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

Forty two.

Chapter forty two: Alluring anger

To be back within the elite section of the racetrack venue, meant having to be the arm candy of a very wealthy, powerful man, so in disguise, she had to suck up her pride and make believe that she was John's wife. With her arm linked with his, it almost seemed foolproof, except, many already knew of the pair and how dangerous, vindictive and calculated they were separately, never mind what they could master together.

Her eyes were peeled open, alert in alarm for any signs of her real soon-to-be husband, praying to God that he hadn't landed himself in further trouble with Sabini, because last time, he barely escaped with an inch of his life by the saving grace of Campbell. It was a hypocritical ordeal with which began Thomas' secrecy from Caroline, and today would mark the say that no more truths would be concealed. With her hand in marriage, one of his vows would be to be inclusive, always and forever.

Awake and alive, she darted her vision upon every nearing step which echoed against the wooden platform, half-hoping it would be an enemy rather than Thomas, because if he found that she was present in the midst of a deadly plan, he would be furious, but perhaps her determination would prove to him that she loved him so dearly that she was willing to push away her fears of death to stand by his side and fight til death do them part.

Her tightly scrunched curls bounced vividly on the shoulders of her glistening ruby red dress and with each passing man followed their sickly sweet winks. At this stage, she was not here to play games. As she was older, she understood the importance of virtue and self worth and to her, they were all the same, so she treated them as equals with a scowl in return.

Arthur, on Caroline's other side, noticed the lust in the men's eyes as well. He stood forward, his chest heaving in frustration, daring the men to make a move but all they did was take a few steps back and briskly move away whereas Caroline wrapped her free hand around Arthur's forearm, dragging the hellish man away, prohibiting further loss of time in bloodshed that wasn't necessary.

Out in the open, they were greeted by the endless chatter of fellow racetrack participants with the background noise of the trumpets in the orchestra, and Caroline could make out Johnny Dogs pacing from his previous location to Arthur who now took the lead, but during their fast pace, the sizzling smell of churros caught her attention and to the side, she saw a stand selling the doughy delicacies.

"If we make it out of here alive, you're taking me to get a churro." She mumbled into John's ear.

His stern features fell soft. "Are you daft? Of course we'll make it out alive. You'll be waiting on food for awhile though. We're hungry for something else right now."

On the far edge of the event, in the darkest corner along a tall wall which promoted the races with paintings of the founding owners, a group of their men stood, passing out weapons for each person to take, and when they saw the others, their features lightened, until they fell on Caroline, wincing as they almost heard Thomas' gruff tone demanding them that she were to take no part in the violent side of business.

Caroline locked eyes with Finn. Being the youngest, he was quite sheltered but granted the luxury of witnessing the horrors of what his brothers' job entailed. Today marked the day in which he could participate in the chaos and it obviously scared him knowing so, and when Caroline took a gun from a reluctant man's hand, she shot the man a glare before turning to Finn, soft.

"You'll be alright. You stick by me and I'll keep you safe."

He tried to remain stern to fit the mould his brothers had made. "You shouldn't be here. Tommy made us promise him that you weren't to know about this. He wants to keep you safe."