INTRODUCTIONS
IGNORING THE GROANS OF annoyance from John and Arthur, Deborah continued to lead the four of them down the streets of London. They were not impressed by all the walking and were desperate to find out where they were going and who they were meeting. John hasn't stopped asking questions since they left the club about twenty minutes ago.
"Would you two stop your bloody whining." Deborah snapped, turning to the men when they finally reached the familiar street. "We're here."
Along the two sides of the road were extravagant houses, all either two or three stories high. They were houses you would never find in Birmingham, unless you drove miles out to the countryside. Arthur and John didn't hide their amazement at the sight of the mansions.
"Why the fuck are we anywhere near this kind of place?" Arthur questioned, eyes roaming the large gates and hedges.
"Because there is someone here that I would like you to meet." Deborah informed him.
Tommy clutched her hand and followed her lead, although, he knew the way himself. Deborah smiled when they reached the top of the road and a familiar house came into sight. The three story, white, mansion was lit up with lights and filled to the brim with people. It was obvious a party was occurring and the Peaky Blinders had arrived to crash it.
They all walked into the large house, pushing through the crowds of people doing drugs, drinking and dancing. Deborah eyes glanced all around, searching for someone in particular.
"This is bloody mad." John yelled over the loud jazz music. "Who throws a party like this."
"I do." A voice interrupted, causing the four of them to turn to look behind them. "Although, tonight isn't one of my best. There's usually more people and champagne."
The three Shelby men watched as Deborah squealed and launched herself into the arms of the unknown man. He looked around Tommy's age, with a small moustache above his lip and he was dressed in a fancy looking suit.
Arthur and John's eyes narrowed at the man, watching as he lifted Deborah off her feet, while Tommy stood to the side and watched with a warm smile. They both turned to their brother and silently questioned if they should take action, Tommy immediately shook his head and placed his hands on each of their shoulders.
"Pebble." The man grinned, placing Deborah back to her feet. "I didn't know you would be back so soon."
"We were visiting for business and I couldn't not stop by." The women giggled, an enormous smile on her lips. "I wanted to introduce you to some people."
She stepped aside and wrapped an arm around the man's waist and turned to the Shelby men. Deborah immediately noticed Arthur and John's defensive stance and their hats in hand, ready to defend.
"Arthur, John." She caught their attention. "I would like you to meet Nick Rose, my brother."
The two men's eyes widened at the revelation, not expecting it at all. They knew nothing of Deborah's family, only the basics from Polly - the were not expecting to ever meet her brother.
"Nick." Deborah continued, breaking the men from their thoughts. "This is Arthur Shelby, the eldest." She gestured to the man, who had yet to move. "And this is John, the second youngest of the Shelby boys."
Nick stepped forward to shake the men's hands and thankfully they responded. "Nice to meet you both, I've heard a lot about you from Deborah and Tommy."
"We'd like to say the same, but then we'd be bullshitting." Arthur replied, shaking his hand after John.
"You've met him before Tommy?" John questioned, turning to his brother who had remained quiet this whole time.
"Deborah introduced us on our first trip to London." Tommy told them, after greeting Nick.
"Two years ago?!" Arthur exclaimed, his neck growing red in anger.
Deborah sighed and stepped in between all the men. "How about we continue this in the study?" She suggested and they all agreed.
Once they were all seated in the quiet room, everyone with a glass of whiskey in hand, Arthur demanded to be told what was going on. Deborah was nervous to tell they men, who were like brothers to her, that she had been in contact with her brother for over two years. She wasn't sure how they would react, especially since they knew the reason she left London in the first place.
"About three years ago, I got a telegram from Nick asking me to come visit him." Deborah began, sitting on the edge of Tommy's seat. "After the incident with Kimber at the races, I went away for a couple of weeks to London, and during that time I found Nick."
"That's why you left without telling anyone?" John questioned, his gaze locked on her.
"Yes, because I wasn't sure if I would even find Nick, let alone forgive him for what happened." The women sighed. "And no. I genuinely needed to get out of Birmingham and away from Tommy before I did something I would regret."
"Like fucking kill me." Tommy muttered, smoking his cigarette. He flinched as Deborah slapped the back of his head in warning.
"I found Nick and we talked about everything. What happened after our mother died, me running away, life after I ran away, my father's death and the family business." Deborah explained.
"Why did you forgive him?" Arthur spoke up, jaw clenched. "After all the fucked up things he let your father do to you. How could you just let him back into your life?"
"When I learnt Deborah had ran away, I spent months looking for her, myself and our eldest brother." Nick revealed, grabbing everyone's attention. "We knew what we allowed our father to do was horrible, we might as well have beaten her ourselves."
"Nick." Deborah warned, trying to quiet her brother.
"But you have no idea what he was like." Nick continued, leaning against the fire place. "He used to force me and my brother to watch as he beat and whipped Deborah. If we tried to stop him or throw him off her, he would hit us until we were unconscious. It was torture watching your little sister scream and cry as your own father beat her to a plump. Our eldest brother, he was my father's favourite and never endured anything worse then a slap or scolding. When Debbie ran away and after looking everywhere for her, I finally gave up and decided to cut all ties with my father, brother and the family business."
