Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

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"Ailbhe, don't. You can't just fucking walk in there!"

He tried to bargain with her, gripping onto her arm until she was pulling free of him. He managed to get an arm around her waist and restrain her that way but she was much stronger than she looked and Isaiah had to dig his heels in to stop her from pulling him with her.

"Isaiah, I'm sorry about this"

That was all he heard before the wind was knocked clean out of his stomach and his chest. Her little elbow had slammed into his stomach, rendering him winded and almost paralysed for long enough for her to push away from him and out of his grip.

But no one could have held her back from this. Not when she knew that whatever happened in that room would possibly change all of their lives, especially hers. Not to mention the child inside of her.

She could hear Isaiah's footsteps behind her but she was running and she had the advantage of not being crippled by a breathless pain in her chest from an elbow that was harder and sharper than it looked.

She heard voices and she was slamming the door of Tommy's study open when she heard the yell of pain.

Finn and Duke stood over a body. Blood spilled from Billy's neck and face, pooling onto the floor like a puddle that was reaching for Ailbhe's shoes. He was still breathing, clutching onto his bleeding and cut throat and missing an eye from his head.

It was gruesome but Ailbhe had seen worse. And she ignored his wheezing and hands that reached for her ankles as if she could help him, or even would.

Both men looked up at the source of the noise, knowing that someone had burst in. But neither of them had expected her.

"Ailbhe what the –"

"You fucking promised Ailbhe, you –"

"I'm sorry Finn, I tried to stop her but she-"

Finn was furious. She could tell just by the way he had said her name. It was dark but she could still see the burning in his eyes when he looked at her and the way the gun in his hand dropped slightly.

Her husband. The man who had wrote that letter and had walked straight into this fucking mess. The man who would give up it all for her if she asked, who would kill for her and die for her. And she knew that she would do the same for him. But she didn't want them to do any of it. She wanted him to know about the baby, about their chance to get out and go their own way. To get away from their ruinous family who were disintegrating and shattering in their hands as they tried to keep it together.

Isaiah crashed in behind her, almost colliding with her only for his hands that he thrust out and grabbed her to stop himself from taking her to the floor with him. He kept his hands loose on her, not really sure how anyone would react if he started to pull her from the room. Although Finn was looking at her like he wanted her to be as far away from them as possible, Isaiah also knew that men had lost their eyes for less.

And the burning glare that Finn fixed Isaiah with until he held his hands up was enough.

Duke stood beside Finn, a smirk on his lips when he realised that Ailbhe had decided to come anyway despite all their warnings. She had disappointed him earlier with her tears and wanting out. But this was exactly who he had thought she was. Reckless and wild.

"I think its best you leave now." Duke's gravelly tone did nothing to distract her from her husband's look, even when she felt Billy's blood soak through the tips of her shoes.

"I'm not going anywhere." She snapped, eyes darting between the two Shelby men who looked like Tommy but in such different ways.

"Ailbhe, Billy is dealt with. We just have to dig up the rest of these bodies and then we're done, alright?"