Kimber's Dilemma - Tommy Shelby x Reader Fan Fic

Chapter 47

I seethe the whole way back to the townhouse. Every step over concrete reverberating through my body, creating a symphony of anger and hatred and loathing and...

Tears burn at my eyes. I shove the key into the door lock and clench my jaw and refuse to cry. I won't cry. Because crying means admitting I care. It means admitting I miss him.

I love him.

It burns too painfully for me to bear. He's permeated through every inch of my life, with no corner left untarnished by the never relenting gaze of Thomas Shelby. He told Alfie to marry me. To protect me.

He never gave up. Even when I thought he did, even when I demanded to live life on my own terms, he never conceded.

I'm furious with him. And I'm furious with myself that I'm not nearly as furious as I should be.

Only the sharp click of metal echoing through the empty house shocks me away from my thoughts. My eyes narrow. The steel of my hammer's cool around my fingers as I grasp it in my pocket, turning on the spot and honing in my senses.

"Show yourself," I call out. "You have five seconds. And then I start shooting bullets, and I don't give a fuck where they land."

Only silence for a moment. Then footsteps, loud and slow, an ominous rhythm echoing across the floorboards. Descending the stairs. I wait and watch as Darby Sabini comes into view, bowler hat perfectly straight on his head, moustache oiled, and gun in his hand.

"You don't have a gun," he tells me. "Your husband doesn't arm you. And we've got all the pistols in the house." He lifts his own pistol and aims it at my head. "Come up here with me, please."

Adrenaline bursts through me. My overarching instinct is to rip my hammer free and drive it through his skull, gunfire be damned — and more than a year ago, that's exactly what I would have done.

But now I hear Tommy's voice in my ear. Feel his presence. The way he'd shoot a warning glare, shake his head almost imperceptibly, and talk calmly with this man. Lull him into a false sense of security before acting.

"Fine." I pull my hand empty from my pocket, deciding the hammer's better left a secret until I need it.

You double-crossing bastard, I seethe in silence as I head up the stairs, him following with the gun pointed at my back. He's meant to be at the meeting with the others right now. With me. Why is he here instead?

He answers my question once we reach the upstairs office, where three other men are waiting. "Alfie Solomons plans to cross me," he says. "I was hoping to have a little chat with him. But this is better. Do you think he'll pull his men out of my clubs if the alternative is your brain across his walls?"

My bones chill. "That sounds like a question for Alfie."

"Exactly." Sabini says. He points to the telephone with his gun. "And you're going to ask him."

I refuse to show my fear. Glaring at Sabini with all the hatred I can muster, I lift the phone receiver and begin the call. When I give the number of the bakery to the operator, my voice doesn't so much as tremble.

I'm not so lucky when Tommy answers the phone.

"Thomas Shelby," he says curtly. "Solomons's bakery. How can I help?"

I take a breath. "Tommy?"

His voice instantly sharpens. "Kimber. What's wrong?"

"Sabini's here. At the house." I glance up at him as I talk, and the sight of his smirk hardens me to anger once more. "He wants to talk to my husband."

"Is he threatening to harm you?"

I answer through clenched teeth. "Yes."

"Can he hear this conversation?"

"No."

"Fuck." He pauses, and I can picture him running a hand across his face. "You weren't meant to be bloody involved."

"You fucking what?"

"They were meant to take Alfie. I gave them strict orders not to touch you."

"You're trying to kill my husband?" I hiss through the phone.

"Not fucking kill him, only scare him enough he'll think twice before trying to fuck us over again. He approached Sabini first to conspire against me. I made the better offer. Now Sabini's gone rogue."

I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill Thomas Shelby. And if Sabini shoots me first, I'm going to resurrect from the dead and still kill Tommy.

"Stay there. Keep them talking. Kimber, listen to me — do not get trigger happy. Alright? I need him alive and conscious to find out what's going on."

I pocket my hand and dig my thumbnail into the hammer's handle as he speaks. "Fine."

"I'm coming now. Tell them Alfie's coming, too. I'll be there as soon as I can, sweetheart — I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Alright?"

"Fine," I whisper once more.

I hang the phone up. I collect myself. And I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here and wait for Thomas Shelby to save the day.

"Well?" Sabini asks.

I approach him. My fingers tighten around the hammer.

"My husband said you can go fuck yourself."

And then I attack.