(fifteenth shot)
15 | in which it
never goes away.
For those who were outside the building, it was easy to underestimate the greatness of that place, gilded in expensive piece inside, with expensive paintings decorating its walls.
Although outsiders believed that it would not be possible for someone from the lower class to enter that place, the working poor people, the women and the other minorities who frequented that place knew that when night comes inside Isabella Andriessen's nightclub, they were all the same.
The 'Eve's Daughter' quickly became a popular nightclub, rich and bored women knew there were gangsters who frequented the place. Two years ago, it was difficult to start from zero, however, she knew a lot more about the entertainment world after working with the late Francesco Sabini.
The place grew, her money grew, her life grew very fast. And there were obstacles all the time, but she didn't care, she said she would prosper when she had nothing but an old house in small heath where prostitutes paid to use the rooms, and now she was who she was, she didn't forget who she was from.
Bella would never forget who she was.
She didn't want to and there was no way to forget, every time glances became hostile when she arrived in a certain environment, every time people left after she arrived, it reminded her of who she was, where she was from.
She cut off the tip of the cigar, took the match into the pouch and lit it, took it to her mouth and smoked.
As the smoke spread in front of her, she got out of her own car and went near the grave where Ada still remained still standing, and she couldn't even imagine the extent of the pain she was feeling. Bella also lost the man she loved, but was different. She knew Tommy was fine, Bella knew she still had the privilege of seeing him even from far as she had done exactly that same day, at that wake.
She had the privilege of having hope, and Ada had lost it when Freddie was buried under the ground.
Bella pulled the smoke out of the cigar again, as her footsteps brought her close to the young woman who was now also a widow.
Ada's eyelids widened as she saw the woman approaching, with her expensive black dress and fur coat that was possibly not worn by poor Birmingham women, Isabella andriessen appeared as a ghost after two years, with a firm cigar in her right hand and a bouquet of flowers in her left; her silk shoes made her way closer to Ada Thorne.
"Holy shit," Ada whispered across her arms, confused and feeling a small trace of increasing happiness. "Isabella fuckin' Andriessen, so you're still alive."
Bella's lips bent over to try to smile.
"I couldn't afford to have a minute to spare," As she stood next to Tommy's sister, she looked sadly at her friend's grave. "But I had to honor the memory of a old friend."
Bella bent down carefully, putting the white roses in the tomb. Ada's smile bloomed on her lips to die the next second.
"It's so strange." She murmured. "You know, to think that he will never be here again, or that I will never hear his voice again. All I have are those memories now..."
Bella united her eyebrows, feeling helpless about how to comfort her childhood friend.
"I really sorry about all this, Ada."
Ada again gave a little gray smile.
"I know so." Karl ran past them and playing with lee's children, and Bella almost laughed to see that the baby was already a formed boy.
"Holy Christ, is that Karl?" Bella asked genuinely surprised. "He grew so much!"
Ada shook her head.
"It's been two years since ya' last saw him, Bella. He would not be a baby forever," Ada began to move away from the grave and Bella followed her, looking one last time over the shoulder to see the little boy. "Arthur doesn't talk about anything else since your club opened, Rebecca keeps filling his head with curiosity and Tommy barely lets him out of Small Heath."
Bella gave out a short laugh.
"He's welcome whenever he wants, you all are."
"Even Tommy?" Ada provoked with a raised eyebrow.
Bella was silent for a few seconds, taking that time to smoke the cigar in her hand, her brown eyes became reflective.
"Even Thomas," Bella said at last, the words came out grating her throat like a sandpaper.
"Wow," Ada nodded, clenching her lips. "How long do you two intend to stick with this bloody situation? Even a blind man sees that my brother has not forgotten you yet, and neither have you forgotten him."
Bella continued with her eyes stuck in the path in front of her.
"Your brother is important to me, Ada. I'm not thirteen years old anymore, I know I love him and I haven't forgotten him yet, maybe I'll never forget," Bella started with a soft tone of voice. "But if the barmaid hadn't betrayed him, what assurances do I have that he wouldn't be with her yet?"
Ada stared at her.
"So ya'know about Grace too."
This time, Bella laughed.
"If it happened in Small Heath, I would hardly not know."
"I don't know about what he feels about barmaid, but I do know about what he always felt about you and still feels about you. It seems he's always looking for an excuse to cite your name, Bella," Ada revealed. "Polly said he writes letters, she said she knows they are for you."
Bella gave a friendly smile.
"How far does Polly Gray's powers go?" She joked. "He sends letters, but I've never opened any."
"Why?"
Ada wanted to know.
"Because I'm afraid of what's written on them," Bella fixed the hat on her head. "Because I don't want to give in."
Ada snorted.
"You two are mad."
Bella did not respond to this, stopped walking, turning to Ada.
"Leaving everything about Thomas and me aside, I want to make a proposal."
Ada faced it with curiosity.
"What kind of proposal?"
"Of employment. Come to London, bring Karl too," Bella took her friend's hand with her free hand. "I need a reliable secretary now that Lizzie is at the reception of the nightclub. And I wish it were you."
Ada was speechless.
Bella appeared after two years offering her a job just as she was thinking of leaving Birmingham. All that Ada most cared for now was some time away from her family, raising her son in a healthy environment.
