A/n: another update! This is kind of just an introduction to Eli and his character so sorry for another boring chapter
-
Low lights twinkled with a honeyed haze amongst the otherwise shadowy interior of the 'Tranquility Base' club owned by none other than Mr Eli Valentine.
The club-scene criminal had been stewing quietly over the last few weeks, mind constantly recounting the details of his meeting with the Shelby brothers.
Dark hair slicked back, his hickory brown eyes surveyed the curvaceous figure of one of his waitresses, bringing him another scotch whisky on a rockery of ice, her smile twinkling like stage lights.
He knew he had it all with his club - the scene, the atmosphere, the punters. Eli did not want to lose that to any competition.
Especially not the Shelby family.
As his lips met the smooth rim of the tumbler glass, Eli's gaze flickered upwards and spotted his PA and organiser Glen Groves.
Glen was a man in his 50's, a well to do little mouse of a man who thought himself respectable. Odd, considering his job role was to attend to the diary and schedule of a secret crook.
Flashing the smallest smile, Eli silently greeted his PA and gestured for him to sit down. The small, ginger haired Mr Groves took a seat opposite Eli who was currently sipping his favourite drink in the comfort of one of his club's booths; the staff wandering about their business around him - preparing for the night of business ahead.
"Good holiday?" Eli piped up, his northern tone devoid of any real interest, as his dark eyes surveyed the rather timid looking PA. "Jess alright? And the girls?"
Glen sweated nervously to himself, a few fat fingers curling underneath his collar to gently ease at the restrictive garment around his throat. He had been granted leave for 3 weeks by Eli to take his wife and two daughters away to the Lake District for a break.
However, as Glen sat in front of his boss he felt a growing shade of doubt cast over him like the shadow of an elephant. He did not want Mr Valentine knowing anything about his family, his personal life. He always wanted it to remain strictly business.
"They are fine thank you. The break was nice." Glen cut short, his posh tones wavering with uncertainty that he brushed off with a small cough, taking the opportunity to take control of the conversation.
"How did your meeting with Mr Shelby go? At the Eden Club?" He smiled with his usual polite earnest, like a little terrier keen to please it's master.
Scoffing, Eli lifted the glass of Scotch whisky to his lips again and cocked a brow at his PA.
"Which one?" He remarked sarcastically, earning a confused look from Glen who began to pull out his paper diary, fingertips scrapping through the pages.
"Arthur Shelby?" Glen started, his voice visibly nervous, he was fearful Eli was alluding to a mistake on his part. "I have it here in the diary - 12.00pm meeting with-"
"I know, Glen." Eli interrupted, setting the glass down with a thunk as he leaned his forearms on the table, better revealing his impeccably smart navy blue suit.
"However, Thomas Shelby was also present." He advised his admin, and Glen looked at his boss in complete disillusion.
Everyone knew the feared and famed Thomas Shelby. The bookmaker turned politician, who also happened to be a millionaire and had his fingers dipped in multiple businesses. Mr Groves could not fashion why on earth the affluent and well progressed Thomas Shelby would want to hassle himself with something as meagre as his brother's club.
"I'm as stunned as you are," Eli chuckled nonchalantly, the ever present droll sounding tones ringing in his deep Sheffield accent. "But I guessed he was probably there to act as the real brains for his brother." Eli clicked his tongue against his teeth in a musing manner as he shook his head. "I reckon Arthur Shelby ain't quite right enough upstairs to handle the proper meetings."
"... right, of course." Groves cleared his throat and pulled his smart round spectacles out of their leather case, placing them on the end of his nose. "What exactly did you learn?"
"Not a lot really, thankfully they did buy the ruse of me 'wanting to help'." Eli chuckled valiantly to himself, "they've got no reason to suspect otherwise? They know I helped the Humbug, and Cook's - but didn't once think that the blokes running it are practically my kin." Eli was smirking proudly to himself at the events unfolding.
"And of course sir, it's far from common knowledge that Mr Cook or Mr Helders are childhood friends of yours." Added Glen, who felt like a praises puppy when he earned a smile and a nod from Eli.
"Exactly!" Valentine toasted his tumbler to the secretary, "I reckon wiping that Eden Club off the mark might be easier than I initially thought." He hummed, voice muffled as the amber liquid of the whisky once again lapped at his tongue.
