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

Forty five.

Chapter forty five: Double trouble

"And where the bloody hell have you been?"

"Business."

"The type that scares you?"

"The type that isn't getting involved with my wife, especially not on my fucking wedding night."

"Do you think a ring will stop me from killing an enemy?"

Thomas' trudging footsteps sounded like thunder clapping in the electrifying air and Caroline's caught up to him like lighting. Impatiently, she stood in front of him, tapping her heel against their sleek wooden floorboard, her eyes scrutinising his every moment as soon as he appeared from the darkness beside his brothers who easily slipped out of the crossfire, afraid to feel her wrath.

If anything, he was irritated rather than threatened. "Don't try and play the hero for a bunch of villains, Care. For once in your life, take a rest and let me handle it."

"And have everyone assume that just because I married into money means that I can leisure at my free will? I don't think so."

With an eye roll, he snorted. "Yeah? And you care what people think?"

"What I think doesn't matter!" Her face then sunk with fear protruding her chest. "Thomas, tell me who Tatiana Patrovna is."

Baffled, he absentmindedly grimaced with her capability to figure out hidden passages. "I'm not going to ask you how you know who she is because you can't be stopped, but what can be stopped is your keen eye for criminal activity."

"Like you said, I can't be stopped, darling." She cooed evilly into his ear, her hand tracing down his bicep, her nails trailing over his skin teasingly. "If you are not honest with me, I can easily get a divorce and leave you for a much, much younger man who craves a simple life. It's your choice."

"You don't scare me, Caroline."

"No? But the thought of being left alone by the only woman you've ever loved so dearly terrifies you."

He suppressed a sigh and spoke through his dry throat. "Listen. If you are planning to be the mother to my children, you can't get into business anymore the way you used to; for their sake." He pointed to her flat stomach. "You want a child so bad, eh? Well, to have one, you've gotta be alive."

Immediately, she tore her gaze away from his to lower it to the ground, contemplating every decision she'd ever made in life, but in particular, the possibility of giving up. She wanted to have children, just like most people on the planet, but what she couldn't foresee in her future was a life of kicking her feet up and letting maids tend her every need. She was a determined, strong willed woman and what she want, she got, on her own accord. Could she give up her specialities all because of a child?

"I promise that I will try not to get involved, on one condition."

Hesitantly, he pulled her aside and wrapped an arm over her back. "Anything."

She rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes. "Promise me that my child will have a father who's guaranteed to stay in their life."

"I'm not going anywhere, Care." He whispered into her ear. "And neither are you, so that is why we are going to fulfil this promise, alright? You're not bothering with business and I won't get killed."

Arm in arm, the newlyweds pushed open the doors to their grand ballroom to where their loved ones danced the night away, swaying sensually to the upbeat music that thumped from the build in stage, the musicians frolicking to the sounds they produced so erratically which acted as a potion for their fans, causing the room to brighten and swirl with excitement.