"Fuck, yes," she accepted, smiling widely. "My god, Bella. "
"You can live in the choir girls' building, they don't bother, most go home just to sleep. It will be temporary, of course, you can buy a decent house later," Bella explained. "I know I haven't been a good friend in these last two years, I want to compensate."
Ada took one hand to her lips.
"It paid off, Bella. It's already paid off."
Bella accepted Ada's hug, feeling the sad day become a little less gloomy.
When night fell, London was full of smoke, mud and bohemians seeking for some kind of fun. The three Shelby brothers had finished teasing the Sabini inside their own nightclub and were returning to Birmingham after an entertainment with whores and alcohol.
Tommy was not really looking for any fun as his brothers now were; the goal was to distract Arthur's restless mind and make John listen less to his wife with ideas of peace and chickens. Tommy needed his brothers, they were some of the few - almost none - trusted men.
His brothers had the privilege of thinking less, thinking less than he, who was the one in whom everyone in the family expected great opportunities to come. Tommy was a path builder, he was the one who had the responsibility to ensure that his family had everything they had ever had. And he had no time to stop, no time to let the mind empty, his thoughts were always on what he was still going to do and that was the way he thought he was going to stay alive.
Advancing, never regressing.
Chaos was the Lord of his mind, so he could hardly associate. Holding an empty bottle of Irish whiskey, Tommy slowed down and his brothers overtook him, he did not expect it, he was usually prepared for any situation and that was also exactly the situation he expected to happen every time he left Birmingham for London.
She appeared suddenly as a silver goddess, she got out of the car with the help of a man.
The shiny dress shook wrapped in her body as if she were made of diamonds, he forgot that it was that way that she caught his attention since the first time he saw her, she had never fit within the misery of Small Heath, even though she was born in that place. The man kissed her near her lips dyed red, and she laughed, seeming to marvel at the affection.
The unknown man seemed delighted with her every gesture.
The mind of a disturbed man asked him to cross the street, break the bottle he was holding and use the sharpest shard left in his hand to remove all the enchantment from that fucker's face.
"We can break of his fucking legs, Tommy," John said later that he finally noticed the direction his brother was facing.
Arthur laughed as a result of being drunk and his head as mad as in his worst days.
"Come on, Tommy, let's cut the fuckin' balls off that fucker!"
At first, it seemed tempting.
But Bella almost looked in his direction seeming not to see him in fact, entering the theater with a satisfied smile on her lips. A smile that was possibly the closest to happiness he saw on her face, happier than when she was with him, because when she was with him, she was always sad and disappointed.
And Tommy still wanted her, and he would have her, but he wouldn't take away her smile that night as he had done so many other nights before.
He didn't answer his brothers, he just turned the other way and left. Arthur and John looked at each other and then followed him as well.
They knew that with Tommy, nothing could be so simple.
A little later from that moment, Bella passed through the door of the huge house that lived alone totally exhausted. Harriet - her only maid - took her heavy coat off her shoulders and Bella removed her high-heeled shoes before she reached the room, it was tiresome dealing with men, she was always tired of empty promises and their thirsty kisses.
She wanted some peace, only a day when she could rest without worrying if her house would be invaded and killed in her sleep.
"Lock all doors when you go to your belongings, Harriet." Bella spoke softly to the woman.
"Yes, madame." She answered promptly, and as always, opened the door to the owner of the place and closed it after Bella had entered the room. Bella sat on the bed, looked up feeling worn out.
Her thoughts flew to the man in the dim light, with blue eyes fixed on her, possibly believing she wouldn't see him.
He saw Edgar kissing her face and Bella looked at him discreetly, seeing his shoulders tensing marked under his black coat and his eyes hiding under his hat.
That man...
That man.
Even though she was far away, even though she saw him only through the corner of her eye, she could still feel more than she felt with any other man who was with her.
And Bella was angry, with herself and him, with herself for not being able to get over that feeling and with him for not letting her go, for always giving those signs that he still cared.
Bella pulled the ornament from her hair, loosening the threads and joining her eyebrows as she finished the gesture. And again she remembered that dead past and was even more furious that she couldn't get it out of her head.
Fuck off, Tom.
But it didn't matter, because he didn't go out of her mind.
She had just got ready to lie down when she heard the door knock, and Bella got up and turned the doorknob.
"I... Sorry, madame, I couldn't stop her from entering..."
"Madame, I had to come urgently," was one of her employees, Rose, with her eyes wide open and holding an envelope in front of her chest, harping. "Madame, my fiance is the lady's man within the sabini gang. He sent me a letter from Camden Town warning that Sabini intends to meet Tommy Shelby in Birmingham today, I couldn't come earlier, madame..."
Bella shook her hands in her fist, taking a deep breath and trying to be cautious. Darby Sabini didn't meet anyone in person without leaving a trail of blood behind him.
"Thank you, Rose. Harriet, go wake up Gilbert, asked him to prepare the car," she walked back and forth, and then opened the closet doors, taking off a long coat from inside.
"Are you going to Birmingham, ma'am? It's too late for a woman to go out alone, madame!"
Bella walked to the door and lightly touched Harriet's arm.
"Please just hurry."
[author's note]
Hello guys! One more chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to leave your vote and comment, and thanks for the support! ❤️