There were a few quiet moments as Eli set his empty glass down onto the polished wood table, the ice almost melted as it caught the reflection of the glassy chandeliers draped from the ceiling.
Glen cocked his head, fingers pressed together in a steeple shape. "So what exactly is the next move?" He asked curiously, pushing his glasses up to bridge of his nose with his index finger.
Valentine paused for a moment, staring down at the melting ice in his glass as he chewed his lip in thought. It did not take him long to formulate the next steps.
"I keep reeling them in. Make them believe I'm not just giving them help or advice but... friendship as well." Eli advised his PA, watching as the little man scribbled some notes down in a planner, the scratching of the pen prevalent in the otherwise fairly quiet surroundings.
"I... I also noticed they've got a new girl in there." Eli cleared his throat, the change in his tone causing Groves to glance up at him - the man's blue eyes enlarged somewhat by the lenses in his glasses.
"Oh really! Besides Miss Ebson?"
"Yeah, besides that wop." Eli disregarded. He had heard the excitement surrounding Scarlett Ebson and was envious that an American wop could draw such a crowd like that in a club.
"I asked a mate to go and spend a couple of nights in the club," Eli informed Glen, "said she's a fantastic singer. London girl too." His voice sounded much more approving, a positivity linked as the image of when he laid eyes on Verity flashed up in his mind.
"Her name is Verity Grant."
"Could she be of any importance?" Groves asked, clutching his black fountain pen tightly. All Eli could do was shrug, he wasn't really sure at the moment - aside from selfish reasons - like the fact she was beautiful, and to steal something from the Shelby's seemed appealing.
"I'm going to play it by ear." Valentine sighed conclusively, reclining back against the red leather of the booth seat.
"For now, I've decided I'm hosting a party here - Saturday night."
The news sent a look of alarm, that was badly attempted to be subdued, across Glen's face. He was already scrambling thinking about planning all of this for his employer.
"Send an invite to all my usual folks," Eli instructed, watching Groves scribbling away like a little scolded schoolchild.
"And send two invites out to the Eden Club - one to Arthur and one to Tommy." Eli's voice still emitted no indication of much emotion, despite the sly smirk on his structured features. "And include a plus one on both invites. For the girls."
The prospect that this might lead to Verity coming to the event excited Eli immensely - however it also meant that Scarlett too would be coming along. It was safe to say Eli Valentine was not the most accommodating to 'foreigners'.
Groves finished scrawling his action notes and then excused himself to start preparations for the event. Eli was happy to let him excuse himself on that accord, and instead silently started ruminating about all the things he needed to do.
As he thought it - it became clear that a prevalent want of his was to suss our Verity's place in all this. From the information he'd gained from his friend - he knew Verity was new to the scene.
Eli chewed the inside of his cheek - just how was she associated with the Shelby's? Was it simply for a lifestyle that she worked at the Eden Club? Perhaps she was introduced through Scarlett Ebson?
Was she there simply on the grounds of being a singer? Being a friend or relative of someone?
Or being the lover of a Shelby?
Eli instantly clenched his jaw at that last thought train, he hoped that was not the case. It could make things a lot harder.
And a lot messier.
-
The loud band played loudly to a practically empty club, the usually packed room with it's gold gilded walls and plush red drapes sat devoid of it's night time occupants.
It was midday, and Scarlett was rehearsing for the night ahead. She'd recently written a new song, with some input from Verity - and both women could agree that in their opinion, the composition was bold, grand, dangerous and a real statement.
Over the last three weeks, Verity had surprisingly quickly settled in more than she ever thought she would. She'd been at the club for around two months, and for the first few weeks she felt so alien and ashamed of what she was doing - yet in the space of three small weeks she found herself feeling comfortable in her singing, not feeling out of place in a beautiful gown and suddenly - singing for a living didn't seem quite so evil to her anymore.
The former psychologist felt immense pride, her green eyes following the figure of Scarlett as she paced across the stage belting out notes that shouldn't of been humanly possible. The two girls had bonded closely after their first wobble - and it had made it more apparent then ever how much they needed each other's friendship in an otherwise unforgiving world.
Scarlett, midway through her rehearsal of her new song, was evidently distracted as the doors at the far end of the room opened. The fact she was so drawn out of her performance then caused Verity to turn and see. Both singers were surprised to see Tommy back on the scene. They hadn't seen him at the club in 3 weeks.
