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'𝙎𝙏𝘼𝙔 𝘾𝘼𝙇𝙈,
𝘿𝘼𝙍𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙂.'
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After celebrating late into the previous night about Victoria's return to their family home, the Shelby family woke up slightly later than they usually did. But as soon as they did all come around, they all had a brief conference to talk about what they would do and possible complications that they may face. Once they figured everything out they all split up and got themselves dressed ready for their evening in London. A soft tune played out throughout the house from the player in the hallway. There was a positive atmosphere in the Shelby household, everyone was humming along to the soft tune that played, everyone seemed happy. Something that was rare amongst their family. But as excited as they were ahead of Victoria returning to them, they needed to focus on the task they had in front of them. Which was to protect her from any harm that may come to her. The hours that was leading up to the family's departure from Birmingham to the London ball slowly started to creep up on them.
Once the ladies were dressed they walked down in their dresses to the men at the bottom of stairs like they had done for the day at the races. Polly wore a dark blue silk dress that loosely fitted her frame with her white button up jacket over her shoulders. Ada followed behind her aunt and wore a loose deep red dress fitted her nicely. They had picked out the dresses so that they corresponded well with one another.
They all gathered in the living room for a final run through of their plan to make sure everyone was fully aware. Not only were the Shelby and the Gray family attending, but they had attained the help of Johnny dogs, whom had become a close member of the family during business. Finn and Michael had also managed to persuade Isaiah to come along to help since he had also become part of the Peaky Blinders. There were no lengths that Tommy wouldn't go to to ensure the safety of Victoria. After they had briefly ran through their plan, everyone walked outside to where the cars were ready for them to take. The family all split up into the three cars, with Arthur, Tommy and John driving each of them and soon they drove off starting their journey to London.
The family had thought it through and decided that driving to their destination would be a lot safer for them and for Victoria instead of taking the train. The drive would be long; however, they knew it would be completely worth it in the end.
Meanwhile on the other side of London, Victoria was applying the finishing touches to her makeup, her hair had already been loosely pulled back into a small bun with a few pieces of stray hair hung around her face. Once she felt content she pulled on what James had told her to wear, it was a white fitted dress that had black patterned lace across her chest and upper torso. Victoria then walked over to her mirror and looked back at herself, she disliked herself wearing what he had chosen, and every ounce of her was filled with discomfort. The neckline of the dress was much higher than what she usually wore, and she placed her hand at the base of her neck, it was so obvious that something was missing. Without looking at herself for any longer she walked over to where her small white kitten heels sat. Just as she was stepping into them there was a knock at her door, part of her deeply hoped that it would be tommy coming to get her. However, that hope was soon diminished when James let himself into her home and walked into her bedroom, leaning against the door frame so that she couldn't walk away from him. "Rumour has it that the Peaky Blinders are headed up to London tonight, did you have anything to do with that?" James questioned as he crossed his arms across his chest. Victoria took a step back away from him and shook her head, "no. I already told you that the Shelby family don't mean anything to me, they never did." She shrugged, her words laced with lies. To which she had to question herself on when she had become so dishonest. James stepped closer to her and grabbed her wrist with a tight grip, "if I find out that you're lying to me, I'll make sure that you regret every single of it." He whispered harshly. Victoria almost shook with the fear and let out a soft whimper, "please let go, you're hurting me. Let's just go to the ball so that you can go on to impress all your friends there..." He then tightened his grip on her wrist and pulled her in closer to him. "If you let me down and make me look like a fool then not only will you get hurt but everyone that you care about will do too... and it will be all your fault." He muttered, his sickly-sweet smile said a lot about him as a person. He tormented her and hurt her every single chance that he got but he put on his smile and had managed to convince everyone that he was a good man that wouldn't hurt a fly. Finally, James let go of her wrist and took a step back as he allowed her to finish getting ready to go. Once she had her hands back she walked on over to her dressing table and picked up her powder sponge, applying a small amount to the bruises that had started to form. Then Victoria pulled on her white lace gloves that covered her bruised wrists better before she slipped on her cream coat with a faux fur neckline on over her shoulders. After letting out a sigh of defeat she picked up her small white clutch bag that sat on her desk, she turned to face him, "let's go then..."
