WRITTEN FOR ME ( thomas shelby )

008 ━ Night Visitors ..

━━━━━━ ༻ 008 ༺ ━━━━━━
" Night Visitors "

          A SILVER FORK'S CLICK ON FINE porcelain had a distinct sound to itself that has bathed the Alloways hotel suite for the past hour in a crescendo symphony. Their room-served dinner may have started silent, but as soon as they were nearing desert and their third glass of sparkling white wine, their symphony of cutlery finesse was joined by a final crucial instrument: their voices dragged across a conversation meant to catch each other up.

"I've heard Freddie Throne's in prison," Gene chose a rocky start for their lazy talk, something that Jackie did not even allow to linger as a thought, continuing on a completely different topic. She's heard enough of that story after all, mostly from Tommy himself, who was taking the fall in his family's eyes for something he did not cause. It so seemed that Freddie had embedded himself further into the Shelby family than simply being a comrade to Tommy, as she recalled they were back in France, and it was for that new connection's sake, established through Tommy's sister, that the arrest of Freddie Thorne was a downright disaster.

"And I've heard our men have all successfully settled close to Birmingham, hence I took the liberty of making the reservations for that hunt we thought of organising. Five cabins, one night..."

"Five cabins?" Gene interrupted. "When Lester said you have a spending issue, I thought he was just being his overly exaggerated self again, but..."

"I've invited the Shelby's to join us," rolling her eyes beforehand, Jackie defended her spending choice. "Unfortunately, I've had no success in persuading or impressing their aunt, however, I am most excited to let you know Thomas, Arthur, John and most likely John's new wife as well, will definitely be joining the hunting recreation."

For the entirety of her explantion, Gene proceeded to slowly shake his head in complete disapproval and occasionally even disappointment, making it a challenge for Jackie to keep her conversation easiness throughout without dipping her tone into annoyance. "Your like for a certain Shelby hasn't gone unnoticed, I assure you, sister," he eventually sighed.

"This has nothing to do with Tommy," Jackie argued, letting her fork down and going for her glass of champagne instead.

"I would have believed you right now had you not been calling him that since the deal with Ehmann."

"Well, you are wrong anyhow," she didn't back down, quickly gulping down from her wine to answer. "Which is why I lead our business and not you, little brother. You lack the vision for investments," Jackie lifted her chin in pride. "Thomas is in a really bad place with his family right now. His business relies heavily on family. Those are two facts that, existing at the same time can cause trouble to the profits of his dealings and by consequence, our profits as their middle-man sellers as well. In the long run as well, getting to know our perhaps first business partners in the international export will come to be incredibly useful. Men tend to bond over violence and men who know each other in such environments are less likely to get paranoid about each other."

"This has everything to do with Thomas Shelby though," Gene argued his own point with conviction. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be considering his offer like this."

"He warned us that the police have received a tip due to an IRA member drunkenly talking about the Liverpool shipment in a bar and that saved us great losses and trouble with the law around here as well," Jackie defended again, however this time growing disinterested in her plate, thus leaning back in her cushioned chair. "Moreover," she raised her hand to gesticulate through her speech, "he gave me no reason to doubt his intentions. His profits are promising and he can afford what he's been interested in buying."