In The Bleak Midwinter | T Shelby

SIX - A CONTRACT

After receiving a long and unnecessary lecture from her brother and father not only about stealing from the men she sleeps with, but asking their names first to make sure they won't kill her or them for stealing, Kaia was left alone for the day.

She spent most of it moping around at home, reading books and writing in her diary. There wasn't much to do truthfully. The house was painfully quiet in the daytime when Bonnie and Aberama were out, but having the radio on spooked Kaia when she was alone.

The weekend eventually passed and as those 48 hours ticked by, the warmth in the air disappeared, immersing Small Heath in autumn and wrapping it and it's habitants in a frosty chill. Kaia didn't mind, she enjoyed autumn clothing more than summer, the dresses were never her thing, she much more preferred a tailored suit, especially if it really did make men feel threatened by her like that taxi driver had said.

It was a cold Monday morning when Kaia was heading to the shop to stock up on food for her family when she noticed the flyer. It was pinned to the door of the shop advertising for a secretarial role in Small Heath. She looked over her shoulders before pulling it down with both hands and turning back round to retrace her steps, making her way to the address on the flyer.

She was dressed in camel coloured fitted trousers with flat shoes, a white shirt and a black trench coat. Her brother always joked about her fashion sense, telling her she dressed too much like a gentleman rather than a lady, but Kaia rarely took any notice of Bonnie.

Once she'd arrived at the address, Kaia took in a deep breath. It was a factory building but she'd followed signs around the corner to where the offices were. Dark and gloomy like the rest of Small Heath, Kaia didn't feel intimidated by the large building that stood before her. In fact, she felt comforted that it was only a stones throw away from her home instead of in the middle of Birmingham.

Kaia pushed open the door and walked inside with a confident stride, head held high and hair behind her shoulders. When a gentleman walking towards her asked if she needed any help, he gave her directions to the manager's office on the third floor with a helpful smile afterwards.

Knocking on the door, Kaia waited for a moment and smoothed out her shirt, still clutching the flyer in her hand, before pushing open the door to the office after hearing a voice call her inside.

"Are you kidding me?"

Sat in a leather chair with his hands clasped in front of him and a satisfied smirk on his face was Thomas Shelby.

He nodded down at the flyer in her hand, "You've seen our job advertisement I believe?"

Kaia rolled her eyes and nodded her head. Thomas motioned for her to take a seat opposite him, which she did. The office overlooked the factory on one side and the other side backed out onto the yards of a row of terraced houses. It had shelves stacked full of books and photos of Thomas shaking hands with an array of different men hung up on the walls. He wasn't smiling in any of them.

"I think you'd be a great fit for the position."

"You don't know anything about me." She raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"I know far more than you think, Miss Gold."

"Kaia."

"What?"

"Call me Kaia. Nobody calls me Miss Gold and quite frankly I find it strange. I bet you don't call Bonnie 'Mr Gold' do you?"

Tommy stared at her blankly.

"No. I don't call him that. When can you start, Kaia?"

She let out a frustrated sigh, "I told you I wanted to find a job for myself, not just get handed one."

Tommy kissed his teeth before drawing in a sharp breath.

"I didn't ask you to come here, Kaia. You came here off your own back."

Kaia knew Thomas was right and she hated it. In the back of her mind, this was still a free chance to get a job, whether she'd accepted his offer the other morning or turned up that day because she saw a flyer, it had been orchestrated either way.

She debated it for a moment, thinking about all the hours and money from her father she'd spent trying to land jobs elsewhere before eventually deciding she simply couldn't be bothered to be proud anymore.

"When do you need me to start?"

Tommy's lips broke into a half smile and he pulled out a small stack of papers and a pen from a drawer beneath his desk.

"How does tomorrow sound? You can sign those now or take it home, read it, and bring it back tomorrow. It just states your hours and your pay, all that stuff."

Kaia took the paper from him and quickly skimmed through it to make sure she wasn't signing her life away to something using a factory as a cover before signing her name at the end and handing the paper back to Tommy.

"Tomorrow is fine." She nodded, rising to her feet.

"Great," Thomas also stood up, looking her up and down as he did so, "You don't have to dress so..."

Kaia looked at him with a face like thunder, her eyes compelling him to finish what he'd started, whether he regretted it or not.

"So professional. The other women, they wear dresses, skirts, you know."

"Why?" Kaia placed her hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes, "Does it intimidate you?"

Tommy smirked, standing still for a second before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

"Nothing intimidates me, sweetheart."

Kaia just laughed, knowing that it was a bare faced lie. So far, Thomas Shelby had been just as self-righteous in each of their meetings as her father had described him to be.

"Welcome to the company, glad to have you on board."

He held out his hand across the desk. Kaia looked at it before gently shaking it, looking into his eyes as she did so. It had her frozen for a moment or two, but she quickly pulled her conscience back into her own hands and let go.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"You probably won't. I'm barely here, only came in today because I knew you'd turn up with that flyer." Tommy said, throwing himself back down into his chair and taking a drag of his cigarette.

"How could you have known I was even going to see it?"

Tommy just chuckled, shrugging his shoulders with a devious smirk on his face and a glint in his eye that made Kaia want to squeeze her hands around his throat until his ego had drained away.

"Like I said, I know plenty about you, Kaia Gold."

Kaia said nothing. She turned and walked towards the door, clasping her hand around the handle and stepping out into the corridor.

"Oh and Kaia!" She turned on her heels as she heard Thomas call out after her, seeing him tilting his neck to the left to still make eye contact with her around the door as he sat smoking, "Give Michael his things back, alright? Otherwise I will have to sack you."