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She paced around the room, stress consuming her small figure. She was beyond terrified by what the consequences of her actions would be.
"Why didn't ya tell anyone Ara?" Her brother Leonardo asked quietly. "We tell each other everything."
Arabella sighed collapsing beside her brother on the couch. "A didn't tell anyone, Leo. Not a single person. A didn't want it to be real, A wanted to forget it."
Leonardo rubbed a hand over his features. "Ya shoulda told me, A would've helped ya through it. Ya shouldn't o' had to go through that shit alone."
She shrugged. "What do ya think she's gonna say?" She changed the main focus.
"Fuck knows with her anymore." Leonardo sighed, leaning his elbows upon his legs. "A won't let her do anything to ya."
Arabella shook her head. "Don't, A don't want ya getting hurt in this. Ya've been through enough brother. A can deal with her."
Leonardo shook his head. "We've never dealt like this with her brother. It were bad enough when we stole from the bakers, but this...we don't know what the fuck she'll do."
Arabella sighed again. "It were ma fault it happened, A deserved it." Leonardo spun to look at her, horror across his features as he grabbed his younger sister's hand.
He lifted her chin with one hand, looking her in the eye. "No person should ever have to go through what ya did. For fuck sake Ara, ya were raped!" His voice raised at the last part.
Arabella fought back tears. "A didn't want any o' ya to know, especially not Cassie, A didn't want her to be worried every time A leave the fuckin' house." A stray tear fell from her tear duct. "A didn't want anyone to know about it."
Leonardo still held her hands. "A would never judge ya, or what ya did. Ya knew ya weren't ready. Ya knew ya couldn't bring a baby into the world under the circumstances. Ya did the right fuckin' thing."
Arabella shook her head vigourously. "She won't see it like that Leo. It gives her another fuckin' excuse to go through with her threat. That baby didn't deserve to be born as a bastard into our family, whether we be gypsies or no. She'll see me as more o' a fuckin' disgrace, a disgrace to the family name, the church. Cares more about her religion than the fact that her own daughter were raped." Leonardo kissed her head, his lips resting in place for a moment.
"Listen to me, Ara. Ya helped me, ya didn't see me as any different when A came back from France. Ya saw me as ya brother, even after everything A did when A returned, ya still see me as ya fuckin' brother. Am here for ya, ya me sister, Cassie won't see ya any different, she loves the bones o' ya. The three o' us made a promise, no matter what fuckin' happens - big or small - we're there for each other, an' we always will be." Arabella smiled at her brother, glad to have him with her. "A love ya Ara."
"An' I you Leo."
The slam of the front door alerted the pair as they broke apart from their hug. Arabella didn't look up as she heard the clink of the heels. She heard small feet behind the heels, slow and frightened. The shadow loomed over Arabella but she refused to look her in the eye.
"Look at me." Vivian said coolly. Arabella ignored her. "Look at me!" Her voice raised making the small girl behind Vivian jump.
Arabella looked up into her mother's cold eyes, the ones she had been lucky not to inherit. She didn't say anything, she only stared. The sudden action of the swift hand slamming against her cheek sent shock waves through her as pain stung in her cheek. The loud 'Ma!' coming from her siblings was slightly muffled to Arabella, the ringing still slightly present.
"Ya slut!" She shrieked at her child. "How dare ya disgrace this family's name by ya whoring around the city! Do ya have any idea how embarrassing that is for me, having to walk into a church where they know that me daughter is a slut?!"
Arabella shot up, standing over her mother's short figure. "A weren't whoring around the fuckin' town. A didn't get pregnant on purpose. A knew A weren't ready to be a fuckin' mother an' that A couldn't bring a child into this world that would remind me o' a man A didn't even know. A was fuckin' raped!" Her voice bellowed, earning her another slap.
Vivian refused to listen to her daughter. Not believing for a single moment. "Ya disgrace me. Disgust me. Ya a disgusting whore. Don't ya dare raise ya voice at me. Ya out of control. Ya've stole, ya smoke, drink, swear, blaspheme. Now ya whoring around the city. An' worst o' all, ya aborting innocent children! Ya truly are the most disgusting girl A have ever come across."
Arabella scoffed. "Fuck ya." Once again, the slap echoed in the house. A prominent handprint left on her right cheek.
"Get out o' my sight! A'll be having words with ya father when he gets home. Now, go!"
Arabella stormed out without another word. She took the chance to glance back to her younger sister. Cassandra nodded to her older sister, smiling. 'Ya me family, A love ya.' She mouthed to her before she turned, leaving to go to work.
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Arabella pulled the pint of beer before handing it to the drunken man waiting impatiently. He practically threw the money at the barmaid.
"So, are ya gonna tell me who gave that red mark, or am I gonna have to guess?" Harry asked the girl. She shrugged.
"Ya probably can guess if I'm being honest." She grumbled as another person ordered.
The Garrison was known for it's lively drunken regulars, not to mention it was the main pub for the infamous gangster group, the Peaky Blinders.
Arabella had worked in the pub for a few years now, ever since the war began. She started there to keep herself busy. The drunks knew her as the tough barmaid in there. That wasn't the only thing she was known for around Small Heath. Arabella was from a long lineage of gypsy blood. The Lee clan to be exact. She never let that define her though.
As time passed, she cleared up the pint glasses from the table placing the on the bar in an row. Harry had left at the last call, leaving Arabella to clean up.
This was the time that Arabella liked the most, not the cleaning but the quiet. The silence that surrounded her allowed her to put her mind at ease, forget her problems, her home life for a moment.
She cleaned the glasses before placing them back behind the bar. She stared around the bar before sighing, work done for the day. She walked out the door of the pub turning right to her way home.
She nodded to the man she passed, the cap he wore recognisable to anyone with eyes. He was a Peaky Blinder.
She opened the door quietly to her home, not wanting to wake the sleeping dragon, her mother. She needn't worry about that though, as she heard yelling when she entered the building.
"I'm sick of her Peter! She thinks she can get away with murder but she's gone too far! She needs someone to calm her down! She needs to be married off!"
"Vivian we've talked about this."
"No, you have! I am not having her downgrade our family's name!" Arabella heard her father take a deep sigh.
"Our family? If I'm not mistaken, ya hated being married off by ya family, so why the fuck would ya want the same fate for our daughter!" She could hear her father grow impatient with his wife. He had always taken his daughter's side over his wife, he knew what his wife was trying to do. She was trying to write her off. Marry her off the family name to ruin another.
"That was different, our families did it to stop a war that had been happening for generations. I will find someone suitable for her to marry, someone to calm her down."
Arabella heard a fist collide to the wall, knowing it was her father. "What good will it do? Answer me that Vivian. What good will marrying her off do?"
"It will show her she can't act the way she does anymore. It'll show her she can't go whoring around the city"
Her father grumbled. "She was fuckin' raped, it weren't like she asked him to fuckin' shag her, get her pregnant so she could have an abortion. She were fuckin' raped! An' anyway, ya not finding her a man. Ya'll get her a fucking shit bag that'll beat her to her early death. I'll talk to a man."
"Good. It happens soon though."
And with that, Arabella had heard enough. Slamming the front door shut she ran upstairs, ignoring her father's calls. She ran into her bedroom and kicked the chair in her room.
She collapsed onto her bed, allowing the tears to fall freely. She went to sleep that night with the tracks formed down her face.
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