Last week I told the nurse, My grandson is married to the most beautiful woman in the city. Any day now, I’ll be a great-grandfather."

Cedric stepped forward smoothly. He placed his hand on Daisy’s shoulder. "Soon, Grandfather," he said, his voice warm and affectionate. "We’re trying. Aren’t we, darling?"

He looked down at Daisy. Her smile didn’t change. She nodded.

James beamed. "That’s my boy. That’s my girl." He leaned back in his chair, exhausted but happy. "You two are the best thing that ever happened to this family. Do you know that? When I see you together, I know I did something right."

Daisy’s heart cracked. If only he knew..

If only he knew that her husband slept in another room with another woman.

But Grandpa was dying, and he believed in love. She would never take that from him.

She squeezed his hand, then retrieved a small notebook and a cute pen from her bag and wrote: We love you, Grandpa.

James read the words. His eyes crinkled with joy.

"I know you do, child. I know you do."