the princess and the pauper ♕ tommy shelby

chapter twenty-two

In the early morning, the Shelby brothers went to China Town to collect their suits for the race. Tommy noticed the owner, Mr. Zhang, speak with one of the girls, who was crying and speaking frantically in Chinese. Mr. Zhang walked over to Tommy and sighed. "Want to hear something funny" he said after Tommy paid for the suits. Tommy put down more money and Mr. Zhang told him how the so-called righteous Campbell had upset one of the pleasure girls. Tommy walked to the room Mr. Zhang pointed to and held his gun ready.

"Quite ironic, don't you think" Tommy said. "You come here, to clean the city, and you are right in the middle fucking some whore" Tommy said. "It's simple, Mr. Shelby. It's because you and I are the same." Campbell said. "Men like us will always be alone, and what love we get we have to pay for" Campbell said. "You forget, I have my family" Tommy said, and in his mind, he included Ophelia as well. "Be careful, before the day is over, your heart will be broken" Campbell said, talking about Grace thinking Tommy loved her. Campbell left with those words.

Tommy left for the last family meeting to prepare them for Kimber, and while the family meeting was going on, Ophelia decided to go to the local bakery to get something for the men before they left. While she was walking, she had the odd feeling like she was being watched, and she decided to take another turn than she usually would have. The feeling stayed and when she looked over her shoulder, she saw 2 men. She didn't recognise them, and she knew Tommy's men would always hide themselves from her. Ophelia quickly vanished herself into an alleyway and waited for the men. The men came and before she could react one of them punched her in the face. And like before, her anger rose, and she started to fight back. She didn't scream, because she didn't need the help or the attention.

When she felt someone's hand try and rise up her skirt, she got even angrier. With the heel of her shoe, she stepped on one of their toes and then used her knee to kick someone in the groin hard enough for him to double over. She tangled her fingers through the hair of the other man and knocked his head into the wall a bunch of times until he fell to the ground. The other man seemed angry and finally was able to stand up again only for Ophelia to remove the pin from her hair and punch it into his throat. The two men laid dead on the ground at the feet of Ophelia as she stood in the middle of them. She was covered in dirt and blood and her blouse and skirt were ripped.

Tommy was in the Garrison, serving the men some beer before the big day and Grace was looking shifty. "Can I speak to you" Grace said and dragged him to the back room. "What is it Grace" Tommy said. "I love you, Tommy" she said, and she actually did, which was not something she planned on, and the way he had been acting around her, from asking her to the Cheltenham, to asking her to work for the company, she assumed he loved her back. "And there it goes, Grace. But you have never meant anything to me" Tommy said. Not like her, he thought. "Now, if you know what's good for you, you will leave before we return" Tommy said, and the look on his face didn't make Grace think twice.

When Tommy walked back to the others, Campbell walked in before they left. He had just run into Grace who had told him it was Ophelia Tommy cared about. "What do you want?" Tommy asked as all the men stood behind him. "You know, something about you that always made me question how" Campbell started. "How can people turn out like scum" Campbell said. "But then I figured it out, everybody is a killer, all you need to do is push them far enough" Campbell said. "It's not me you are talking about is it" Tommy said. "Everyone has a weakness, even men like you" Campbell said. "And it surprised me, when I finally found yours" Campbell said.

The Blinders looked at Tommy, waiting for him to dismiss of them, but he didn't. "Because even a man like you has a weakness, and it's one woman" Campbell said. "Ophelia Crawley" he said and both Arthur and John walked a bit closer in a threatening manner. Tommy stood straighter. "That's where you are wrong. She is not my weakness; she is the one who makes me strong" Tommy said which threw Campbell off. He didn't say another word before he left again.