𝐒𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐍, ᵖᵉᵃᵏʸ ᵇˡⁱⁿᵈᵉʳˢ

𝘵𝘸𝘰

"So why tomorrow?"

Taking a pause, Tommy thought of his answer before replying, "Like you said, tomorrow is New Market. All the London bosses will be at the races."

"And so you just roll up and take the city?" Polly questioned trying to understand her nephews logical thinking.

Shaking his head slowly, Tommy gruffly said, "No. We take the opportunity to show our hand," wanting to press his ideas forward, Thomas gathered his plan and described it in one, "The Italian gangs and the Jewish gangs have been at war in London for seven months."

Polly shrugged, placing her arms on the desk, "It's not our war."

"The Jews have been having the worst of it. They need allies." The Shelby leader tried to persuade Polly to see his side of things. He was trying to paint a picture, but Polly wasn't seeing the story the artist wanted her to see. She remained skeptical.

"Yeah, but we don't."

Emphasizing his words with the movement of his hand, Tommy explained further, "We need a foothold at the southern end of the Grand Union. The Jews control Camden Town," spreading his arms out towards the end of his statement, Polly had finally put together his masterminded plan.

Setting her pen down, the Gray woman interlocked her hands in front of her in awe at her nephews brilliance, "Your mother said, 'it's his cleverness that'll kill him.'"

"No one gets killed, Polly," seeing the distressed look covering her facial features, he tried to reassure her in a positive light, "Lucky for us we already have an alliance with someone who has connections in Camden Town."

Raising her head up from her hands, Polly parted her lips already having guessed who it could be, though it wasn't that hard to figure out, "Lettie?" Nodding his head slowly, Tommy stared at the floor before raising his eyes to his aunt once more as she continued, "This was her idea?"

"A collective idea," stuffing his hands back into his trouser pockets, he continued, "It was a plan we conjured up before her leave to New york."

Around the time the war between the Italians and Jews was just beginning, Polly thought.

Not focusing much on that topic switch, the blue eyed Shelby went back to his previous point, "We go down tomorrow when it's quiet and we leave our message. If Alfie Solomons and his camden boys come to us, we'll negotiate the use of a secure bonded warehouse, and then our legal activities can begin," finishing his rant, Thomas pointed to the locked safe with a frustrated urgency, "Now, please, open the fucking safe."

Polly stared at Tommy before reluctantly getting up to walk over to the safe. After a beat of a moment, she spoke up once more, "Do you know it was a fine speech you made in there, about this company believing in equal rights for women," turning his head away from his aunt, Thomas waited on a baited breath for her to continue, he knew she wasn't finished just yet, "But when it comes to it, you don't listen to a word we say."

The Gray woman kept her steel eyes in place wanting to get to the bottom of Thomas's hesitance when it came to including everyone into his plans, "Maybe you don't trust us. Not all of us anyway," looking to her nephew with genuine concern floating in her eyes, she voiced quietly, "What happened?"

Tommy was dreading that question. What happened? What did you do thomas? He had heard them all and yet the truth never left his lips. He knew his family had their burning questions, but he couldn't answer them. The thought alone pained him when he thought of her.