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❝ we set fire to things we hate most. ❞
"Mister Shelby, have you heard of Edmond Vallow?"
Maude let her cut, manicured nails tap against the scratchy, wooden table she was leaning on, raising a dark eyebrow. Tommy adjusted in his seat, poking his tongue out in order to lick his chapped lips.
It was then that Maude let her gaze drift to the crystal glass of whiskey he was nursing, already empty whereas her's was full. She didn't want to take a sip out of it, she was still weary.
"Call me Thomas," He replied, his voice monotone, "and yes, I have."
That response was all Maude needed to continue. "Alright Thomas, then you know that he and Sabini have joined forces."
Tommy sat back in his chair with an audible creak, the worn out wood wobbling slightly beneath his rigid body. Quite frankly, he wanted her to get to the point, having already grown tired of the conversation.
Clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth, he sent a curt nod Maude's way, reaching his left hand across the table to the tin of cigarettes he had set there when he had first arrived.
She watched as he dampened the paper of it against his lips before he lit it with a match, letting his lungs contract as he took in the taste. He then took another one out and handed it to her, lighting it for her as well. "What about it?"
Maude smiled slyly, containing the heavy sigh behind all her oncoming words. She knew how to sum it up into words but it was fun to toy with his emotions even though she knew he was void of most.
She and Edmond Vallow had…. a disagreement of sorts years ago until he sent her fleeing in the other direction. In his actions on that fateful night that she hid away in a messy filing cabinet in a dark corner of her mind ⎯ he had not reached his full potential. Deep down, Maude knew that Edmond Vallow was the devil himself, rising up from the dark oak tree that was always on fire. How did she know? She's known him all her life.
"I want an alliance with you, your brothers and all your men," She inhaled the tobacco sharply, "I feel as though you and I have a bit of an idea as to how exactly this devilish food chain works ⎯ I just don't know in what aspects yet."
And it was the truth. When she first heard about him all those months ago, she saw a man broken from the war, his soul buried deep beneath the tainted soil of the trenches and the sounds of shovel digging through unmarked grave sites. She however, had her soul broken by something other than war before it even happened and could still see it behind closed lids every time she blinked or tried to sleep for the new day.
Maude looked straight ahead at the Peaky Blinder who let his cerulean blue eyes wander around the house for a split second. From what she could see, he was weighing his options silently, letting the uncomfortable tension linger more than necessary.
"And why would I do that?"
The dark haired woman smiled widely, one of a Cheshire cat with cruel intentions. "If we can take them both down, together, I'm willing to bet you'd try to stab me in the back after so I'm placing my little red chips of sacrifice into your hands." She then flicked her cigarette in the full glass sat next to her, hearing it sizzle from coming in contact with the ember liquid.
Tommy crossed his trouser clad legs, bored eyes watching as Maude got up from her seat, a slight shiver radiating throughout her body when she tugged her fur coat around herself tighter once more.
"You don't have to give me an answer outright, but just know that I expect one by the end of this lovely week," She pushed, chapped lips pressed into a thin line.
The gears in her head turned quick enough that in the time it took Thomas to sit there and organize whatever was going on in his scattered brain, she had used the best tactic in the game of savagery that they were currently playing.
"Wherever you're hiding those guns, better get them relocated quickly, I heard the Chief Inspector plans to have this kingdom of yours under his watchful eye."
And with that, she left the chilly betting den without so much as a goodbye.
It was then that Thomas Shelby had realized that the longer he looked at Maude, the more he saw himself. The tactics, the quick thinking, the mannerisms. It was like looking into a two-way mirror.
***
The window that was left ajar in the house that Maude had taken up for residency was closed by William with evident agitation.
"It's bloody fucking stupid," He spat at her, leaning against the yellowing walls of her new bedroom. It lay bare, aside from the rickety bed pushed against the corner of the far right and a dresser on the right, suitcases loitering around on the mahogany wood of the floorboards.
"Would you like to specify which part to you is exactly 'bloody fucking stupid' ?" She emphasized, bare legs crossed as she tugged on the lace of her grey slip with closed fists, knuckles white.
His gray eyes fell flat on her face, running them along the curve of her jawline where he saw her clench her teeth together, silently grinding them in annoyance. He knew it was best to stay silent since Maude always had her reasons for what she said. For the longest time in his middle-aged mind, he thought as if she'd say things of significance because she was fairly new at widening her arms for death.
But as a woman playing a game of chess with a room full of perverted, money hungry men; she'd always call checkmate.
After seconds of silence when William decided to keep his thoughts to himself, Maude spoke, her green eyes searing into whatever broken pieces of his soul he had left. "What do I always say to you when I do these types of things?"
"An arrogant man is one less competitor," William answered stiffly, crossing one leg over the other as he let his tongue glide over his pearly teeth.
"And I tell you this because when a man is arrogant, he thinks he can conquer anything, when in reality, his brain gets so full of ideas for his future wealth that he doesn't understand that there's a garden snake slithering around in his territory."
Maude had seen the greed that her past enemies had consumed like the finest wine, and they drank it proudly out of a golden chalice laced with karma. Her.
She had come to the quick conclusion that Thomas Shelby was indeed none of those things when she downeed her first glass of rum hours earlier as a celebration for the future of sorts. She left options open for him, to think of certain agreements and terms he'd want to come to in the near future when they finally shake their hands in acknowledgement to seal their deathly deal.
She glanced out the window, raggedy curtains pushed to the side. Dark clouds littered the sky in a disarray of white and gray, the sun hiding behind the horizon now as the moon arrived into the night. If she really listened, she could hear the muffled laughter of the people that resided in Small Heath; the night was still lively.
She then glanced back at William's dull, awaiting eyes, "I'm afraid we'll have a little problem on our hands with the Shelby family."
