Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

30.

By six o clock Lizzie was gone home, walked by Tommy who was clearly becoming used to having Lizzie around as more than just his secretary. Ailbhe knew Tommy was hard work, he never let anyone into his head and he worked himself into the ground but Lizzie was there, always patient and there for him when he needed her. Ailbhe had wanted to be that for Finn but right now she was too angry with him to imagine anything other than telling him to go fuck himself.

Tommy told Ailbhe to wait for Liam, that he would walk her home once the business was finished. The mother of the boy Arthur had killed in a boxing match years earlier had come to the offices earlier in the week. She had asked Tommy to invite Arthur to her house, to celebrate what would have been her boy's 21st birthday and to pave a path of forgiveness. The Shelby's didn't believe her, knowing that she was going to sell them out to the Italians and therefore they had planned for it. Tommy had a plan, where they would be waiting for the Italians who were coming for Arthur, believing him to be unarmed and unprotected. But Tommy, Finn, Isiah, Niall and Johnny Dogs would be in place waiting for them.

What they didn't know was that it was a decoy. The Italians were drawing out the Peaky Blinders, needing them to leave other people unprotected.

Liam was waiting outside for her; he was probably in the stables tending to some last-minute chores while Ailbhe tidied and locked up. She had put all of the books of accounts away and was just checking all the lights were off and doors were locked when she heard the back door opening. Assuming it was Liam, she called out over her shoulder in Irish as she locked Tommy's office.

"I'll just be a minute Liam" She called out, hearing footsteps.

But when she turned around, she realised it wasn't her brother, nor any of the Shelby's. Not even the one she didn't want to see.

Luca Changretta was there, in the office and in front of Ailbhe. Two men were behind him, guns in hand and they looked equally as threatening. She froze where she stood. This was not meant to happen. Ailbhe's purse had a gun in it but it was on her desk, behind Luca Changretta. She also knew that they must have dealt with Liam in order to get past him to get access to her. Her mind frantically worried that they had done something terrible to her brother, that he lay dead in the stables with a bullet hole in his chest or his head.

It dawned on Ailbhe that Tommy had been outsmarted, they all had. The Italians knew that almost everyone was protecting Arthur so they moved on the weaker links. And Ailbhe was one of these weak links. At the very moment Ailbhe realised her life was in danger, Tommy was realising this too. He was realising that the Italians were going to hit the hospital where Michael was laid up or the office where Ailbhe was. He roared at them to get the car fast but he noticed the sheer rage on Niall and Finn's faces as they realised Ailbhe was probably being held at gunpoint, she might even be already dead or worse the Italians were drawing out their torture of her, knowing that would make the pain so much worse for them.

"I'm sorry Ms Kennedy, there are a lot of Irish in my neighbourhood in Brooklyn but forgive me, I haven't yet learnt your language"

Luca's voice was a slow drawl, he drew out every syllable as he held a match between his teeth and lips carefully.

Ailbhe recognised him from the photographs. He was tall and thin, with sallow skin and tattoos that marked his neck and hands. Ailbhe had met a lot of scary men in her eighteen years and she knew a man who would kill her without a second thought when she saw one.

He watched her squirm, her consider her escape options and whether or not it was worth yelling out in hopes someone would hear her. Charlie and Curly would have gone home for dinner already, Liam had clearly been dealt with and hopefully was still breathing but he wasn't able to help her. She knew she wouldn't be allowed run for it; she would be shot in the back before she made the door.