Bête noire → Peaky Blinders [Tommy Shelby] [ BOOK 1 ]

Six.

Chapter six: V for Vendetta

"Stop!" Caroline's voice pleaded with agony. "Get off me!"

The man only hissed back. "Shut up, you little tout! This is what you get for being a goddamn liar!"

The truth was, Caroline didn't lie. She saw this man stealing jewels from a pot in their grand living room. He was a new member of her father's gang and at this stage, they weren't as popular and infamous. However, this didn't matter. For when Caroline told her father what she witnessed, at first, he didn't believe her, until he searched his employee, only to find his coat pockets dripping with diamonds. Needless to say, he was fired, but when Caroline closed the door at half eleven at night, she was unaware of the monster that lurked in the shadows; the origin of her night terrors.

No matter the age, an act so sinister would reside in her fifteen year old brain, staining the respect and hope she'd have for any man she'd come across. She knew very little about this man, but from what her ears caught wind on, he was a man with a newborn baby, so for the life of her, she couldn't understand why he'd do such a thing if his job as a father was to protect his kin from people like him.

"Nobody." His voice growled, his fingers roughly pushing up her white nightgown, exposing her pale legs. "And I mean nobody! Gets away with touting on James Bleaks!"

"Please! You don't have to do this! I'm sorry!"

He snorted, and with half his force, he flipped her so she was on her knees, bent over the bed. "Rich bitch. Think you can do whatever you want just 'cause you'll live off daddy's money forever? Think again. After tonight, you wont be able to rely on any man. For the rest of your life, you'll pay to me!"

Grunting. Crying. The pleading ceased when she recognised they only fuelled his lust. But was it really lust? If it was desire, it would be passionate, but no. This? This was immense fury and with each thrust he made against her pelvis, her soul ever so slowly left her body until all she felt was pain, but in her fantasy land, it was happening with a man that loved her, rather than taking revenge on her innocence. In her world far away, no harm like this would ever have came to her, because with the amount of people who protected their fortress, no trespassers would enter her room and attack her. She was safe and loved by all.

Thankfully, James didn't have time to implant his seed inside Caroline. When voices were murmured from down the hallway, he panicked, quickly pulling his slacks back up, but the last thing he did before he left through the window was, with his hand wrapped round her throat, ordered her not to tell a soul, because he'd find out and kill her. Terrified, but frozen, she could only blink slowly as a response, and soon, the terror was over and he exited.

***

Caroline felt herself crying because when she awoke, her throat felt as though she had a piping hot branding iron piercing her windpipe. In her mayday, she yelled aloud, the screams surfacing from the pit of her stomach as she vividly recalled that fateful night where she should have died, instead, she had to face the rest of her life without wanting to.

The difference was, this time, nobody rushed in to save her. Not Billy, not her imbecile of a mother, brother nor boyfriend. When she realised she was all alone, in a pool of her own sweat and tears, she removed herself from her bed and in the night, she stalked over to the windowsill. It must have been around four in the morning. Dawn was breaking, and she knew she wouldn't be able to fall back into a slumber and frankly, she didn't want to.