𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖞 𝖇𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖘
❛ you wanna know why i came
back, tommy? well, i came back
for you. ❜
━━ IN WHICH an orphaned heiress and the ex-fiancée of the most dangerous man in birmingham returns to her home with a broken he...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄'𝐒 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐑. Her suspicions were right: there was a hollow spot beneath her feet. Blood trickled down her fingers just as the sweat on her brow trickled down her face.
She wiped her fingers on her dirty skirts, wincing slightly as she took a moment to pull some of the splinters out. She practically clawed her way through the floorboards.
Her eyes fell from her pierced skin to the pile of dirt beneath the floorboards, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth. She reached in the hole and brushed the dirt away, feeling through the soft, cold soil for what she hoped was hidden within it.
Her heart nearly stopped when her fingers came in contact with something cold and hard. She rapped her nails against it, a metallic sound echoing through the dirt. Excitement coursed through Nellie's veins as she slid her hands down the side of the metal box, her eyes widening as she continued to feel for the edge.
It was much larger than anticipated and when she finally hooked her fingers underneath it, she found that she was unable to lift it out of the hole. She was about to try again when she heard the crunching of wheels on gravel and the rumbling of an engine.
Nellie snapped her head up, immediately letting go of the box as she stood up. She bent as she peered out of the ruins of the wall, spotting a black car pulling up to the stables. She quickly dropped to her knees and shoved the dirt back over the box, pilling some broken pieces of wood over the hole just in case the person who pulled up wasn't a friend.
Nellie stood up and smoothed her blackened hands down her skirts. She grabbed a large piece of wood just for good measure. "Tommy?" she called out, hearing footsteps on the gravel just outside. She approached the door and hoisted her skirts up with her free hand as she stepped over a charred support beam.
When she peered around the corner, disappointment dropped in her stomach like a stone. "Oh," she mumbled, her eyes meeting Arthur's. She let her weapon fall to the ground.
He grinned at her, spreading his arms as he scooped Nellie into a tight hug. "What, not happy to see me?"
Nellie smiled against his chest despite her disappointment. "He's really avoidin' me, isn't he?" she mumbled against Arthur's chest. He gave her a light chuckle, the sound rumbling in her ear. She pulled away and peered into Arthur's eyes. "Be honest."
"He's not avoiding ya," Arthur said as his hands slid from Nellie's shoulders to her waist. "He's busy."
Nellie scoffed as she pulled away from Arthur. "I have a feeling he's always going to be 'busy'." She raised her fingers and bent them in air quotes to elucidate her frustration. Arthur gave her a look to which Nellie responded with a heavy sigh. "Fine." She raised her hands in defeat. "He's busy."
