Your Crucible | Peaky Blinders

Chapter Eleven ~ Betrayal

"You're taking me away from my baby!" Freddie shouted as they pulled him from the house. "Ada! Lottie!"

"Freddie!"

Lottie clawed at the police. "Freddie!"

A policeman pushed her away, pushing her to the ground as the others dragged Freddie out the house and onto the lamp-lit street.

Lottie ran out after them. "Freddie! No! Let him go! Freddie!" She clawed at one of the police officers that were dragging him away. "Get off him!" She shouted.

Snapping, the officer that was holding one of Freddie's arms, let go and swung his fist towards Lottie, punching the left side of her face, connecting with her jaw. She fell to the ground from the impact, her hands and knees stinging from the pain of the harsh landing.

"No!" Freddie shouted, trying to free himself. "Lottie!"

She saw as he kicked his leg out, hitting the officer who had punched Lottie, causing him to groan in pain, but the other punched Freddie in retaliation, and dragged him further away. Lottie scrambled off the floor. "Freddie! No! No... Freddie!" But they were gone. Her legs gave way underneath her and she fell to the ground, tears streaming down her face, her jaw throbbing painfully.

Polly rushed outside and put her arms around her, helping her up. As she held Lottie, she looked down the street, her anger swelling thinking of Tommy. Then, Polly marched off in that direction, leading Lottie along with her by the hand.

As soon as they entered, Polly snapped, "It's a boy." Tommy smiled, but seeing them, it instantly vanished. Both their cheeks were wet from crying and a bruise was already forming on Lottie's jaw.

Polly rushed over to Tommy as John, Maxim and Arthur exited the back room. "Poll? Polly?" The brothers gasped as Maxim watched quietly, looking more at Lottie, noticing her bruise. He walked over to her, but a single glare from his cousin was enough to make him stop where he stood.

Polly slammed her fists against Tommy's chest.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Tommy exclaimed.

John and Arthur grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back as Lottie stared at him darkly from the side. "But the police came and took his father away."

Tommy just stared confused. This was the snapping point. Was he not going to at least apologise? Lottie strode towards him in two steps and punched him across the face. "Don't you dare look like that!" She snapped, ignoring the pain in her hand.

"Lottie!" Arthur gasped.

Maxim rushed to grab her arm, but she shook him off.

"You liar!" She shouted. "They fucking took him! They fucking took Freddie away! You said there was a truce! You said!"

"I didn't tell the coppers," he whispered, looking directly into her vivid blue eyes.

"Then who did then?" She hissed. "Who else knew?" Lottie demanded. When he didn't reply, she shoved him again and shouted, "Who else fucking knew!"

His eyes flickered to Grace. She immediately picked up on it, and snapped her head towards the barmaid who stumbled back at the dagger glare she suddenly received.

Lottie strode towards her, her jaw clenched, her eyes dark with murderous intent. As she walked, her right hand reached for her pocket, pulling out her loaded pistol, slammed Grace into the wall behind the counter and pressed her gun against her jaw. Grace breathed erratically, her eyes wide with fear. John darted forward to pull Lottie off her, shouting out for her to let go, but she shoved him off, too focused on Grace.

"Did you do it?" She hissed. "Did you!""

"No!" Grace gasped. "I swear!"

"Don't fucking lie to me!" Lottie snapped, pressing her gun harder into her. "I will kill you!"

"Lottie, stop!" John begged.

"It wasn't her!" Tommy said, but she ignored both of them.

"You better not be lying to me - you'll only make it worse for yourself," Lottie growled.

Grace stared at her frantic. "I'm not! I'm not!"

"Because if you are... well, you're fucked," she continued, shaking her head; her bright blue eyes were vibrant from crying and wide as she stared into Grace's, never blinking once. "That's my brother! My brother! My family! And if I find out that it was you, I will make sure you die a long, agonising death, and I promise you that I will watch over you as you cry out for help. It isn't those boys you should be afraid of - they may give you mercy," she spat. "No. It's me you want to be afraid of. I will kill you without a seconds thought. I promise you that."

"Lottie," John whispered.

She scoffed, still glaring at Grace, and lowered her gun and stepped backwards. "You better hope you're telling the truth, for your sake. If it was you. I will hunt you down and kill you. You have my word. And I never break it." Without looking at the men who stood staring horrified around her, she stormed out, wiping her tears from her eyes. Grace stood frozen, shaking from fear, terrified for her life, scared that Lottie would find out the truth.

Lottie's shoulders shook as she walked down the lanes aimlessly. When her foot kicked a bottle, she stopped, picked it up, and after a moment, she threw it as hard as she could, letting herself scream. It smashed on impact as it hit the floor. But she didn't feel any better. But at least now, she wasn't the only thing broken.

***

The men stared at each other, all breathing heavily. Polly had stormed out after Lottie and Grace had rushed to the office, so it was only them. Maxim looked up at Tommy. He had been silent all that time, looking down, brows furrowed, trying to manage his own emotional pain and perhaps betrayal. When he finally looked up, Tommy saw that there was a danger in Maxim's eyes, more frightening than in any other mans as this was a man who no one truly knew what he was capable of, and no one was eager to find out.

"Did you tell the coppers?" He said quietly, but there was an obvious power in his voice.

"I didn't, I swear it, Maxim," promised Tommy.

Maxim nodded, running his hand through his hair, thinking over everything. "Fuck!" He swore, kicking a table over as he left the pub, needing to think things through.

A/n:

poor Freddie and poor Ada and poor Lottie and poor Maxim... sorry that this chapters pretty short but I felt it came to a natural closing point. Also, I'm going to try and upload a chapter once a month(ish) cause I know myself and I dawdle and procrastinate like a pro so yeah, hopefully I keep up to date with this - anyways, please vote, comment and follow and hope you enjoyed it and tell me your thoughts and everything :))

published : 26/07/2018