Only Time Will Tell - A Peaky Blinders Story

Chapter 25 - Rising anger

"So, when were you going to tell me that you hired Grace?" Cass says as Tommy enters his office. Cass had been sat in there for almost an hour waiting for him. "I thought you knew." Tommy replies with a shrug. "No you fucking didn't. Only you and Arthur knew. Polly's raging. She found the note to pay her in the book. Why couldn't you just tell us like a normal person?" Cass says, her words getting angrier by the second. "Well, now you know." Tommy says bluntly, making his sister sigh in annoyance.

"Fucking hell, Tommy. We don't even know if we can trust her. She never even worked in Dublin. Her accent is from fucking Belfast, just like that inspector. Did you know that they arrived on the exact same day?" Cass says, standing from her brother's desk and pacing around the room. Tommy watches her closely. "You already fucking knew that didn't you?" Cass then asks after side glancing at Tommy to gage his reaction. "Yes." Tom says plainly. "Of course you did. Look, just because most of the family isn't happy with you right now doesn't mean that you can hide things from us. This is the kind of information people need to know, especially with Arthur's big mouth. He could have told her anything by now." Cassie then says, still pacing but now chewing nervously on her bottom lip.

Tommy moves across the room to his sister, placing his hands on her shoulders to stop her movements. "Everything is gonna be fine, Cass. I have everything under control." He says in a calming tone. "You do, yeah. Not us. We don't even know what's going on, but we carry on blindly trusting you because that's our orders." Cass says bitterly, shaking herself out of her brother's grip before stepping past him and out of the room.

"You have to trust me." Tommy whispers after her, watching her walk through the shop and out the side door to their home. He knows that she is struggling right now and thought that the lack of information he shares would make her feel better. Maybe it did at first, but now he's just adding to her stress. That was something he definitely didn't want to do.

~

"Finn's with Arthur and your father. Moss saw them entering the boxing ring about half an hour ago." Polly says as Cass enters the room. "For fuck sake." Cassie groans in reply before swinging her coat over her arms and leaving the house.

She makes her way down to the boxing ring. Usually women aren't allowed in there, but everyone would rather keep their eyes than not allow the oldest Shelby girl past the entrance. Her eyes scan the room to finally notice her brothers and dead-beat father sitting around a table smiling. She immediately makes her way over to them.

"Where did you fight, dad?" Finn asks Arthur Sr. "All over, son." Their father replies smugly. "Yeah, all over." Arthur says with a smile, making Cass roll her eyes. "No you fucking didn't." She snaps, making her presence known. "Ah, Cass my lovely girl. I knew you'd come around. Join us." Arthur Sr says with an evil smile as he gestures to the spare chair next to him. "I'd rather die. Like I almost did in France. I'm here for Finn." Cass replies, exaggerating the fact that she was in France with her brothers. "But Cassie..." Finn whines, earning a stern look from his oldest sister. "Arthur, I hope you know what you're doing." Is the final thing Cass says to her brother before dragging Finn out of the room.

"Cassie why did you do that? He was finally trying! I just wanted to get to know who he is." Finn says sadly as they walk down the street towards their home. "You don't need to know who he is, Finn. He's a bad man. That's it." Cass snaps at him, her blood boiling. "But he's our dad!" Finn yells. "No he's not! He didn't raise us. He didn't care what happened to us. He's only back to take advantage of us. You're too young to understand, Finn, and if I hear one more word about him you'll be going to bed without tea." Cass says, bending down to his height to make sure he listens.

Cass hated her father for what he did to them. Not only robbing her and leaving them to fend for themselves, but beating them and their mother, and spending the money they had for food on booze and whores. Finn wasn't even 1 when their father left them. Cassie was 17 and had no idea how to look after a baby, even if she had watched her mother do it with John. Polly was the one who raised them, and Tommy made sure they all stayed fed. That's something Finn will never know or even understand.

~

"Where's Tommy?" Cass asks Grace as she walks up to the bar. "He's in a meeting in the snug." Grace replies bluntly. "Of course he is." Cass says with a huff. "Can I get you anything?" Grace says, her tone changing to a nicer one. "I'll take a rum, please. I'm not in the mood for whiskey." Cass says, placing two coins onto the bar. "It's on the house." Grace says as she places the drink down. "I don't care." Cass replies, downing her drink. "I guess I'll be seeing you around a lot more." Cass then says with a blunt expression, yet her words sound welcoming. "I suppose so." Grace says, wiping down the bar. All Cass does is nod before turning and leaving the pub. Something is definitely off with that woman, but Tommy seems to be following his heart rather than his head. Cass isn't stupid enough to stand in the middle of that.