𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 | florence shelby's life is turned around after an italian monster targets here entire family and won't give up until they're all dead. but one good thing comes out of lucas changretta's vendetta, and that is bonnie gol...
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CHRISTMAS USED TO BE Florence Shelby's favourite holiday of the year, being her favourite day, and December being her favourite month out of them all — every Christmas, the Shelby's used to all gather around, all laughing and joining around at the table as they waited for dinner, opening presents under the tree and playing all types of games all day. But then Florence's mother died, and the men headed off to the War, and nothing was ever the same way again for any of them, not even twelve years later, when all of her family were spread apart in different locations of England, none of them coming together in celebration of the holiday, and Florence had never felt so lonely in her whole life. After finally being released from prison alongside Polly, Florence didn't think it would be appropriate to carry on living with the woman, not with the state that she was in; so she did what she never thought she would have to do in her life, she used his money, to buy herself a flat. She still lived near Small Heath, the girl unable to bring herself to move away from her home, not when her brother lived so close; even with the man she had grown to hate, she couldn't leave Charles with Tommy, not to suffer the same fate she had suffered when Greta died. Even with it being her flat, it felt like her fathers, because that's what had allowed her to live here, his money; no amount of decorations could replace the feeling, or even fill the emptiness inside of her.
So, as Florence sat on her floor, the day before Christmas Eve, wrapping up the presents she brought for Charles, she had half a bottle of wine she was sipping on, the girl drinking her sorrows away as she was going to be alone on Christmas Eve, the one day she never thought she'd be alone for. The girl fully intended to drink more than one bottle, knowing that she would have to face her father tomorrow for a few minutes as she had to give her presents to Charles and sit with him for a while so he wasn't completely alone on Christmas Day — Lizzie had been in contact with Florence a few times throughout the year about what her father had been up to, and finding out that he couldn't even bring himself to allow Charles to visit his cousins, hurt Florence greatly, realising that Charles was already suffering the wrath of their father. It had been months since she had last seen either Tommy or Charles, and Florence felt awful for not visiting her little brother; but how could she face the man who was the reason she got locked up, and so close to death that she had started to re-evaluate her whole life, avoiding him was the only way she could truly cope, and she thinks that Tommy knew that, too, which is why he had tried his hardest to keep his distance from his distraught daughter.
The girl was currently drinking some more wine from the bottle, and when she heard a knock at the door — Florence rolled her eyes when she heard it, wondering if it was her neighbour, James, again trying to flirt with her again. She stood up, bringing the wine bottle with her as she chugged some more down and began to open up the door, seeing the exact boy she had guessed it would be, standing on the other side, with a small, nervous smile on his face. James wasn't bad looking, but Florence wasn't interested in anything right now, not when she was fighting the demons inside of her after being in jail and coming so close to hanging; no one deserved to be put through that, even annoying boys who won't take a hint. The boy was clearly older than her by a bit, since he rented out the flat next to hers; the only reason she had hers was because of her fathers money, so unless he had a rich family, he had a decent job to be able to afford to live here. "Hi, James." Florence said, trying not to hide her annoyance at the fact that he was at her door again. He wasn't bad looking, he was far from it, and older than her, but she wasn't interested in him, and she didn't think it would be fair to start something when she was still struggling to live her life without the nightmares plaguing her nights.
