Arthur Shelby- Love at First Sight

Arthur Shelby- Love at First Sight Pt 11

Y/n was gone by the time Tommy had made it home. None of her items left in the bedroom she slept in or in Arthur's. Not a trace of her anywhere except the room next door she used as a media hub. The computers and monitors smashed to pieces, towers were in shards on the carpeted floor. The corkboards around the room devoid of all photos and her handwritten information. None of the staff had seen her come back, but they sure as hell heard her leave. She'd stolen one of Tommy's cars on her way out.

Two weeks had gone by, and not a single Blinder or informant had seen her, only the aftermath left in her wake. Changretta had gone back to Italy with his tail between his legs after her stunt with the computer virus. Too many agencies still out looking for him, but he kept sending forces to Birmingham and surrounding areas looking for her. Y/n made sure their bodies were left in the open.

The local authorities were starting to think there was a serial killer on the loose targeting gang members. At first, it was a body here and there, but a few days passed before mounds of them began to appear. The most brazen find that the authorities had been called to was outside of a pharmacy Luca had taken by force. The bodies of Changretta's men laid out carefully on the street spelling out 'Luca' and a smiley face.

Y/n was mercilessly taking out everything that Changretta threw her way, not even her father attempted to reign her in. Luca's numbers even in Italy were dwindling, no member of his family would step up and help him anymore in his craze. He was left hiring out trained killers and the like. Word traveled far and wide of what she was doing. She was sending a message to Luca that she was coming for him and nothing would stop her.

Y/n stood far away from the others refusing to look at or converse with any of them. That smiling face that they had all gotten used to no longer existed. She was a shell, no longer caring if she lived or died so long as she got to Luca Changretta first. She stood solemnly watching as Johnny Dogs walked horses into the field attached to an old school Gypsy caravan.

Intricate carvings and paintings all over the wood paneling, replicas of Arthur's hidden talent. The windows were fitted with stain glass, colored shards in no specific pattern except bursts of color. She could hardly make out the shape inside, nor could she think about Arthur's body laying inside. Arthur never wanted to buried, a morbid little fact she knew from a night they spent in the bathtub together.

A relaxing bath turned oddly in-depth by random questions about the future and the past. Y/n remembered how quiet he'd gotten before the thought escaped his mouth. He feared it, being buried. Arthur said he had nightmares that he'd wake up inside the coffin with no choice but to try and claw his way out. He'd struggle to break through the coffin when soft dirt would fill in all around him and suffocate him before he could get out.

With his head resting atop hers, his arms tangled around her in the warm water. He asked her to promise if anything happened to him, no matter what his family wanted no burial. He'd always been drawn to Viking funerals, though fire by ship wasn't practical nor easy to accomplish in England, he thought a funeral pyre would be the way to go.

Y/n watched the horses trot away after being detached from the caravan. Blinked numbly seeing the wood logs thrown beneath the caravan and finally the lit torch being tossed inside. The fire crackled as it made its way through the caravan. She was holding herself together fairly well until the fire raged and the snapping sounds of its destruction started.

SNAP! She felt her knees begin to buckle and took a deep breath trying to steady herself.

SNAP! The sound was almost deafening, sounding like bones being broken.

SNAP! Y/n gulped back the sob not wanting to let it out.

SNAP! SNAP! The fire illuminated the figure of his body inside.

SNAP! She dropped to her knees in a silent sob, tears streaming down her cheeks and littering the grass. Y/n couldn't look away as the caravan slowly crumbled, ashes and chunks of wood falling to the ground.

Ada and Pol watched her from afar, their hearts broken over Arthur but slowly shattered seeing the torment Y/n was suffering in alone. Each woman tried making their way toward Y/n to hold her, comfort her, assure her that they were there for her, but Tommy held them back. He wouldn't let them approach her.

"You're a right selfish git you know that?" Ada shook her head in disbelief. "How can you be so uncaring?"

"I hope you know what you're doing Tommy because we can't afford to go through a war with the Capones." Pol glared venomously at Tommy while lighting her cigarette.

Tommy heard what they were saying to him, but it wasn't computing inside his head. He was so focused on Y/n, studying her. The pure and raw emotion rolling off her shattered all the doubts he had about her. The thoughts that she was conning them all so her father could take them over. The doubts that she didn't genuinely love Arthur vanished seeing how tortured she was watching the caravan turn to ash.

"She honestly loved him," Tommy whispered showing little emotion in his face except for his eyes. They betrayed him, showed regret and remorse in them. "It wasn't just some act, was it?"

"Of course she does... did," Pol corrected herself though the perturbed look towards Tommy held strong. "It was like watching two lost souls finding each other in the darkness. They needed each other Thomas and now... I wouldn't want to be at the end of that fury. She's got nothing to keep her from being reckless now."

"Tommy, whatever you did, it destroyed that poor girl down her core. You know how Arthur was, he didn't open up to anyone but with Y/n it was like he was alive again. Like he was a young lad before the world tore him apart." Ada couldn't help but look toward Tommy with disgust.

It was the white flag waving on the edge of the field that caught Tommy's attention. The older woman dressed all in black slowly crossing the field waving the flag in a sign of truce the closer she got to the large group of people. Eyes had become focused on her instead of the burning rubble of the caravan. A small group of people surrounded Tommy as he met the Changretta Matriarch.

"There's been enough bloodshed, Arthur's death makes it even." The Matriarch spoke with a flat tone.

She tried to keep her face emotionless being so close to the man that had roughed up her son and killed her husband, but her eyes. Those eyes burned with a rage that all Blinders knew too well. A smug grin crept over her mouth seeing the burning mass behind Tommy and his family.

Her head tilted looking behind Tommy trying to memorize all the people there mourning to target at a later. All that smugness and confidence dissolved the moment she noticed Y/n. Tommy could see, hell he could feel the fear wafting off the Matriarch eyeballing Y/n. A visible shiver swept through her as her eyes widened.

"Do you speak for her?" The Matriarch nodded toward Y/n.

"No, she speaks for herself," Tommy replied with a faint smile curled on the edge of his mouth.

"Why... why is she here then?" Her words drenched in fear. Whatever she'd planned before coming here now seemed to change.

"Seems your son has taken two people in her life that she loved dearly." Tommy inhaled deeply on his cigarette. "You'll have your truce long enough for a meeting in three days at my distillery, but I am not, nor will I be responsible for Y/n. Your son started that battle, you're on your own with that one."