Word Count: ~ 3,100
Warnings: Cursing, enemies to lovers (eventually), mention of murder, Y/N being a BAD BITCH!
SUMMARY: Thomas Shelby is in need of help and turns to Henry George. In a mutual agreement, the pair begin working together but not too long after, Henry employs Tommy to act as an assassin.
Thomas Shelby has never been seen by no man nor woman. He is just there, fighting for the chance to be seen, loved, cared for, to be seen as more than he was handed as a young lad. Always striving for more than he was born into and willing to do anything in order to achieve his dream of not working to earn someone's respect. To be granted with it as soon as they set eyes on his tailored suit and expensive car.
Even with said dreams slowly aligning themselves, one thing was missing. Tommy memorized the recipe that rich men followed to a tee. And he was missing the final piece, he had the money, the employees, both illegal and legal ways of earning a coin... his family by his side, a position in the government... but one thing seemed to evade him.
One thing seemed three steps ahead of him as he ran toward it, trying to grasp even a semblance of the final piece to his puzzle.
Tommy Shelby needed a trophy wife.
Loveless or not, he didn't care. Every party he attended, almost every man had a woman on his arm. Old, young, middle aged, they all had someone to showcase and flaunt like a trophy after a race. All but Tommy. And he was set on turning that dream into a reality.
If he could thrust his family from being poor to owning multiple estates a piece, who's to say he couldn't find the perfect woman to wed?
As time went on, it proved much harder than he realized. Of course he could marry a woman he already knew but he knew far too much about them. Tommy enjoyed the chase, the running after a woman and wooing her as much as he enjoyed a good fuck.
Then he saw her. It was like a light bulb lit above his head as their eyes met. She was magnetic, a beautifully colored gown adorned her and her smile was even prettier. But her eyes were bored, dull, clearly tired of the affair. Just like Thomas was, he wanted to leave the gala as soon as he stepped his foot in the door but the host, Henry George, could prove to be an important business partner if things went as planned.
John and Arthur joined their brother for the night, "Just in case." Tommy told them he didn't trust the host at all. Hence his brother's tagging along. Even if Tom knew they'd drink themselves useless if he didn't hurry things up.
But suddenly... there was only her. He felt like an idiot, staring at her from across the room like when a child gawks at a goldfish from behind the glass. Tommy felt the slackness in his jaw and despite wanting to hold her gaze for ages, he coughed quickly to disguise his surprise.
Tommy turned back to the couple speaking at him and forced a smile before excusing himself. When he turned to find her in the mass of people, Tommy found nothing but an empty space where she previously stood.
His heart skipped a beat as he realized this had to be a game of sorts. Their eyes met for more than half a minute, she must have recognized Tommy... with that sudden thought, he shook his head at himself. Tommy realized how bloody arrogant he sounded, thinking a woman who was clearly well off in life would recognize the likes of him.
With that notion in mind, he stopped himself and then began making his way toward Henry's office. The meeting was set to start soon.
⎯⎯
The last thing Tommy expected was to see the one who caught his eye standing before the man he was set to meet. "I don't bloody want your money, you prick. I don't want anything you've touched."
"Then you ought to leave all of fuckin' London, darling. I've got my fingers in everything." Her head jutted backward and from Tommy could see, she cringed.
She dropped a pouch on his desk with a loud thump, Must be money, Thomas assumed. "Fuck you, I quit." She began to turn around and Tommy quickly backed up and shoved his hands into his pockets before pretending to pace the hallway. His eyes were on the ground before he knew she had her back to him.
In that moment, Tommy made it his duty to figure out who that woman was. And why in the world was she so ballsy as to call Henry George a prick to his face.
"Mr. Shelby! I was expecting you!"
"Tommy is fine, and likewise." Henry gestured for Tommy to take a seat and so the Shelby man did so. "May I smoke in here?"
Henry nodded, "Of course, of course, would you like a drink, Tommy?"
Thomas paused before agreeing with a simple 'yes' as he returned to opening his cigarette case. He dampened the filter with his lower lip then settled it between them, Tommy lit the cigarette and pocketed the case.
"You know, I expected you to be much taller." Henry said with a sly smirk
The Shelby man kept his composure and forced a chuckle as he tapped the ashes from his cigarette into the tray, "Not the first time I've heard that... now, Mr. George, we've got a lot to discuss, eh?"
He shook his head at Tommy, "Oh? That can wait, I'd like to get acquainted with you, Tommy."
Cold blue eyes met manic green ones, Thomas was quickly growing annoyed but he took a long drag from his cigarette. "It's never a good idea to mix business and pleasure," Tommy stated numbly, thinking about all the times he'd done just that.
"It always works out nicely for me and I'm sure with time, you'll learn that the two go hand in hand." There was an intriguing look in Henry's eyes, he was clearly on something... but the crazy act looked to be calculated and it chilled Tommy to the core. "I will admit that a few times, things got out of hand when mixin' the two, but I find using pleasure to better my business chances to be... rather nice."
