𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 ᵖᵉᵃᵏʸ ᵇˡⁱⁿᵈᵉʳˢ

37

"Don't tell Tommy about the chair and get this shit cleaned up." Arthur groaned, patting Isaiah on the back.

"We're not scared of fucking Wops" John shouted. "All right John" Arthur shook his head.

-

Delilah leaned over the table of the Garrison, facing Micheal. She placed down her playing cards and let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't understand this game" she complained.

Micheal smiled slightly, looking at his own cards.

Isiah and Finn walked in, pushing each other about. Isiah sat beside her, jokingly throwing an arm around her. Delilah leaned in slightly and showed him her cards. "Help me?"

He frowned, looking at her cards and pointing at one and whispering in her ear. She nodded slightly. "I'm staying," she told Micheal.

He nodded and threw in a poker chip. She looked up at Isiah. "Raise it," he whispered.

Delilah placed two poker chips in, holding her cards close. Micheal thought for a moment, "show?" he asked. "You first" Lilah said.

Micheal placed his cards on the table and so did she. His face dropped. "You won," Isiah told her, pulling the pile of poker chips toward her.

"I still don't understand the game, but okay,"

-

Polly walked through the betting den and into the office where he sat, John staring at a newspaper.

Polly glared at him.

"Did we run Kempton yesterday or not?" he asked. "Danny Lee got drunk" she said. "Instead of injecting the horses with cocaine, he decided to share it with his cousins."

"Jesus Christ" John sighed.

"He's your brother in law, get Esme to talk to him" she nodded, leaning onto the desk. "Look, Before I start.."

"I don't want you to do anything about this" Polly continued. "About what" John asked. Polly closed the door, facing him.

"Vincente Changretta's son" she informed him.

John stifled a laugh. "What, Angel?"

"He's no bigger than two pence worth of change" he joked. "Well he heard you threatened him directly to shoot him in the knees" Polly reminded them.

"And now he's going round Nechells telling everybody he's going to kill you"

John scribbled on a piece of paper, grinning.

"This is Lizzie fault to start with, Tommys for leaving it up to you"

"What are you talking about. We run London. We run the north, we run the whole fucking country"

"What do we care about some fucking Nechells Green Eyeties"

"We don't need to be getting involved in all these little piss pots" Polly said.

"What does Arthur say?"

"That's why i'm here and not him. He said if there'd be a fight, he says apologise"

"He fucking said what"

"We own the city" Polly said. "But we don't need to rub everybody's noses in it"

"If the old man decided to make a stand, he might get Sabini feeling sentimental"

"Sabini's done" John looked up. "They're all done" Polly whispered. "They all pay up"

"But we don't want rebellions" Polly bit her lip, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I think we need to compromise"

"Tommy is busy, leaving me in charge, there's no other option. Especially if apologising is out of the picture"

John stood up, pushing everything off the table.

"For fucks sake" he shouted.

"You know what this is, this is Arthur's fucking Missus. Turn the fucking cheek? We'll be handing out Bibles in the fucking bullring with her cousins"

"John you don't have to do anything" Polly said. "Lizzie will do it for you then it'll all calm down and nobody will lose face"

"I'll take his fucking face how about that" he said slamming the door.

-

John stood with a smug grin on his face as the line of suits that hung in front of him got pulled apart, revealing Vincente Changretta. He smiled at him before lunging forward, letting his face collide with his face, hitting him again and again.

He pushed Vincente beside the stairs before walking to Angel, falling backward onto the floor. "Are you going to kill me?" he stuttered. "Get fucking up" John laughed at him, dragging the boy to his feet.

"Stay away from Lizzie" he shouted, taking his cap from his head and pushing the razor blade in to Angel's eye, Screams erupted from his mouth as blood poured down his face.

"By order of the peaky fucking blinders" he hissed, hitting him once more and dissapearing up the stairs.

-

Arthur paced the room, Polly sat in the chair in front of him. "All right Finn, thanks for coming, fuck off" Arthur said as the younger boy brought John to the room.

"Finn you can stay" Tommy said, entering through the den. "Sit down John. Sit down"

John hesitantly took a seat, "John you cut Angel Changretta. Even though Arthur told you to apologise and Polly told you to compromise. You chose not to listen to Mr Apologise or Miss Compromise. And now ive got an Italian walking around my backyard saying hes going to kill my brother." he shouted.

"So what are we going to do, John, apologise or compromise" he asked. They all looked at John, waiting for him to respond.

"Oh it was just something John said as a joke" Arthur said. "Yeah but he's your brother as well Arthur"

Arthur nodded. "I didnt want to start a war over something John said without meaning it"

"So should we apologise in Italian or English? Or should we ask them which fucking language they prefer?"

They began talking about rebellion and peace at home.

"We take two of the Changretta pubs and we take them tonight, thats it" Tommy said, walking away. Arthur stood, shaking his head.

"Oh, right, for christ sake why?"

He stopped. "Eh? he asked. "Why?" Polly repeated. "Because we fucking can, and if we can, we do. And if we lift our heel of their necks now, theyll just come at us. Remember these are the bastards that wanted Danny Whizz Bang dead" he reminded them "Your getting soft brother, soft and weak, save the bibles for sundays eh?"