Subtle Invitation [Thomas Shelby]

Clean Cut

There had been no sign of Lily for hours. Michael had spent the whole afternoon searching for her but came up empty. Ada had spoken to everyone that wouldn't talk to the boys and nobody had seen her.

It was like she had never been here. Tommy was unsteady on his feet as he pushed his way into his office, ignoring the searing pain in his chest. There was no rest for the wicked today; he had no choice but to keep going, the pain could wait. Grabbing at his phone he waited for the operator to respond.

"Adler Estate" he demanded, wincing as he sat down in his chair.

"This is Thomas Shelby, is Miss Adler there please?" And Tommy listened to the soft voice on the other end of the phone, fought back the frustration when she replied that Miss Adler hadn't returned home and they weren't expecting her.

Slamming the phone down on its stand he pushed it away and began frantically listing all the places she could be. Tommy had been stupid in his decision to push her away and now he was paying for it. All he could see was her big green eyes when he had told her he didn't want to, the image wouldn't haunt him forever.

The bullet wound to his chest was only an inkling of his karma. Tommy knew that if he didn't find her and make this right his karma would only expand further.

The words had tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them and now all he wanted to do was take them back, tell her that he didn't mean it and that he was protecting her. All he was doing was fucking protecting her.

As he leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes he suddenly had an idea where she might be.

—-

Tommy sauntered into the hotel foyer, his eyes scanning for any sign of her as he headed over towards the reception desk. John was flanking him, having been made to drive him there by Tommy who couldn't lift his right arm.

As Tommy stood at the desk a meek girl with mousy brown hair looked up at him expectantly, her name tag said "Molly"

"Can I help you sir?" She squeaked as she stood up

"Is Miss Adler here?" He asked as he leaned onto the desk, the pain becoming too much as he sucked air in through gritted teeth.

The young girl instantly began scanning down the checking book, her index finger coming up again as she double checked the name against her records.

"Sorry sir nobody with that name is staying here this evening" and she smiled apologetically before she saw the red stain on his shirt. Molly the receptionist gulped and took a small step away.

Tommy rolled his eyes and pushed off the counter, he could of sworn that this would be the place she would be. Everything in him told her she was here. Nodding to John they began to make their way out of the building.

Just as they reached the door a thought popped into Tommy's head, turning around he walked back over to the desk and slammed his hand down.

"Check for the name Lily James" he demanded, it was possible that Lily had used her biological parents second name to go undetected.

The young girl blushed and began looking down her list, shaking as Tommy peered over her.

"Yes, yes we have a Lily James but there's a note here not to disturb her" Molly looked up at him and shrugged.

Tommy let out a sigh of relief, he was so close that he could almost smell her perfume.

"Would you like me to call her room sir?" She asked, her hand already on the telephone, ready to be rid of him.