Bancroft - Peaky Blinders Reverse Harem x Reader

Chapter 14

"What aren't you telling me?"

Tommy Shelby glances up from the paperwork in his hands. I've tracked him here, to a horse auction, after asking some of the Peaky Blinder boys where he'd gone.

But if he's surprised, or curious, as to how I found him, he's not letting on.

"What am I not telling you? Plenty of things." He sets his shoulders, glances around, but there's only a handful of people here, and none of them pay him any attention. "Breakfast, for example. Arthur's bacon and eggs. I've got a meeting tomorrow that's very important, I can't be late for that. What else... would you like to know why my sister's a communist, or how many men I killed in the war?"

"Don't fuck with me."

"Or what?" He brings a cigarette to his lips.

I inhale, wrapping my arms across my chest. It's very tempting to shout at him right now, when he's being so arrogant. But that won't help me. "What are you hiding from me, Tommy? I could force it out of John or Arthur. You know I could. But I'd rather not have you brothers break your code. I'd hear it from you."

Tommy doesn't answer me as someone walks by us, leading a broodmare. Not until they've vanished from view does he speak.

"Your father's Will."

"What about it?" I ask, tensed.

"The situation's more complicated than it seems."

"The situation... me living here?" My mind begins to race through all the possibilities. More than half of them end with my death.

"While it's true your father entrusted you to my father, and therefore us, until you are twenty-five... I didn't tell you the reason."

My throat is dry. "Tell me."

"Your father wasn't just a boxer. He led a successful street gang, from the shadows." Tommy's face is emotionless and impassive as he tells me this. "Now that he's dead, the gang belongs to you. We're supposed to guide you, show you how  to run it all. A favour my father owed, after your father saved his life with the mafia in New York."

I lean against the post of the wooden fencing behind me. My breath has turned shallow, as though my lungs shrunk to a quarter of their original size. I stare at the ground. I stare at the muddy strips of hay.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Tommy glances at me. "You weren't ready. You're still not."

"That's why you taught me to shoot a gun." I swallow, things suddenly clicking into place in my head. The men who broke in to kill me. The way the Shelby's have treated me since I've been here... "And why you were so angry about McGuffin. Turns out, I'm a prized asset." I release a sharp laugh. "How much am I worth, exactly?"

"Easy now," Tommy says, rolling his eyes. "You're only local."

I step in closer towards him. My mouth sets in a thin line. "How much?"

He can't even look at me, dipping his head as he drops his cigarette butt to the ground. "Your trust fund just hit ten thousand pounds."

"That's because of my inheritance. Right?"

"Your inheritance hasn't even been released yet. It's held in a trust, with the business, with everything else, until you turn twenty-five."

"Then what?" I ask. Fear begins to bubble in my stomach. With my inheritance, that number would easily go to twenty-five thousand... that's money people would kill me for. Money people would kidnap me for."I'm leading a criminal fucking gang?"

Tommy doesn't answer. "You wanted me to know," I realise. "There's no way you'd have had that conversation with your brothers in the house, knowing there's a chance I might hear. You're too calculated and manipulative to be so stupid."

I expect him to deny it, or at least not to dignify it with an answer. He surprises me.

"You've been breaking into my office," he says.

Shocked, I say, "I would hardly call it breaking—"

"I expected you'd be trying to sneak a look at the Will," he continues. "So I thought I'd test you. John and Arthur made it easy."

I'm flustered, trying to regain my composure. "It is not breaking in if you all keep the rooms open. It's not my fault you leave doors open, or—"

"Who left a door open?" Tommy asks, eyes glinting.

"Clearly, you already know who."

"I'm not sure who you're talking about."

"As if John didn't tell you."

Tommy's lips threaten to break into a smirk. Something about how he looks when he's fighting a smile makes me flustered even more.

"I hope it doesn't happen again, and I hope the rest of you can learn from this, to be more private."

Tommy raises his eyebrows. "We're men. And men fuck. That going to be a problem?"

"That's not the point." I seethe. I turn to the opening in the side of the barn, suddenly feeling claustrophobic and needing some air. My father, head of a gang. Me, the heir...

"Bancroft, are you okay?" Tommy asks, suddenly serious. He places a hand on my arm, turning me to face him.

"I'm... I..." but it's no use. I shake my head. "I'll see you later."

And I pull away, heading outside, hoping my chest will loosen once more.