𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧 𝐚 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 🍞PEAKY BLINDERS 🥖

Chapter Twenty

This is going to be the only chapter today. It's been a busy week and my brain is fried 🥴.

CHAPTER TWENTY

The boy's face was gone.

But even if it wasn't completely smashed in, Tommy would have done it himself.

"She tell you what happened?" Arthur asked. He was the first to speak, voice still gruff from the late night phone call that woke him up.

Johnny Dogs nodded. "A bit. Didn't wanna press given what happened. But Kizzie said this boy approached her in the lavatory and asked for her help. Said his sister was drunk outside. When they went outside, there was no sister."

"Where the fuck was Finn?" John voiced the lingering question in the room. Where was their fucking twat of a brother?

"Inside drinking with his friends. I sobered him up best I could on the way here." Their old friend hesitated before deciding to tell the brothers. "I don't think she fully understands what happened. I expected to find her crying and screaming... And she was crying, but something felt off."

Of course she didn't understand. And that made this all the more upsetting.

"Pack him up," Tommy finally spoke, eyes never leaving the body. "Ship him back to his family with a note of what he did and to who." He led the brothers out. Behind, Arthur spat on the body.

Kizzie hadn't really seen Tommy in about a week. The longest they've been apart for months. The last thing she wanted was for their reunion to be because of tonight. But she had done bad; got Finn in trouble and woke up her brothers in the middle of the night.

Johnny Dogs ordered some Blinders to take the body to the betting house--which was also where Kizzie, Finn, and Oscar currently sat. Outside Tommy's office waiting for him to come down.

Finn's legs shook so hard they squeaked the woodboards. Kizzie wanted to comfort her twin. But his colors were poisoned right now. As they should be. He'd get punished greatly for this and it was all her fault.

Their brothers' footsteps echoed down the hall until they stopped at Tommy's office.

"Inside."

The three teens stood and walked into the office like a row of ducks. Each sat at a chair in front of the desk, with Kizzie in the middle. John and Arthur stood off to the side and waited for orders. Kizzie couldn't look at them.

Even Tommy's shoes, as he stood in front of his desk, were hard to look at.

He crouched to be eye-level with his sister. "Look at me," he said in Shelta.

And fucking God did it hurt when she did.

Tommy was sent back to the hospital, finding her under the bed. Skinny and trembling with dead-eyes... Maybe sending the boy back to his family had been a mistake; he wanted them to understand what it felt like to worry like death over a loved one. But even that would not have been enough. No one would ever love another the way Tommy loved Kizzie.

The side braid Esme did for her yesterday was frayed like rope and frizzy. But her stretched shirt collar stood out the most. It was most likely beyond repair. But much of her neck was covered with a man's suit jacket.

Tommy kissed her forehead and stood, needing to lean back onto his desk to prevent falling to his knees. "Oscar Wójcik, yes?"

The boy pulled his back straight. He was missing his jacket. "Yes, sir."

"Am I saying that right: Wójcik?"

Not even close. "Yes, sir."

"You joined about three months ago."

"Yes, sir."

"I will not take what you did tonight for my sister lightly. You will be rewarded."

"Thank you, sir."

"Finn."

The mood shifted once more. Tommy's blues and Finn's greens rarely mixed well. Like oil and water, honestly.

"You took out your sister knowing my rules."

"I forced him, Tommy," Kizzie admitted. "It's me who you should punish."

Her brother lifted his hand to stop her, while he kept his fierce eyes on Finn.

"She's right," Finn said. "But you don't care about that, do you, Tommy?"

"Watch your fucking mouth, boy!" Arthur yelled from across the room.

"The rules I've set are there for a reason. I have every intention of punishing both of you."

Ozzy watched the family bicker. Normally, he was an expert in tense rooms. But Thomas Shelby was a different breed of man. Ozzy knew that, when joining, the number one rule to obey was to protect Kezia Shelby. That she was the heart and soul of the family and the very lifeblood of Tommy. But all those warnings paled to sitting here, witnessing his rage with his own two eyes.

"Finn will work double shifts in the betting house." Tommy turned to his sister. "You will not be allowed to sleep here anymore, Kizzie."

"Tommy!"

"No, Kizzie. This will not happen again." He was stoic, always. And that was easily the scariest thing for Ozzy. "Take Finn and Kizzie outside while I speak to Mr. Wójcik."

Fucking hell.