"Then how can you afford a house like this?" John asked, gesturing to the decorated room they sat in.
"I always loved horses, like Deb." Nick smiled. "So I got involved in the legal racing of horses. Dropped my father's name and took up my mothers maiden name."
"Nick here, runs all the races in London and has horses racing and winning in the top events." Tommy revealed. "He was a good pal of our old friend, Billy Kimber."
"That was until I found out what the scumbag did to my sister." Nick said, tone threatening. "I ended any ties with Kimber the day before he was killed, by Tommy here. He had no power in the racehorse business when he visited you that day."
"Have you told Polly?" Arthur broke the moment of silence in the room. When neither Tommy or Deborah responded, he continued. "She won't be happy."
"I know, she's going to fucking kill me." Deborah chuckled nervously, knowing she spoke the truth. "I'll tell her soon, when the times right."
"For now, Nick is going to help us expand our business in London." Tommy spoke up.
"What?" Arthur, John and Deborah said together, surprised by the news.
"He's going to help us ship Shelby Limited products to America and other big countries around the world." Tommy explained. "Deb, you want to make it official?"
Deborah stood from her seat and walked towards her brother, a happy smile on her lips. She handed the man a piece of paper, a contract, explaining their deal and the conditions.
"Nick Rose, you are now officially allies with the Shelby's." Deborah announced. "By order of the Peaky Blinders."
☾ ⋆ ❁ ✰ ✧ ❦ ❀
Deborah hummed to herself as she walked down the familiar streets of Birmingham. They had returned home only this morning, after a night filled with drinking, when they finally joined Nick's party. She had spent the day nursing her horrible headache and aching stomach by staying in all day. After hours of sleeping, she had decided to go for a walk that night. It wasn't very smart, but Deborah thought she'd go insane with out some fresh air.
As she walked down the Garrison street, two arms grabbed her arms and began dragging her into a dark area. Deborah kicked and screamed, as one of the men held a hand over her mouth to muffle her cries for help. They threw her body against, what Deborah felt was a car, and kept held her arms against it.
Deborah glanced around and noticed she was in the spot where Tommy kept the cars. When she looked towards the group of men across from her, Deborah began screaming again at the sight of a badly bleeding and barely conscious, Tommy Shelby. One of the men, who held her still, punched the side of her face, twice, before he wrapped a hand around her throat and squeezed until she could barely breath, let alone scream.
"Tommy Shelby, I missed you at my club." A man appeared in front of Tommy. "I was at the races."
"Sabini." Tommy chocked out, blood covering his face and lips.
"Don't say my name. Jesus!" Sabini, the leader of the Italian gang hissed. "Franco, take my name out of his mouth. While you're in there, do a bit of digging for gold. Pay for the petrol."
Deborah struggled in her attackers grip, as she watched a man walked over to Tommy and force his mouth open. Tears streamed down her face when she heard the screams of pain from Tommy as the man pulled his gold tooth from his mouth.
"You see how much I know about you? I even know what's in your fucking mouth." Sabini chuckled, holding the gold tooth in his hand. "I even know about your girl."
Deborah flinched when everyone turned to look at her, struggling to breath from the man's grip on her throat. Sabini forced Tommy's head up once again and the two lovers locked eyes.
"Look at her." Sabini demanded. "You're going to watch as my men enjoy themselves."
Deborah gasped for breath when the man released his grip but began struggling again when she felt his hand run up her dress. She croaked out pleaded for the man to stop, but he continued his assaults up her thighs.
"You take up with the Jews. Yeah, you think that's what London's all about. You can just come down, pick a side." Sabini told Tommy, ignoring the man's struggling to get to his girl. "You fucking clown! Now your life and your girlfriend's life is over. My face is the last thing you'll both ever see on earth." He threatened. "Your mistake. You remember that when you get to hell."
"Stop!" Deborah screamed, as the man slammed his fist into her jaw and stomach and he tore apart her underclothes.
"Finish him off after he watches Joey take his girl." Sabini ordered.
As Deborah's screams and Tommy's grunts from struggling, echoed the dark area, an explosion startled all of Sabini's men and a police whistle blared. The men holding Deborah released her and she dropped to the floor, before dragging her bruised body towards Tommy.
"Tommy." She whispered, tears still streaming down her bruised and slightly bloody face. "Please Tommy."
The sound of a cane hitting the ground, caught Deborah's attention and she looked up to see Campbell, limping towards them. She hated the man and knew Tommy would want no business with him, but his life was on the line.
"Do something." She hissed, running a hand along Tommy's bloody face.
"That's no way to speak to the man who just saved your life, Miss Rose." Campbell taunted, standing over the two.
"Please, save him." Deborah pleaded, staring up at the man. "I'll do anything."
"I suppose we should see if the bastard's still alive." Campbell smirked, patting Deborah's head.