Raising her dainty hand, Scarlett silenced the band, both women watching with unwavered gazes as the striking figure of the Peaky Blinder marched through the room, long dusty black coat almost gliding with the vivacity of his stride - flat cap concealing those snaring blue eyes.
"Tommy? What are you doing here?" Scarlett asked, her soft pink lips parted slightly in confusion, her brows knitted together. Verity too had wondered why Tommy was around, as far as they were aware - he had no meetings here, no business to attend to.
She got no form of response as the Tommy rounded the corner to Arthur's office. Both women looked at each other in a worried fashion, was something wrong?
Standing up from the table she was sat on, Verity brushed down her smart fitted red shirt dress and paced cautiously around the corner to where Tommy had walked towards.
She'd barely poked her head around the corner before both men came striding out of the office, and their smug looks were a reassuring sight for both girls. How they'd wished the Shelby brothers would stop storming around everywhere as if there was always a problem.
"What's that smile for?" Verity asked, crossing her arms across her chest as she cocked her head, her dark curls tumbling down her bust.
"Not sure I wanna know," Scarlett interjected from the stage, sweeping her platinum hair from over her shoulder - after having chosen to wear it down for once which was a rare sight.
"I don't like it when you boys smile like that." She replied, hands on her hips in her puff sleeved pink dress. Despite her words, she couldn't fight the small smile as a rather pleaser looking Arthur came up to the bottom of the stage, securing his hands around her waist and lifting the sweet songbird down into his arms with ease.
"What if I told y' we've got a party tomorrow night, love?" Arthur said with the biggest smile on his face.
"Really!? Where?" Scarlett soon replied with delight as Arthur set her down from this hold.
"At none other than Eli Valentine's club!" Arthur bellowed excitedly, the pure elation evident on his face. He finally felt a sense of pride and recognition, happy Eli was going to help him further progress the success of the Eden Club.
"We've both been invited." Tommy interjected, his stoic and composed figure somewhat settled on the periphery of this circle - his emotions a word away from Scarlett and Arthur's excitement.
Verity flickered her green eyes across at Tommy's words, relaxing her arms across her chest. She was well aware in the next couple of moments that Tommy's piercing blue eyed gaze was locked into her own.
"And we've been asked if you ladies will both come along."
The delivery of the statement was a hidden instruction - a proud indirect command that It was Verity's duty for the evening to accompany as Tommy's plus one, considering Arthur and Scarlett were a given couple.
Verity sighed to herself quietly, it wasn't that she was in objection to the idea. She had recently been feeling a lot better about the situation with Tommy. After speaking with him some weeks ago she felt there was a better level of communication, and he had phoned a couple of times to make sure things were adequate for her (probably because Arthur was abandoning his duties to check on Verity's welfare considering his infatuation with Scarlett.)
The only obstacle in Verity's way was the way this party was a step up, it was more time spent informally with a man that she had previously been so infuriated with. A man who was hard to comprehend, hard to calculate. She didn't want another evening of trying to guess who Tommy Shelby was.
She then tried to think of it another way - perhaps it was an evening of opportunity. A new informality with a light hearted purpose of a party. Maybe it would cause him to relax around her in a way not previously explored. Maybe she could see a man with real emotions instead of a handsome statue who plastered the same expression onto his face all hours of the day to divert from the fact he was human.
Verity's softened gaze at Tommy following these thoughts was a silent gesture of approval. Not that she assumed it would sway much, clearly the Blinder's leader had made his mind up on it the moment he walked into the room. But still, the way Verity had quietly given her agreement was extra comfort to him that she was not in total objection to it.
The next moment, Arthur had fled into the office and raided the safe, throwing a fat wad of cash notes into Scarlett's hands.
"Go on, girls." He instigated, absolutely over the moon. "Go and get yourselves the best looking dresses in the whole of fuckin' London."
"Yes sir!" Scarlett was happy to oblige, not wasting a second thought as she pocketed the stacks of cash into her designer handbag.
For the second time, Verity found herself dragged behind the excited Scarlett with the aim of buying a dress.
The entire situation just passed cemented to Verity how little control she had in all of this - yet for the first time since coming to the Eden Club, She found herself struggling to care about it.