His words made the memories of sleeping with Jessie Eden return to Tommy and how he used her... Tom didn't feel bad in the moment, or even when he got elected as an MP. That was only because the guilt was sneaking up on him and it did one hell of a job because he didn't go one day without the burden of those he's used to get here.
Tommy shrugged and finished off his drink, "In exchange for your services, I'd be able to offer you fifty men for security detail. They'd be out of their usual dress, but they'd have to be armed. That of course is only for that one event, we could discuss if you'd like to employ the Peaky Blinders furthermore after the fact."
Mr. George smirked at Thomas, "It's true that they say you don't fuck about, eh? Which of my services are you interested in, Mr. Shelby?"
"All of them."
⎯⎯
It'd been two months since the gala and Tommy had to ready himself for another. Fifty Peaky Blinders would be disguised at waiters in order to make them inconspicuous. Apparently Mr. George had someone he needed to tie down. Tom had a sneaking suspicion it was the woman who told Henry off before their meeting...
"The boys are on their way, Tommy. Fifty of 'em." Arthur's gravelly voice made his younger brother nod silently as Thomas adjusted his collar. "I don't like this much, them actin' like spies. You know we lost one to the Russians... we can't be seen losing nearly all of them to Henry fuckin' George."
Tommy turned away from the mirror to face Arthur, "We need his help, he has more money that he knows what to do with and if I extend a helpful hand, he promised his services in return. It's just business, Arthur."
Arthur looked at the wall with a grimace, "Business used to be beatin' up some arseholes or helping at the races... these are those toffs and they don't care if some poor man dies 'cause of them." Tom held onto Arthur's shoulders and looked his older brother in the eye.
"Listen to me, they're going to be just fine. And if anything happens, I'll take care of it, yeah?"
⎯⎯
Once again, Tommy found himself nearing boredom. Sure, he was alert and focused on making sure everything went smoothly, but he didn't like these things any better. The target was a woman, apparently a spy... he had rolled his eyes at that but hearing that the day prior made Tom's suspicions grow.
The boys blended in rather well despite their usual scruffy appearance. To Tommy, things couldn't be going any better.
Then he sees her, again. Even prettier than before. Her dress long and flowy, it seemed lighter than the other dresses he'd seen during the night. Almost like she was ready to run if needed. Her eyes were scanning the crowd and when her y/e/c eyes met Tommy's cornflower blue ones, she paused her descent.
He didn't look away as he handed his glass off to a waiter (he honestly didn't know if the man was one of the boys or not, but Tommy didn't care) and quickly followed the woman. Despite knowing what she looked like, Tommy hadn't realized how much she looked like the description Henry gave Tom the day prior.
She rushed up the stairs in front of Tommy as he said excuses before pushing people out of the way. Despite nearing forty, he managed to make it up the stairs and continue running after her. Once he made it into a large open hallway, everything was eerily silent. The music playing at the party wasn't making a peep.
This made Tommy take it slow as he walked down the hall, reaching into his expensive jacket and placed a hand on his gun. He sniffed loudly before he felt something cold against the side of his jaw. It was the woman, with a small silver pistol pressed up against the harsh line of his freckled skin.
"Why're you followin' me?" She didn't sound anything like he'd imagined. Less posh and more... like himself. It reminded him of his fellow working class members and Tommy realized something.
Despite turning down Henry George, knowing she couldn't make a living anywhere else, she did it... and that realization only made Thomas more intrigued by her. "Funny I could ask the same thing."
Her eyes narrowed in confusion, "No you couldn't, I'm not following you."
Thomas acted quickly by pushing her against the wall and unarming her. "Don't make me hurt you, miss." He threatened.
His words seemed to have only pissed her off even more. "Believe me, I could hurt you more than you could ever dream of harming me." She growled at Tommy and struggled against his arms. "I'd let go if I were you."
"I'd leave if I were you."
"Oh, petty threats will get you nowhere you arsehole." Her head snapped forward faster than Tommy could react to and their foreheads collided. The next thing he knew, she kneed him in the bollocks and was running.
The carpeted flooring was far from soft as Tom fell to the floor, groaning. Against the pain, he pushed himself up while squeezing his eyes shut. "Fuckin' bitch." He spat out before forcing himself to follow after her. The halls were endless it seemed as he listened for the sound of her heels.
At the end of the last hall, Tommy saw a balcony door and quickly pushed it open... to find only a scrap of fabric left and a shadow passing over the manicured lawn. "Fuck!" He exclaimed loudly before having a large breath.
⎯⎯
"Things are proving to be much more difficult than I initially thought, Mr. George. That woman got away by..." Tommy squeezed the bridge of his nose as spoke, "...jumping off of a bloody balcony." Lizzie typed quicker than he spoke. "I hope we can work something out that benefits the both of us, right now all I can ask for is more information on this woman so we have a better chance of acquiring her."