James placed his hand roughly on her lower back as he walked with her to his car parked outside. "You know, the Shelby's have just walked right into a death trap. So, whether you had anything to do with it or not, thank you." He mumbled to her as they both climbed into the car. And within minutes they were on the road to the city centre where the ball would be held. Victoria remained silent throughout the car journey, her logic was that if she didn't say anything then she couldn't get into trouble for saying the wrong thing.
The car soon parked in the space that had been assigned to them outside the hall and when they climbed out, something caught Victoria's eye. Three of the Shelby family cars had been parked to the side out of view, almost like they had tried to be hidden. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing her Thomas again, even if she couldn't be in his arms. It was only a matter of time. They both slowly walked up the red carpet that led to the door and their coats and her bag were handed to the attendee and taken to the cloak room. Victoria looked around and took in how magnificent the hallway looked, there were old paintings that hung on the wall and a chandelier giving off the perfect amount of light. "I'm going to the bathroom, get a whiskey for me and you'll have a gin." James instructed before he walked on down the hallway and out of sight.
Slowly and with caution, Victoria wandered into the bar, her eyes scanning over the people around the room. Effortlessly looking for the eyes that she had grown to love. After a while she had given up looking and stepped up to the bar, giving her order of a whiskey for James and the gin for herself to the barman. As he stood waiting she felt a soft tap on her shoulder, upon turning around she let out a sigh. "Michael, please..." She whispered softly, her head lifting so their eyes met.
Michael reached out for her wrist to which Victoria flinched and pulled her wrist away. "No, I'm done with all of that now. This family needs you... Let's jut forget about what happened between us and forget about what I know. If you decide to tell Tommy then I want it to be because you wanted to, not because I forced you to." Victoria instantly filled with relief, her eyes getting teary at the thought of being able to live with them peacefully, unable to even form words.
"All of us and a few of the Peaky Blinders are spread out across this place, so if at any point you need us for anything, then just give us a signal and we'll be there within seconds. We're staying at a local house, we made sure they had a telephone, so if you need us when you leave... don't hesitate to call." He spoke quietly, slipping a piece of paper with a number scribbled down into her hand. Michael took a quick glance at her wrist and could see the bruises through the lace, "the sooner we can get you away from that bastard the better." He nodded before discretely walking away from her.
Victoria slipped the piece of paper into her dress and turned around again, the bartender placing the two glasses down in front of her. She picked up her glass of gin and took a drink, it numbing the internal pain that lingered, she could see why many got addicted. When she felt a rough hand pressing against her lower back she knew whom had joined her and took another sip from her glass, drinking more this time. "Drink it back and then we'll go have a little dance, show that I took the prettiest lady from Thomas Shelby and she's now on my arm." James mumbled into her ear before picking up his glass and downing his whiskey in one.
She briefly nodded to him and drank the rest of her gin, placing the glass back down on the counter and sliding it back to the bar tender. The pair then walked into the middle of the room where everyone was dancing in their pairs to the music. James turned to face her, his arms snaking around her waist and roughly pulling her in closer to him. Victoria placed her hands on his shoulders and plastered on her best smile as they began to elegantly move around the floor in rhythm like every other couple on the dance floor.
Tommy sat one of the bar stools in the corner with a glass of whiskey in his hand, his eyes hadn't left Victoria. Seeing the love of his life dancing with another man cut him deeply, a pain he was becoming more familiar with despite his best efforts. If he hadn't of known that she was being forced to be him that evening and that she was truly unhappy, then they could have fooled them into thinking they were just another one of the couples in love and just enjoying each others presence. No only was she a good liar but she had become a very good actress.
He necked his whiskey back down his throat, the liquor sending a pleasing burning sensation down him. "Bill, another whiskey when you're ready." He nodded glancing over to the man behind the bar. The bar tender had already prepared it for him and placed it down in front of him, he had been watching Tommy briefly, knowing he hadn't moved from his spot since he arrived. "Have you not got a lady? Would be a shame not to have a dance tonight?" Bill the bartender shrugged as he wiped the beer pump down with his cloth.
