𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐃 ᵖᵉᵃᵏʸ ᵇˡⁱⁿᵈᵉʳˢ

43

"Aunt Pol is not going to be happy with you John" Lottie walked into his office inside the betting den, placing her coat on the hook. "Speak of the devil" she said as Polly walked in.

Polly walked through the betting den and into the office where they both sat, John staring at a newspaper.

Polly glared at him.

"Did we run Kempton yesterday or not?" he asked. "Danny Lee got drunk" she said. "Instead of injecting the horses with cocaine, he decided to share it with his cousins."

"Jesus Christ" John sighed.

"He's your brother in law, get Esme to talk to him" she nodded, leaning onto the desk. "Look, Before I start.."

Lottie bit her lip, feeling like she shouldn't be there. She stood up, planning to walk out.

"Sit down" John pointed at her. Lottie rolled her eyes, returning to the seat.

"I don't want you to do anything about this" Polly continued. "About what" John asked. Polly closed the door, facing him.

"Vincente Changretta's son" she informed him.

John stifled a laugh. "What, Angel?"

"He's no bigger than two pence worth of change" he joked. "Well he heard you threatened him directly to shoot him in the knees" Polly reminded them.

"And now he's going round Nechells telling everybody he's going to kill you"

John scribbled on a piece of paper, grinning.

"This is Lizzie fault to start with, Tommys for leaving it up to you"

Lottie kicked him under the table, he looked at her and dropped the smirk. "What are you talking about. We run London. We run the north, we run the whole fucking country"

"What do we care about some fucking Nechells Green Eyeties"

"We don't need to be getting involved in all these little piss pots" Polly said. "She's not wrong John" Lottie nodded.

"What does Arthur say?"

"That's why i'm here and not him. He said if there'd be a fight, he says apologise"

"He fucking said what"

"Since when did Arthur believe in apologising" Lottie laughed. "We own the city" Polly said. "But we don't need to rub everybody's noses in it"

"If the old man decided to make a stand, he might get Sabini feeling sentimental"

"Sabini's done" John looked up. "They're all done" Polly whispered. "They all pay up"

"But we don't want rebellions" Lottie bit her lip, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I think we need to compromise"

"I agree with Lottie, Tommy is busy, leaving me in charge, there's no other option. Especially if apologising is out of the picture"

John stood up, pushing everything off the table.

"For fucks sake" he shouted, causing Lottie to flinch.

"You know what this is, this is Arthur's fucking Missus. Turn the fucking cheek? We'll be handing out Bibles in the fucking bullring with her cousins"

"John you don't have to do anything" Polly said. "Lizzie will do it for you then it'll all calm down and nobody will lose face"

"I'll take his fucking face how about that" he said slamming the door.

"Fucks sake" Lottie hissed, following after her older brother. "John" she shouted. "John" she shouted again.

"Fucking what" he asked. Lottie pulled a face at his tone. "Please, think about what your doing John. You my brother and i need you" she whispered, holding his shoulders.

"I need you" she repeated, "more than i need Arthur or Tommy, and i hate to say that but it's true" she forced a smile. "I want Aurora growing up knowing how good her uncle was, but that can't happen if you get yourself killed, can it?"

He looked down, taking a deep breath.

"Don't be stupid, John" she said, "just because i've got a kid now means nothing, okay, i'm only nineteen, i need my big brother"

Her words repeated in his head. "I'll be fine Lott, i promise."

"Promise?" she asked, "no lies"

He smiled at the mention of what they used to say to each other. "No lies" he nodded.

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