DUNDEE // John Shelby

Chapter Fourteen

Everybody in the house was awoken by the constant pounding on the front door. It was annoying as hell.

"What the fuck?" John groaned from beside me, sitting up on his elbows and turning on a lamp. I turned over on my back and put a pillow over my ears.

"Antonia!" Tommy yelled from the front of the house.

"If it's one of my brothers, tell them to fuck off!" I yelled from John's room.

Tommy opened John's door, making me cover up my upper body with the comforter. He was about to yell, then he saw me topless.

"I'm not opening that door without you there." He scratched the side of his nose awkwardly. "Put your clothes on and come out here." He looked back at me. "Please"

John started laughing a bit, so I smacked him and put on the dress slip, along with one of his t-shirts. I wasn't a big fan of putting my bare feet on the floor, but who the hell cares?

Thomas was waiting by the door, biting his fingernails as he waited. I rolled my eyes. Was he actually scared?

"Where's your gun?" I asked. He handed me a revolver and I opened the door. There stood the man I thought was dead, in the rain with a suit on.

"Doc?"

"I thought you might say that, Antonia." He looked at me as he entered the house, immediately hanging his coat up on the coat rack.

"The great spirit above told me you were in trouble. He said Europe." That thick Australian accent came out of his mouth. "And Alfie Solomons said with the Shelby's."

"Toni, who is this?" Tommy asked as he brightened the light at the table.

"The wise man I told you about." I retorted.

Doc smiled at me, then gave me an envelope. "I've spent some time with Giovanni's family. I was their accountant. This is everything you need to know about them. They plan to strike again at your mothers house in about," he looked at his timepiece. "22 hours."

"Why are you helping? You work for them." I told him. He was leaning against his cane and looking at the both of us. 

"You gave me the feeling of a daughter when I had lost mine. This is me repaying the favor." He smiled through his mustache. 

"Why did you come to Small Heath," I looked at him. "Really,"

He turned to me as he got his coat on. "You are a very distrusting person, Antonia." He buttoned up the wool coat, then pointed to the sky. "Don't ever argue with the great white spirit."

Then he left.

"Great white fucking spirit?!" Tommy scoffed when he knew Dr. Treaty was gone. "Is he a fuckin' gypsy? Or is he just full of fucking shit, Antonia?" He was raising his voice.

"Why do you always yell at me like I'm a fucking idiot, Tommy?! That doctor has fucking degree after degree in this shit." I yelled at him.

"Yeah? Is it a fucking Gypsy witchcraft degree?" He raised his eyebrows. I rolled my eyes.

"What are you even mad about?! That you lost ten minutes of lousy Fucking sleep, which you dope yourself up to get into?!" I yelled back at him. He was silent. I crossed the line.

He looked at me, shocked. John came out of his room in a matter of seconds after hearing my statement.

"Tommy, what are you so fucking mad about?" I asked him, my voice almost a whisper. It was disappointing. He trusted me, and I just threw it all away with one statement.

"Go fuck yourself, Antonia. You don't know what kind of shit I went through to be here. I won't stand here and be belittled by a fucking Aussie Bastard who my brother fucks for a good time." Well shit.

He stomped off to his room like a little boy while lighting a cigarette. I scoffed. It wasn't him calling me an Aussie Bastard that upset me, it was me screwing up my chances with good people.

"Toni," John grabbed my arm, trying to pull me back. I shook his grip off.

"Fuck off, John." I went to his room and put my dress on, then my shoes. John stood in the doorway while I was attempting to walk out. He didn't want me to leave, but there's no fucking way I would stay in the same house as Thomas Shelby ever again.

"Toni, he'll apologize in the morning. He's probably high on drugs right now." He told me. "Like you said."

"Good for him." I mumbled as I tied my hair back into a bun. He stopped me from leaving the room.

"Think about it, Antonia." He looked down at me. Even though I had kissed this man, slept with this man, fucked this man, I hated him in this moment. "He'll apologize over breakfast. Tommy says shit he doesn't mean all the time. Don't take it to heart."

"I'm not taking it to fucking heart, John. Get out of the way." I tried to move past him, but he stopped me.

"Toni, please." He started.

"John," I looked up at him. He reluctantly got out of my way and let me through the door. I could tell he was regretting every second of it, but he let it happen.

—-

I opened the door to my house without it squeaking like a mouse. It was an old shack, so it was quite difficult. It was even more difficult to make it up to the boys bedroom without waking up my mother.

"Tony." I whispered from outside his door. Tony and Andy shared a room, while Prim and Rico shared the other. I got my own room since Henry has a house of his own now.

"What?" Tony's voice came from the opposite side of the door. He was asleep. I woke him.

"Get your brother and come out here." I left the door and turned the light on at the table.

Tony and Andrew came out of their rooms, still big eyed from sleeping. Tony didn't mind, but Andrew, he loved his sleep.

I set the envelope down on the table and opened it, revealing all its contents. It had pictures, letters, addresses, and so much more. It was so helpful.

"What? Are we gonna attack Giovanni right now?" Andrew asked with a slight smile. I shrugged.

"It would be wise if we did," Tony looked at the both of us. I bit my lip in though as we looked at the picture of the house.

Tony left the table and went up the stairs to grab something. Andrew grabbed a piece of fruit and started to eat it as the time passed.

He threw down a box with my name on it. It was old and dusty, probably kept away for safekeeping.

"Dad left it to you in his will." Tony said as I opened it, revealing a Bowie knife with the Dundee last name carved onto it. A.D. Antonia Dundee. "He said to give it to you when you were sixteen, but well... we couldn't see you."

"Let's do it the fuckin' Aussie way, Toni. No guns, just knives." Andrew said, looking at the two of us. I nodded.

"The fucking Aussie way."