VICES AND VIRTUES | Thomas Shelby

TWENTY FIVE

The emotions that came upon hearing that news were complex. She had never liked the woman, but that didn't mean that she truly wanted the woman dead. She would also never wish that sort of hurt on Tommy, no matter how much she once resented him. And then there was little Charles, who Polly had told her about, she dreaded to think of the little boy growing up without his mother.

"Who did you speak to?" Florence asked, snapping out of her haze, "At this institute?"

"It was a woman, we only spoke on the phone," Vinnie told her, "They seem to really care about the children."

"Good," Florence nodded, "Will you join the children? Tell them that I'll be in shortly."

"Is everything alright?" Vinnie asked, noticing a shift in his sister's disposition.

"Yes," Florence nodded, "I've just a mountain of things to sort through before Christmas."

"Come and get me if you need any help," Vinnie told her.

"I will," Florence smiled before making her way out of the living room and into the room that she had made her home office.

Florence and Elijah lived in his parents' London house for the first year that they were in the city, until they found a large townhouse that they both liked, not far from the West End. It had four floors, allowing for the children to have their own bedrooms, a playroom and an office for both Florence and Elijah.

Florence entered the office, which was as tidy as usual, there was a stack of letters on her desk which she decided needed immediate attention. She liked to make a habit of dealing with all work matters before Christmas so that she could spend the festive period fully focused on spending time with the children and Elijah.

She sifted through the envelopes, opening and discarding the various Christmas cards sent from suppliers and friends who the couple had made during their time in London. There were letters from contractors about new business ventures in the new year, so she filed them, intending to review them in the new year.

Lastly was an envelope, sent as airmail, which she first assumed must have been sent by Elijah some weeks ago when he first arrived in New York. But upon closer inspection she realised that the letter wasn't addressed to her, it was addressed to Daisy. The name read: Miss Daisy Shelby.

Florence tore the envelope open, wondering how anyone could know the truth about who Daisy's father was. The only people she told were Ada, Polly and Tommy himself, and she trusted each of those people to keep it secret, so how could anyone outside of the country know?

She pulled a card out of the envelope, opened it and quickly dropped it onto the table in fear, it was a black hand. She knew what it meant to be sent a black hand, she knew that was bigger than anything she experienced in Small Heath, black hands were the work of the Mafia.

The card read: Merry Christmas to you and your family, From Luca Changretta and Family.

She didn't have a clue who Luca Changretta was and she didn't know what she or Daisy could have done to be served a black hand by a man they didn't know. But then it dawned on her, whatever this was it had to involve the Shelby family, why else would the envelope be addressed to Daisy Shelby?

In a moment of fear she shoved the card back into the envelope before slipping it into her pocket. There was only one person who could give her the answers that she needed, and that person resided in a city she vowed she would never return to. She also knew that as much as she could hold her own, she and the children were vulnerable in London, it may have been a city that they called home, but they didn't have an army of men willing to protect them there.