Bancroft - Peaky Blinders Reverse Harem x Reader

Chapter 44

It's nearly ten o'clock at night when the knock finally comes at the front door.

Mother glances up from her book. She's sat in her dressing gown, feet raised on the ottoman, eating from a tray of lemon cakes she got from the baker.

She hasn't offered me a single one — not that I could stomach it anyway.

"Who on earth could that be?" She asks, pulling her eating glove off her hand.

I answer the door, already knowing exactly who it is.

"Hello," Ada smiles brightly. She pushes a baby pram back and forth. "It's so lovely to see you again!"

Mother peers curiously over my shoulder. "Who are you?" She asks.

"Ada Thorne," she says.

"An old friend from school," I add quickly, while Ada nods enthusiastically.

"I got your last letter that you were thinking of moving back to London, so I thought I'd come see for myself," Ada says.

She's such a competent liar, I could kiss her.

It's enough to appease mother, particularly when Karl begins to fuss. "Oh, and you brought a baby!" She says. "I just love babies. Can I hold?"

"Of course," Ada replies. "He's just about due his dinner. You can give him his purée and a bottle, if you like."

With mother planted firmly in place in the living room and unlikely to move away from Karl anytime soon, as she smiles and gasps and dotes on him, Ada and I head through the house, to my father's old office. I lock the door.

"You brought it?" I ask.

She nods. "Wasn't easy getting my hands on it. I had to break into Tommy's office."

"I do that all the time," I say, rolling my eyes. But once again, I get the dull aching sensation in my chest.

Stop being ridiculous, I tell myself. It's not as though I'll never see him again. Surely...

I take the copy of the Will from Ada, and my eyes scan the text as quickly as I can manage. This prophesied piece of paper, the one that has dictated my life for the last months, and I've never even laid eyes on it in the flesh until now.

...leave my daughter in the custody of one Arthur Shelby Sr., to whom I am owed the debt of a man's life. Until she reaches 25 years of age, Arthur Shelby Sr., or in the event of his unreach, his next of kin, shall provide for and oversee her in matters both personal and of a business regard...

I continue to flip through, amidst jargon and assets and estates and share portions, until I finally reach the words. My heart hammers in my chest.

...to my only daughter, I bequeath the entirety of my holdings in Bancroft Enterprises Ltd. Which oversees all business affairs. This includes but is not limited to boxing matches, betting, bookmaking, transactions of taxation, and goodwill dealings. In addition, duties as the owner of BEL will include provisions in the business of ring-fighting, horse-racing, and factory-making groups in exchange for coaching services. For further detail and instruction, she is to consult my former business associate, one Aberama Gold.

"Really forces you to read between the lines, doesn't it," I mutter, blowing a strand of hair from my face.

Ada looks as though I've gone mad. "What more do you need? It's not as though he's going to write in a legal document that he's puppeteering all the street gangs, is it?"

I bite my lip. "How does it work?" I ask her. "I don't understand it at all."

"It's more like a club membership," she tells me. "All the gangs — all the serious ones, at least — pay a fee to buy into it. Once they're in, they have access to all your father's services. Matches, races, the whole lot, they can request for... assistance, and name their price. It turns into a bidding war. Your father had to be very careful about who won what. No wonder he hired other people to do it all for him."

"And this Aberama Gold..." I frown. "It says former business associate. Why has he led me to someone who hasn't even worked for him in years?"

Ada shrugs. "There must be a reason."

"Okay." I nod. "Thank you, Ada."

We stand in awkward silence for a moment as I straighten the pages of the Will. I try very, very hard to sound as though I don't care either way when I say, "Did you see any of your brothers?"

And Ada tries very hard to appear casual as she responds, "Only briefly. They were heading to the Garrison. Already drunk when they left."

I find myself unable to look at her. "I see."

"John was very upset," she says quietly. "Something about not being able to even say goodbye."

Oh no. I can't afford to cry, not right now. "There's no need for a goodbye," I say. "I'm only a short drive away. Just like you."

I don't blame Ada for not responding. I get the overwhelming urge to throw up.

"Well, Karl and I can stay here a couple days," she says. "Distract your mother enough you can find this Aberama."

"Thank you, Ada," I whisper. I clear my throat. "And Polly, did she..."

"Yes," Ada says. "It's all taken care of."

She gives a small smile. For a moment, I think she's going to say more, but I unlock the door and she leaves the room.

Choosing to come back here with my mother was supposed to free me of the last traces of my self-hatred. Instead, I am filled with it; fresh and overwhelming.