A Mind to Tear a Soul in Two

Chapter Seven

In the week that had passed since her attack, Charlotte had been having a difficult time keeping her emotions in check. At any given moment she could be raging at her aunt and brothers for enforcing new boundaries on her, or curled in a corner begging to be left alone with her thoughts.

Tommy had assured her that his coppers on the peaky's payroll had promised that no one was questioning the disappearance of Officer Bell. Apparently her attacker wasn't necessarily an outstanding member of society — he'd been known to disappear inside a pub or whore house for days on end, only appearing when he'd run out of funds. They'd all assumed that he'd been spending his days at the bottom of a bottle, and not a single person on the force was concerned with her attacker's disappearance.

She knew Tommy was confidant that there would be no repercussions for the murder she'd committed, but she still felt on edge. Whenever she brought it up, both Tommy and John had gotten on her for calling it murder — insisting that it was an accident and self defence. Adding that, even if someone did take interest in the man's whereabouts, nobody would fault her in what she'd done. When she'd maintain her stance that the murder would be discovered, her brothers had started in on lecturing her over her viewpoint.

Her stressed reached its peak when she began fighting with Tommy over his enforcing Polly's new bedtime rule. Crossing her arms, refusing to move, she shouted, "A person who's murdered a man shouldn't be confined to bed at 10 o'clock."

She'd screamed and kicked at him when he had picked her up and practically thrown her into her bed. He'd barely been able to keep his anger in check when he'd made his threat, "If you use the word 'murder' one more time, I'm going to make you sit at that desk and you'll fill an entire fucking notebook with the words, 'I am not a murderer.' I don't care how long it takes, your ass will be in that chair until I'm satisfied. I swear to god Charlotte, I'm not bluffing here."

Ignoring the threat, she demanded he leave her room — it had been a few days since she'd gotten over the need to be constantly accompanied. Her family, however, had still made sure someone was always nearby, just in case. He refused her demand, and instead — in what could only be described as a show of dominance — dragged her overstuffed chair from the fireplace, across the room, and placed it directly in front of her bed. Sitting down, he lit a cigarette and glared. He clearly wasn't going anywhere. Even if he'd originally planned to leave her be, her demands had sealed her fate of being babysat overnight.

As the two glared stubbornly at one another, Tommy knew he had more important things to take care of. But he'd be damned if he let his sister get the last word in this battle. She'd been a pain in his ass the past few days, intentionally going out of her way to be an annoyance to everyone around them. He understood that she was processing. But shit, did she have to be so bullheaded while doing it?

Polly had warned him that she'd act out, that she'd test her limits, and he needed to be prepared to keep her in line. But he hadn't prepared himself for her behaviour to flip a switch overnight. The first few days after the attack she'd looked like the walking dead. Too sore to dress herself in her trousers, she'd wandered the house in a dress, refusing to eat much, and spent her time either in bed or reading. He'd given her allowances here and there: permitting more whiskey than usual. Letting her read through the gambling ledgers when she'd gotten bored. Asking Esme to clean the dishes when Charlotte had forgotten to tend to her own chores.

But when Polly had insisted that he reinforce the boundaries, Charlotte had moaned and complained and had gone out of her way to test every single one of them. And now he sat in her room, inches from her, daring her to test him tonight. Thankfully the girl had activated the self-preservation portion of her brain and she chose to merely growl at him as she rolled over to face the wall.