The Sweetest of Hearts.1| T.S

•Compromise.

XXXVI. Compromise.

Two days after meeting with Vincent Changretta, only more bad news followed the family. Angel Changretta had learned of John's threat and now he was threatening to kill John Shelby. The whole situation was a mess left for Maude to sort out as Tommy was still busy dealing with the Odd Fellows as well as the Russians.

Maude requested a meeting with John in her office, and she was dreading it. She had already spoken to both Arthur and Polly about the situation and she knew John wasn't going to be happy about what either of them, nor she, thinks.

John stepped into her office, chewing on a toothpick. "Did we run Kempton yesterday or not?" He asked her, eyebrows furrowed as he was unaware of what the meeting was about

The mention of Kempton made the already growing headache she had, spread even further. She sighed as she looked at John with her lips pulled into a tight line. "Danny Lee got drunk. Instead of injecting the horses with cocaine, he decided to share it with his cousins." She informed him.

"Jesus Christ." He huffed as he sat down by her desk.

"He's your brother-in-law. Tell Esme to speak to him about it." She demanded before sitting forward, clasping her hands together on her desk. "Look. Before I start. I don't want you to do anything about this." She began.

John's eyebrows furrowed even further as he looked at her. "About what?" He asked as he pulled his toothpick out of his mouth, tossing it in her ashtray before he sat back in his chair.

"Vicente Changretta's son." She explained.

"What, Angel?" He asked and Maude hummed with a nod of her head. "He's no bigger than twopence worth of change." He scoffed in amusement as he shook his head.

Maude's jaw clenched as she stared at John, irritated with his amusement. "Well, he heard you threaten him directly to shoot him in the knees." She snapped at John, and his amusement slowly washed away as he stared back at her. "And now he's going around Nechells telling everybody he's going to kill you." She informed him. She shook her head as she sat back in her chair, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it before she spoke. "This is Lizzie's fault to start with, Tommy's for not keeping you in line."

"What are you talking about?" He huffed as he stared at her with a scowl on his face. "We run London. We run the north, we run the whole fucking country. What do we care about some fucking Nechells Green Eyeties?" he asked.

"We don't need to be getting involved in all these little piss pots." She snapped at John as she shook her head.

He huffed again as he sat back in his chair, silent for a second before raising his eyebrows. "What does Arthur say?" he asked her.

"That's why I'm here and not him." She muttered as she pursed her lips, shaking her head again as she sighed. "If he said it, there'd be a fight." She insisted. She took a drag of her aigrette, blowing out a puff of smoke before she spoke. "He says, apologise." She informed John.

His eyebrows furrowed. "He fucking said what?" He asked, taken aback and almost disgusted by the thought of apologizing to Angel Changretta.

"We own the city. But we don't need to rub everybody's noses in it." Maude muttered as she shook her head at John. "If the old man decides to make a stand, he might get Sabini feeling sentimental."

John rolled his eyes as he shook his head. "Sabini's done." He snapped as he got up to his feet, shoving his hands into his pants pockets as he began pacing around her office.

"They're all done." She corrected him. "And they all pay up. But we don't want rebellions." She explained as her eyes followed John up and down her office floor.