Ex-soldier Birmingham-gangster bets his life on luck and illegalities, adroit wit and burning passion streaking his blood-stained fingertips as a dire quarrel commence between himself and the disturbed Dane who purloined his lover.
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MAKE YOU THE VILLAIN
"LIZZIE SEEMS TO MAKE a good mother for the kids. That's good."
It did not require an answer but Tommy did not seem to react in response to Ines' remark.
"This morning, when I was out on a walk—"
"You shouldn't be walking alone," interrupted he, still not looking her way while he appeared to be looking for something. Ines sighed, moving from her seat to lean against one of the towering bookshelves.
"But I was—and I met Curly. He told me you had invested in horses. I had been led to believe your love for horses was a chapter in the past."
"I don't have a love for horses. I have a love for money. Horses make money."
Ines huffed, a sly smile curving the outer corner of her mouth, not believing a word coming out of his. "Oh, come now Thomas. You have always loved horses. Surely you remember when we were little, when—"
But that reminder of the past led him to the present moment and Ines finally had him look at her, stopping him from whatever he was pacing about for. "You seem to know a little of everything, so I assume you know what I've been up to. What about you? Were you happy?"
Taken aback, Ines furrowed her brows and comforted herself by wrapping her arms around her chest.
"For a long time, yes, I was very happy."
Thomas nodded with a nearly invisible pout as he strode toward Ines.
"That was until you discovered your husband's a fucking psychopath, eh?"
Affected by his crude words, she was stunned, the surprise evident in her expression; one that quickly turned into an averted gaze of disgust.
"I don't recall you being gullible, but I suppose it has been a long time. Of course, my recollection could be wrong. Perhaps you have always been this way. . . Might've just been too green myself to notice. You remember what it was like back then, yeah? And to think I was ready to throw everything away just to be with you, tsk!" Thomas huffed, turning away.
Her kind-looking facade dropped, her face seemingly drained of emotion as she glared him dead in the eye.
"You're being unfair, Tom."
"No what's "unfair" is you leaving Birmingham with your mind set on never coming back! How do you expect me to treat you? Huh? Should I just welcome you back like nothing ever happened—like you didn't tear out my fucking heart and ran away when things got rough? This is on you! We could have done such good things together. But you weren't ready for that and you know what? That's okay but you're not gonna come back 'ere and think for a second I don't have a few things to say."
Those words hit hard. Like a shattered ceiling and it felt as if the shards just kept coming.
But they were true, Ines knew that. She had been indeed been gullible. Not only in loving Nikolaj but in leaving Thomas and naively thinking he would have been waiting for her. Of course, he had not. She did not want him to have done it either, waited for her, for, after all, she was not sure that she would ever come back. Just like Ines, Thomas went out and found a wife, he was even blessed with a couple of children along the way. Ines was disgusted with herself for surmising that the world would just keep giving and giving and giving. How stupid! she thought of herself.
