red↳ thomas shelby

- XIX. -

He internally rolled his eyes. "Does Dad know?"

Zara shook her head. "Not yet. The only people who know are you, Polly, and Ada. Tommy and I want to keep it a secret for as long as we can."

Theo chuckled. "You could always just say you put on some weight."

Zara narrowed her eyes and hit her brother on the arm. "That's not fucking funny."

"You deserved it." Theo shrugged.

Zara stepped further into Lizzie's house, almost forgetting the fact that here out of all places is where Theo lived for two years.

"Are you ever going to tell me why you're living with Lizzie?"

"She's really not bad. I don't know why you hate her so much." He followed his sister as she walked around.

Zara rolled her eyes. "You try having to see your boyfriend's ex-whore everyday when you're the one pregnant with his child. I swear she's going to push me down the stairs one day, and she doesn't even know I'm pregnant."

That made Theo laugh loudly. "She's harmless. Although it is quite tiring having to hear her whine about Tommy." He started to rile his sister up, but Zara shook off her annoyance. "Anyway, I knew you wouldn't be caught dead near this house so it seemed like the best option, I offered to help Lizzie pay her rent so she could focus on being Tommy's secretary and not need to see clients anymore."

Even though he was annoying at times, Zara always loved and admired Theo for his kind heart. Not a day went by in their two years of silence where she didn't think of and miss her brother, often crying to Tommy who had no choice but to comfort her.

"Why are you getting letters from America?" Zara asked.

Theo tensed. Even without opening it he knew who the letters were from. He could recognize the delicate handwriting anywhere.

"It's from Grace." He let out a shaky breath. "She's in New York now. A place called Poughkeepsie. She's married to a banker, and she's probably very happy."

"If she's happy then why is she writing to you?" Zara raised an eyebrow.

"I don't fucking know. To keep me holding on to her." He roughly ran his hands through his hair.

Zara sighed. "Theo, I'm so sorry."

He shook his head sadly. "What do you have to be sorry for, you were right about her after all."

"Don't do this."

"Do what, Zara?" He snapped, raising his voice. "Let you finally say 'I told you so'? Go on then, tell me how stupid I was. How I nearly fucked everything up!" He threw his hands up in the air as he yelled at his sister. Zara only stood in silence, letting Theo vent.

Zara finally spoke up after a few moments of heavy silence. "Theo...I'm so sorry." She tried to hold in the tears, but one betrayed her, flowing down her cheek. She sadly chuckled, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Ignore all the crying. My hormones are all fucked up."

Theo sighed and clenched his jaw, looking down at the floor avoiding all eye contact with Zara. "I think you should go."

"Theo, no." Zara said firmly, trying to take a step towards her twin.

He held his hand out to stop her. "Leave." He said desperately.

Defeated, Zara looked at her brother one last time before silently nodding and walking out the door. Theo had no clue when he would see his sister next, but he secretly felt relieved when she finally left.

Theo quickly plastered a fake smile on his face as he heard movement coming down the stairs. His tense shoulders relaxed at the comforting touch between his shoulder blades.

"Who was that, love? I thought I heard yelling from upstairs."

"No one, Lizzie. No one at all."

So what if Theo hadn't told his sister the whole truth about his living arrangements, but could you blame him? After all she had done, did she really deserve to know?

♔♔♔♔

THEO IS BACK BABY

Sorry that this is a little bit of a shorter chapter than usual, I just thought that their reunion would be a good way to end it and writing any other scenes after that would feel awkward.

ALSO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALMOST 25K <3333 you guys are actually amazing and have no clue how much I appreciate you guys for sticking with me and my inconsistent schedule

sooooo I decided that for ever 5k milestone we hit I will write and release a bonus chapter of a scenario that I may mention in the book but don't make into a full scene, or other ideas I had that didn't really fit anywhere so far

let me know if that is something you guys would be interested in!!!

and as always please remember to vote and comment !! <33