Tommy picked up his glass and raised an eyebrow, "I have a lady, a lady who I love fiercely, but she's here with someone else. "He mumbled as he lowered his head for a moment. Bill took a quick glance at the couple he had been watching attentively all evening. "She's easy on the eye, I can see why you love her. Take it from someone that has learnt from experience, if it's true love don't give up on it." He advised before he walked to the other side of the bar to serve someone else.
Tommy went turned himself so he was back to facing the dance floor, his eyes scanning around for Victoria again. Since he had been watching her attentively all evening he had picked up on the small snide jabs and the looks that he would give her that frightened her so easily. He wanted nothing more than to walk over to punch him till he no longer had a breath in his body for what he had done to her. But he knew he couldn't even move an inch towards them as he would just be putting her in more danger and he knew that it wasn't worth it.
The evening started dawning on and guests had started slowly leaving, after a while James glanced over at tommy and flashed him a smirk only the devil could have before pulling her out of the hall to collect their belongings. Tommy slammed his glass with whiskey and ran into the crowd of people and rounded up the people that had come with him. Once they all left the hall, Victoria was nowhere in sight so they hurriedly filed into their family cars. Within seconds the cars were speeding down the road off into the night.
All the Shelby cars made it back to the hotel sharpish, all of them running inside into their room so they could be there in case Victoria rang their telephone needing their help. Tommy picked up the armchair that the hotel had beside the window and placed it beside the bedside table where the phone was sat upon. They had purchased a few rooms so that they all had somewhere to rest their head at night, but everyone had piled into Tommy's room ready to be of service if needed. The men had all agreed that Polly and Ada were to sleep on the bed and they would all make themselves comfortable around the room somehow.
"She will be alright, if she hasn't called us by tomorrow then we'll be able to go in tomorrow and take her away back to Birmingham." Polly spoke softly as she sat at the top of the bed closest to Tommy. Trying to reassure him wasn't the easiest job to do and that was a fact. He looked back to his aunt and shook his head, "I shouldn't have been stupid enough to let her go. This wouldn't have happened to her." Tommy frowned before staring back at the phone.
"Tommy stop thinking like that, things happen for a reason. That girl is one of the strongest women I know! She fought off and shot Billie Kimber for Christ sake! A man who is not only double her strength and power but a man more fearful than the one she was with this evening. She will be fine." Polly explained before standing up and pouring herself a sherry. As time passed by everyone got themselves into a comfortable position to rest in for the night, ready to spring into action if needed.
A few hours later Tommy was still sat watching the phone for it ringing, and glanced around the room. Finn was sleeping in the bath tub, Polly and Ada were sleeping soundly in the bed together, Johnny Dogs was sleeping across the bottom of the bed, Michael and Isaiah were sleeping in the corner of the room and John and Arthur were sat beside Tommy's chair leaning against the wall as they drifted off to sleep. When the bell of the phone rang out, everyone suddenly woke up and turned to face Tommy. Almost instantly Tommy picked up the phone putting it to his ear, "hello... Victoria?" He spoke softly, the worry filling him. "Tommy, come quickly please." She whimpered, only just managing to form words through her light sobs, "I'm begging you, he's going to kill me." The words that he least wanted to hear in the world were the words currently coming out of her mouth. Before he could say anything, he could hear footsteps on the other side of the phone. "You stupid bitch! Who the, fuck have you called?" Shouted a voice from the other side, he assumed it to be James as he footsteps getting closer to the phone.
"Stay calm, darling. We're on our way... I love you." Tommy whispered before he dropped the phone back onto the hook. He stood up and for a moment remained silent as thoughts rushed on through his head. John and Arthur stood up from where they were sitting, pulling on their caps before they checks the small guns that they always kept on themselves. "We need to go now! The rest of you stay here until we get back to you." Tommy ordered as he grabbed the car keys on his way out the door. The two men rushed out of the hotel after Tommy and hurriedly climbed into the car, the engine roaring to life as it drove on down the road towards Victoria's home.
John glanced to the back seat where Tommy sat, "what's happening?" He asked, putting a thin tooth pick between his lips. Tommy looked to his younger brother, the horror was stricken across his face, "hurry the fuck up Arthur... he's going to kill my lady."