Roguish Women- Tommy Shelby

The Locket

  //If you're interested I have a new Tommy fic called Field of Poppies. It's about Tommy pre-ww1, check it out if that interests you!

          Kate wasn't sure if she could move at all. But she didn't even want to see the man in front of her. Everything about him sickened her. He had deep brown eyes but there was hardly any emotion in them other than smug self-assuredness. His dark hair wasn't slicked back as it usually was. In fact, he wasn't wearing the same airs he usually did. Not the expensive clothes, polished shoes, gold watch. It indicated to her that he hadn't been conducting business, but traveling. Traveling from London to Birmingham to catch her off guard.

He stepped toward her with a smile. "No words for me? None at all?"

"I have a gun on me." She spat out, trying her best to sound fearless. There were so many men who she could dismiss, men she would never be afraid of, men she could take over in minutes. But Santo was different. He knew things about her. He could control her if he wanted to.

"You're not gonna kill me, you're smarter than that."

"Yeah? Seems like a smart idea to me." She lowered her hand to the edge of her jacket, prepared to reach to her holster tucked beneath.

"Because you know the repercussions already." He stuck a hand in his pocket, making Kate flinch. "S'alright." He held one hand up like he was soothing a spooked horse. "Here." He pulled something out and reached his enclosed fist out to her.

Kate remained on her front steps, watching him warily. "What is it?"

"What, you think I've got a live snake in here or somethin'? A spider?" He chuckled. "C'mon."

She glared at him but stepped down to hold out her palm. Santo gently dropped something gold into it. Still cautious but curious, she examined the piece of jewelry. Her breath caught in her throat when she recognized. The oval-shaped locket wasn't anything expensive. It was badly tarnished from decades of being worn for so many years. It was the same locket her father had given her mother when they were just lovesick teenagers. It was the locket that her mother had gifted to her when she became of age. It was the locket she had lost when she fled America.

"Where did you find this?" She whispered.

"In Boston, you dropped it on the street before you disappeared." He answered.

Her expression hardened. "When you set my building on fire."

He nodded slightly. "I can admit my methods were harsh back then."

Kate's fingers curled around the necklace, not willing to let it go again. "You haven't changed at all."

"Now, how would you know that? You've been running around Europe while I've been trying to find you. You don't know how I've changed." He took another step toward her, almost testing the waters to see how far he could get before she threatened to shoot him again.

She tensed up but didn't move away. "Was anyone killed?" She asked the question that had been haunting her for years. The screams coming from the burning apartment building still kept her up at night. She never knew if her neighbors were saved or perished. She had no idea the destruction Santo had caused. And yet while he lit the fire, she felt responsible for giving him reason to.

"Come now, Katie, that's not what I'm here to talk about." He said in an almost unrecognizably gentle voice.

"I know why you're here. You're not going to get what you want." Kate crossed her arms over her chest, holding her mother's necklace close to her.