Birmingham | Tommy Shelby x Reader

Part 3

"I...I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. Shelby," (Y/N) stammered out her words as she tried to swallow down the lump forming in her throat.

"Come here...look," he beckoned her over and she did as she was told, "see the payout? Hmm?" he asked her and she nodded, "now check that to the log. Something doesn't add up, does it?" he stated, his eyebrows raising in an accusatory manner.

(Y/N) stared hard at the numbers, hoping that she could find her innocence in them. It'd be a lot easier for her to try and prove it with something concrete rather than trying to make him take her word for it. At the moment, her word didn't seem like it'd add up to much. Then she found it. "Your numbers are penciled in wrong, Mr. Shelby," she told him, then slowly exhaling her sigh of relief so that it wouldn't be so evident.

"Where?" Arthur asked, wanting her to explicitly show her the mistake.

"Here..." she trailed off, pointing to a set of numbers on the paper, "you've written in the payout as twelve pounds, but on the log, you've written it as twenty," she explained, hoping that he'd realize his mistake.

"Shit," he said after a few minutes of staring at the paper, "it is wrong," he agreed with her. "Go get Grace for me, eh?" he then asked her. (Y/N) nodded before exiting the office. It didn't take long for her to locate the barmaid, and soon enough, both women were back in the office.

"Did you need something, Arthur?" Grace asked, her eyebrows raised slightly.

"Did you fill out yesterday's pay log?" Arthur responded with a question of his own, "because you've done it completely wrong," he continued on with accusing her without even hearing her response.

"I didn't touch yesterday's. You said you'd handle it," she responded, shaking her head slightly.

"Fuck," Arthur mumbled under his breath, dropping his head in defeat, "well I'm gonna need you to work on all of 'em, because I'm obviously no good at doing it," he then told her.

Instantly, Grace was trying to think of a way to turn down the proposal. "I've already got my hands full with..."

"I can help out with them, Mr. Shelby," (Y/N) cut in before the blonde-woman could even finish speaking.

"You can?" Arthur turned his attention to the other woman in the room.

"Sure. I've dealt with my share of ledgers before," (Y/N) nodded confidently.

A pleased grin formed on Arthur's face, "it's settled then. Thank you, ladies," he nodded his head, happy that that obstacle had been overcome. Both of the women nodded their heads before they made their way to the door of the office. "(Y/N)," Arthur called for her, making her stop in the doorway while Grace continued back out to the main bar area.

"Yes?" (Y/N) asked, her eyebrows raising slightly as she waited to hear what he had to say.

"Call me Arthur instead, huh? Mr. Shelby was my father and he's a thankless prick," he told her, his eyebrows also raised.

"Ok," she nodded her head, making a mental note of his name preference, "I will do that from now on," she assured him with a slight smile before she continued with walking out of the office, the stockroom being her destination.

A few hours of organizing and stacking crates ensued until (Y/N) saw what looked like a person cross passed the open doorway out of the corner of her eye. This made her brow furrow in confusion; no one besides the Shelbys were supposed to be back in this hallway. So she sat the crate down and quickly walked to the doorway, hoping that the mystery person hadn't disappeared.

Thankfully, she was still able to see the back of a woman who had a thin figure and brown hair. "Excuse me, ma'am, you're not supposed to be back here," she called out to the woman, making her turn around. She looked to be older and had a pointed expression on her face, her eyebrows raised like she was waiting for (Y/N) to continue. "Only...only family is supposed to be back here," she stumbled over her words slightly, feeling weird for saying 'family' when she herself wasn't family. But they were the strict orders that she received from Harry.