Anna [J.Shelby]

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Anna and Polly rushed into the room as the door slammed.

"Ada! Wake up! You and the baby get into the bullring where there's lots of people" Tommy ordered her.

"What's going on?" Polly asked, startled.

"We've been fuckin' betrayed. Someone let slip, Kimbers men are on their way 'ere"

"Yeah, but you can handle them Tommy"

"Its just us, the Lee's are on their way to Worcester. We're outnumbered."

"Well who could have let slip, Tommy? Nobody knew until today" Anna asked him.

"You said you kept it a secret, who else did you tell?" Polly asked, eyes darting all over the place as Tommy slammed his hands on a set of draws, his silence as her anwser.

"There's only one thing can blind a man as smart as you, Tommy. Love. It's that barmaid."

"Grace? Surely she would never.." Anna breathed.

"Ask yourself how well you know her, Anna, an' then say that again" Polly replied.

"I'll deal with Grace, if you set eyes on her again you might kill her" Tommy stood still, not being able to believe he was betrayed by Grace of all people.

"Look, it's not safe for the baby to be outside, not yet anyway. These streets are crawling with all sorts of things Karl could catch, let me take Ada to John's, the nanny has the kids and I'll find out his guns. I'll look after her, Tommy" Anna proposed, Ada nodding at her proposition.

Once he had escaped his trance, he reluctantly looked between Anna and Ada before nodding, "alright, but lock the doors, and don't step foot out the house until someone comes to tell you otherwise"

So that's exactly what they did, they rushed towards John's, Polly dissappearing towards the Garrison, her eyes full of cruel intentions.

"If there's anything I know about my brothers, they're tough, hard to crack. Full of pride, they'd rather die fighting then die a coward. But they don't realise they have families that rely on them, people that need them. I'm not prepared to let my brothers die today, and I'm sure you're not prepared to let John go so premature in your relationship. You and I, dress up in black, ready for mourning and we go and show them women can be just as tough, we give them an ultimatum. Shoot with us in the way, or put down their guns and use their heads instead of their cocks or pride for once." Ada proposed as Anna took a drag from her cigar, shocking her.

"No, Ada, Tommy would kill me. And the kids.."

"Anna, if we're going to be made to stay home an' look after the kids, we at least need someone to come home to us. Im fed up of staying home an' sitting aside while every man uses their pride instead of their brains. Either way, I'm going."

Anna sighed, "alright, but only because if you go alone I'll have 3 angry Shelby men wondering why I never stopped you."

Dressed in black, the two women and baby Karl strolled down the deserted streets of Small Heath, heading towards the Garrison.

"What are you doing?" Freddie Thorne shouted towards his wife as Ada and Anna walked through the crowd of Kimber boys.

"I believe you boys call this no-mans land" Ada called, standing between the men as Karl screamed, she had to hide her shock at her husband standing there.

"Ada!"

"Shut up and listen" She snapped.

"Have you lost your mind?" Freddie asked her loudly.

"I said shut up!" She silenced him, shocking all the men as Anna struggled to control her nervousness, trying to avert Tommy's gaze at her, judging her for allowing his sister out the house.

"Now most of you were in France, so you all know what happens next. I've got brothers and a husband here but you've all got somebody waiting for you. Now we're wearing black in preparation"

"I want you to look at me" She turned to her husband, taking off her hat.

"I WANT YOU ALL TO LOOK AT ME! We'll be wearing black for you, think about them, think about them right now. And fight if you want to, but that baby ain't moving anywhere."

Anna took Ada's hand, looking between the two groups of men, Kimber having a significantly larger amount of men on his side then the Shelby boys did.

"And neither are we." Anna finalised.

"They're right, you know" Kimber spoke, startling the others.

"Why should all you men die, this should just be them whose caused it" Kimber spoke abruptly, Anna's ears ringing as she looked at Kimber who raised his gun, her eyes widening as she pushed Ada and the pram towards the side, shielding her as the gun went off, once, twice.

The girls ears rang as they snapped their heads towards the blood bath, Tommy leaning over, Arthur shouting as Danny dropped lifeless on the floor.

Anna covered her mouth in horror, a bullet soon penetrating Kimber's forehead.

"Kimber and me fought this battle one on one, it's over. Go home to your families."

The opposite side retreated, taking Kimbers lifeless body with them, Anna's eyes not leaving Danny's lifeless body in shock.

Anna stumbled towards 6 Watery Lane, stumbling through the door as Polly rushed over to her, "what's happened? Anna, where have you been?"

"Kimbers dead, Poll. It's over. But Polly, Tommy's been shot, and Danny's dead" She chocked out.

"Oh my christ" Polly whispered.

20 minutes later, Polly and Anna walked into the Garrison to pay their respects to Danny.

"We can burry him properly, in the grave we dug for him"

"Yeah, high on a hill. He'll like that."

"To Danny Whizzbang, may we all die twice" The alcohol was passed around, everybody paying their respects to their lost friend.

"Come on, the day is ours, lets celebrate" Tommy called.

Everybody left the back room, until it was just Anna and John standing in the doorway alone.

"The look on your face, you're about to tell me it was stu-" Anna's sigh was cut off with John placing his lips on hers roughly, shocking her before she melted into him, arms winding around his neck as their lips moved like clockwork against eachothers.

"That was fuckin' stupid, but I love you. For looking out for my sister, for being you. I fuckin' love you"

"And I, you" Anna smiled against his cheek, leaving a kiss on his jaw.

"Now get the whiskey going!" John shouted, the men around him cheering as he wound his arm around Anna's waist.

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This is long but crap at the same time, sorry for the delay! I have my final exams in less than a month now which will last for a month and I'm trying not to fail :/ But I've pre-written a few chapters which should keep me going for a little while. This also isn't as heavily edited as I would have liked it to be but I've kept you waiting long enough!