Once he signed the letter and handed it back to Lizzie, Tommy left for his London office. Things weren't too busy but he wasn't excited to hear back from Henry. Thomas could already imagine Henry's curses. Tommy had to right his wrong by working even harder than he already was.
If aunt Pol knew how little he was sleeping, she'd scream his ears off... before he entered his office, the receptionist called out to him. "A very angry man is on the phone in your office, Mr. Shelby. Says you didn't deliver like you promised."
"Thank you, Rose. Why don't you take your lunch, eh?" Tommy did his best not to rush to the phone as he asked for Mr. George's extension.
"How the hell did you fail, Mr. Shelby?!" The shrill cry in Henry's voice made Thomas pull the phone away from his ear. "It was simple enough, was it not!?"
Tom struggled to keep calm despite wanting to hang up on the man. "Mr. George, you didn't provide me with enough information about this woman. I haven't gotten any clue as to why you'd like to find her in the first place."
The sound of silence irked Tommy as he waited for Henry to respond. After nearly a whole minute of silence, a loud sigh sounded through the receiver, "She humiliated me." Henry sounded ashamed and rightfully so.
"You want to... possibly kill a woman because you're humiliated?"
"You know nothing of what it is like to be in my shoes, Tommy. If anything you're masquerading as one of us! I paid you to help me out and you've failed."
Tommy cursed under his breath, "Give me more information and I'll take care of her. I'd hate for us to end things badly, Henry."
"You've a week, that should be enough. I'll have my people send everything over. I expect you to fix this, Mr. Shelby."
Once the call finally ended, Tommy held his head in his hands while cursing at himself. "Fuck..." He wiped his eyes and stood up to get a drink. It's never too early to start getting drunk, is it? Tommy racked his mind for ways to work around the small mishap that happened at the party.
Henry set up the gala knowing she would show up... and she did but Thomas lost her. It pissed him off more than anything that she managed to get away so easily. Tommy finished off his drink with one thing on his mind. Finding that woman.
⎯⎯
It proved to be far easier than Tommy originally anticipated, even without the help of his sister, he managed to figure out where the woman could be hidden. Now he knew more about her than he should without having formally met her, but knowing her name was something he liked the best.
Thinking 'the woman' has felt flat... now he knows her name. Y/N Y/LN... Tommy didn't have any guesses as to what her name could be, but Y/N was much prettier than he could have come up with.
Apparently, Y/N was known for attending political meetings. As of late, she'd been going to Jessie Eden's and Tommy knew his sister was perfect for the job of acquiring Y/N L/N.
Explaining his plan to Ada was less glamorous than he wanted it to be, but Tommy got the job done. "You go and see Jessie Eden speak... and maybe... bump into Miss L/N?"
Ada looked at her older brother blankly, "When you said you had a plan I assumed you had a plan, not a bloody idea!" She laughed at Tommy as he blushed very lightly. It was often he did so but Ada knew just how to push her brother's buttons.
"Listen, I've got three days left, eh? Will you help me or not?"
Ada shrugged, "I'd like some compensation, raising a child on me own isn't very easy, you know."
"What do you want?" He asked curtly.
"Enough for Karl's school fees and... a birthday party for him. I've put money away for savings so I'm cuttin' it a bit close." Tommy sighed before he nodded.
"Alright, here, I know you can come up with a plan quicker than I bloody can."
"You got that damn right, oh my-" Ada opened the file and gasped at what she read, "She's killed at least fifty men? Jesus, she's a femme fatale... no wonder you can't get her." Ada mumbled before looking back down at the file due to Tommy's harsh glare.
Tommy didn't want to admit it, but he hated sending his little sister in the lion's den. Trying to corner Y/N wasn't the worst idea, but he had no other choice... and so... his darling Ada was acting as a spy...
⎯⎯
Y/N sat in the darkest corner of the meeting, intently watching as Jessie Eden shouted at the crowd of people. They clapped and egged the young woman on. Y/N wasn't that interested in the political discourse but she found it important to know enough about it incase her rights were being stolen.
And if she was quite honest, watching Jessie Eden speak made Y/N feel invigorated and ready for a fight. Although Eden never spoke to Y/N personally, it was like she was given a pep talk by Jessie. It made Y/N's heart race whenever the crowd got particularly rowdy.
"Is this spot taken?" Y/N glanced up to see a woman with dark brown hair and familiar eyes, she nodded at the stranger. "Oh... it's just all the other tables are full-"
Y/N rolled her eyes, "Sit before I change my bloody mind and don't talk, yeah?"
The meeting was nearly over and surprisingly enough, the woman beside Y/N stayed quiet -- save for a few noises of surprise here and there. Once Jessie announced the end of the meeting, Y/N promptly stood up but was stopped by a hand on her forearm.
"Would you like to go out for a drink? I'm Ada," Ada jutted out her right hand before releasing Y/N's arm.
"Shelby is it?" She asked with a hint of suspicion.