Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

51.

Manhattan, New York. 1929

It was Autumn and Ailbhe still was finding the heat almost unbearable. It was humid all day long, the air was sticky and hot making Ailbhe feel claustrophobic constantly. She certainly wasn't used to the big city life of New York. Living in London had been utter child's play compared to the high life of Manhattan. She was no one special in New York and she felt so alone in the crowds sometimes she wanted to scream. But she had no one to blame but herself for being there so there was no use complaining.

She was sure the back of her neck was damp from perspiration and she felt too hot even in her lightest dress. She wasn't sure she'd ever get used to the heat. It had been over four months and she was no better acclimatised.

"He'll be with you in just a moment Miss Kennedy, can I get you something to drink?"

The perky secretary behind the desk asked as Ailbhe pushed her hair behind her shoulders and took a deep breath. Ailbhe shook her head, smiling and refusing the offer. The man she was waiting for was making her wait of course. He relished every chance to irritate her and he knew Ailbhe's patience was not the best.

After it approached minute fifteen of her wait, Ailbhe had enough of waiting, grabbing her handbag and the documents she had in a folder. She ignored the secretary's exclamations and requests for her to wait as she shoved open the door of the office, not even pausing to knock.

"Fuck sake, do you mind?" Michael snapped, looking up from his desk at the small brunette who had interrupted him.

Ailbhe rolled her eyes when she saw the lines of snow Michael had been so carefully cutting when she pushed into his office. She shut the door behind her, glad of the air circulating through Michael's big office due to the windows all around him. The waiting room did not have that same luxury.

"Yes, I do, I've been waiting for fifteen minutes" She snapped, marching up to his desk and throwing the stack of papers down on top of his lines, not caring that she sent most of it spread around the desk. He undoubtedly had plenty more where that came from.

Michael huffed, trying not to lose his temper with her. Since her arrival at the start of the summer she had been pushing every button of his that he owned. She got a kick from getting under his skin.

"You sent these to me but you forgot to sign off on half of them and you missed out on two weeks of expenses" She snapped, looking between him and the mess of a financial report he had sent to her office.

He didn't seem to care, lazily flicking through them and signing off where he had missed.

"What's the big deal? You check everything I do with a bloody magnifying glass anyway" He sighed, rubbing his hand over his eyes before reaching into his pocket and grabbing a cigarette.

The cigarette in his ash tray barely looked minutes old and he was reaching for another. He had been drinking much more than usual in recent weeks and Ailbhe also knew that Michael had been playing in the snow all summer.

"Thank God I do otherwise you'd have sent this company belly up within a month" She exclaimed, snatching back the accounts once he had signed off on them.

He pulled open the next set of contracts he had missed in his rushed work and rolled his eyes, his irritation growing with every minute she spent in his presence.

"Michael you've been investing too much in these start-up companies and you've barely been doing checks before investing. The risks are way too high, the majority should be sent back to England where it can be managed better. This isn't what Tommy sent you here to do!"

She told him, tired of seeing how Michael was investing company money and not being careful enough. Tommy had sent her out to New York, knowing that she was smart enough to see through the people Michael was trusting. Michael was clever, he knew numbers and could quantify profits and losses easily but he didn't have what Ailbhe had. Ailbhe could read people just as well as Michael could read figures and accounts. She saw the mistakes Michael made and was doing everything she could to stop him making mistakes that would cause damage but she only had so much power.

Tommy and Ailbhe's plan for New York was to invest money, to invest in properties and companies that they all had researched and agreed upon. Out of the five properties and companies Ailbhe had done background checks and reports on this week alone, Michael had invested in none of them, tossing her ideas into the rubbish bin along with another empty bottle of snow.

"Tommy's little watch dog" he muttered under his breath knowing she could hear.

She narrowed her big green eyes at him and glared. Being in New York had changed her a little. Her skin had a golden glow to it now, her cheeks and nose sprayed in freckles and she wore make up now almost all the time. She dressed like the other women in the city too, showing off her shape and more skin than they did in England. Michael hated her but he wasn't blind. Ailbhe was a knock out but he always thought it a shame she had such a mouth on her.

"Fuck off Michael" she snapped, her patience wearing thin and wanting to leave the office before Michael and her came to blows for what felt like the hundredth time since she had arrived a few months previous.

But Michael was coming close to hitting a nerve and he knew where to poke when he wanted to get under her skin.

"But Little Miss Perfect fucked up" He whispered, leaning forward and making steely eye contact with her "And Tommy sent her away, out on exile for a time out. Just like he did with me"

Michael didn't know why Ailbhe was in New York or what had happened in Birmingham. All he was told was that Ailbhe would be arriving on the first voyage from Liverpool in June and that she would need somewhere to stay. Polly had told him in one of her letters that Ailbhe was coming to New York alone and that she would be staying for an indefinite amount of time. Ailbhe had been tight-lipped about her reasons for leaving Birmingham but Michael knew that she wouldn't leave Finn and her family behind unless she was being forced to. Therefore, he believed she had done something stupid that made Tommy send her away until he could trust her again or until it was safe again.

She stayed silent, keeping her eyes firmly on the papers in Michael's hands. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of thinking he had gotten under her skin.

"Or maybe Finn saw sense and realised he could do better" He continued, pulling every string until he could get one that would make Ailbhe lose her infamous temper. But she wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

The mention of Finn tugged at her heartstrings. She hadn't seen him in months and she missed him so much it had become a physical pain that she carried around with her. But she never let her mask slip, never let Michael see that pain or how much she missed Finn. She rolled her eyes and snatched the finished documents from his desk.

"You need to learn to lighten up Ailbhe. Loosen your fucking corset" he sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get the better of her again today.

"You need to learn to grow up and take this job seriously Michael" She retorted, shaking her head at him and folding her arms across her chest.

She leaned in, slamming her hands down on the desk and making sure her voice was saturated with venom so he might, for once take her seriously.

"Pull out of those investments now Michael. Cash out before it's too fucking late" she snapped.

Michael looked up at her with a smirk on his face that Ailbhe wanted to smack off.

"Why?" he asked in a bored and uninterested tone.

"Because something bad is coming and we can't afford to lose everything Tom gave you here"

He wasn't going to listen to her. He also knew he wasn't going to make her snap back, make Ailbhe lose her temper today so he gave up. He stood up from his desk, buttoning his suit jacket and putting out his cigarette.

"Now I'll say goodbye Ailbhe, I'm late to meet Gina" He told her, gesturing towards the door.

Ailbhe turned to the door, going to take her leave as she put away the documents Michael had to sign for her.

"Oh, and another thing Michael" She turned back around to face him and looked him dead in the eye as she said "Get rid of Gina, she's bad fucking news" and slammed the door of his own office in his face.