𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐃 ᵖᵉᵃᵏʸ ᵇˡⁱⁿᵈᵉʳˢ

54

"Oh come on," she laughed, "pictures" she nodded, he held his arm out and walked her outside where everyone stood.

-

"It's time for ya speech, John" Micheal said. John sighed, shaking his head with a smile.

"Go on John" Arthur encouraged.

Lottie held Isaiah's arm, watching John stand. "I'm not going to bore you all with any sentimental shit cause i'm sure Lottie wouldn't appreciate it. But i wanted to start by..thanking Isaiah, for making my little sister happy" he nodded, looking at the two. "And i wanted to thank you, Lottie" he pointed at her.

"For being the person i always needed" he cleared his throat. "If Lottie wasn't here, i'd probably be dead now." he joked. "Without her talking me out of all the stupid shit we have all tried doing, we probably wouldn't be where we are today. You might be one of the youngest, but your most certainly smarter than the rest of us" he nodded.

"To Lottie" he raised his glass, everyone copied. "To Lottie" they repeated.

She struggled to hide the smiled on her face as they sat down. "Reckon he was a good choice then" Isaiah whispered in her ear. She nodded. "Yeah"

-
1 week later

Everyone sat in Tommy's office, waiting for him to speak.

"Before I begin, I want to let you know I made a mistake. I made a mistake, and I want to apologise to all of you. Arthur, you warned me against getting involved in Russian business, and you were right."

Arthur hummed.

"I doubted your wife, for that, I am sorry. Linda, I have added 3,000 here, in the hope you will forgive me."

Linda stood, taking the money. "Apology accepted"

"Esme, I doubted you as well.

"Now John has got innocent lives on his conscience. Ordinary working men..." she hissed.

"Yeah, alright Esme, got it" John stopped her. "No she's alright" Tommy said. "You and Arthur are gonna have to share that burden. But i hope the house that you can buy with this," he tossed money in front of John.

"Can become a place of contemplation. Perhaps redemption"

John took the money and returned to his seat.

"Charlie, for lost tools and dangerous goods and Curly's wise words. Johnny, for board and lodgings." he tossed money at them.

"Lizzie." He whispered, handing her money. She scowled and threw it at him.

"Michael, for the killings. Five for cutting and five for shooting."

"No, Tommy." Polly stood. "What? Tell me, eh? This is who I am!" He shouted.

"And this is all I can give you for what you have given to me. For your hearts and your souls. Last week, I nearly lost my son. You should fucking understand that. For what, eh? For what? For this? For this?" he ranted.

"And I know that you all want me to say that I will change, that this fսck¡ng business will change." he mocked.

"But I've learnt something these last few days. Those bastards. Those bastards are worse than us. Politicians, fucking judges, lords and ladies. They are worse than us. And they will never admit us to their palaces no matter how legitimate we become. Because of who we are, because of who we fսck¡ng are because of where we are fucking from."