𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐃 ᵖᵉᵃᵏʸ ᵇˡⁱⁿᵈᵉʳˢ

61

Lottie stared at the sky, teary eyed. "Lottie?" Isaiah asked from the door. "Hm?" she asked, sipping her wine. "You coming inside?" he asked. She sighed. "In a minute" she said quietly.

He nodded and returned inside.

Lottie sat alone in their garden, staring at the stars.

"Where are you, John? My big brother" Lottie whispered, tracing the rim of the glass with her fingers.

"Where are you when i need you most, eh?" She said, laughing to disguise the sadness in her voice as a tear fell down her cheek. "You know, i've been having dreams of from before the war, when you'd read me stories before bed"

"Or when you'd take me down the sweet shop when Aunt Pol was in a bad mood." Lottie spoke out. "I really miss you John, i do" She admitted. "Rory was asking where you went" Lottie looked down into her lap. "Had to tell her you've gone on a long holiday"

"Sometimes i tell myself that you have just gone on holiday and that we're just waiting for you to come back. But that's silly isn't it, cause you're not coming back" Her voice broke as she spoke. "Your not coming back" she whispered. Lottie let her head drop as more tears fell.

"All because Tommy got himself unblocked with the mafia" She took a deep breath. "Not fair is it?" she asked. "It's not fucking fair" she shouted, launching the glass at the fence and holding her head.

Isaiah watched from the window, his arms crossed.

"I'm just hoping that this is all some stupid joke that you're playing, and that you'll turn up outside my door with that stupid smile you'd always have" She cried.

Lottie didn't even attempt to look at whoever had wrapped their arms around her, she knew it was Isaiah.

"I need him back, Siah" she whispered, holding a fist full of his shirt.

"I know, Lottie" he whispered. "John was a good boy, he didn't deserve it, Isaiah"

Isaiah squeezed his eyes shut, holding her close.

-

Luca thanked the woman who placed down the food. "Send my guests in" he said. She nodded and left. He read over the information sheets about each Shelby member, looking up as the two boys walked in.

"They didn't come back. Arthur Shelby is still alive" he said, referring to the attack they had planned on the eldest Shelby.

The two men looked down.

"Wire his village and tell them" Luca leaned forward handing one of them a file. "You wire Polo and let him tell the family" he pointed at the other.

"He has four kids. Don't you two have any other clothes to wear? You walk around this little place dressed like big city hoodlums" Luca insulted. "Now look at me, i'm here as a lover of theatre,"

"None of my clothes fit anymore" one spoke in Italian. "I can't eat anything it's all shit. It's inedible it's disgusting" he complained. Luca sat forward.

"They killed two of our men and you complain about ya fucking belly"

"Luca, with respect, you raised,"

"With respect?" Luca asked, grabbing a scone off the table and shoving it into the man's mouth. "You fucking dress like them, you can eat like them. Don't fucking talk to me about 'with respect" he shouted.

"Let's get this business finished then we can all go home and then we can eat some decent food" Luca scoffed. "Sit down"

He placed a tooth pick in his mouth. "What do you have?"

"We found another enemy, this family has a lot of enemies." the smaller one spoke.

"She lives inside our territory" the other, Matteo spoke.

"Arthur Shelby killed her son in a boxing ring four years ago, she says he's crazy in the head"

"To compensate her they look after her and her other kids" Matteo interpreted.

"She thinks if she asks one of the brothers to come to her house they'll come"

Luca nodded. "Shed do that for us?" he asked. "So she says. People in this place hate forever, like Sicilians."

"Okay. But make sure you go after the youngest sister, i don't care what you do but do something"

-

Polly walked through the den, stopping when she saw Lizzie. "What are you doing here?"

"On Mondays i do the inventory, make sure nobody's dipping their hand." She stated. "Well it's my job now" Polly said. "I'm back"

"And there's going to be nobody dipping their hand with me here"

The door slammed, Linda walking in. "I said to Arthur while i'm in this fucking place, i want something to keep my mind busy" She said.

"So she swears now?" Lottie looked up from the newspapers.

"What, you're gonna take bets?" Polly asked. "I've always been able to do addition and subtraction without pen and paper, Polly"

"But i'll need a telephone. Apparently we have special clients who take bets by telephone."

"Linda" Polly said. "This is a betting shop,"

"Look, Arthur said yes, Tommy said yes."

"But did God say yes. Gambling is a sin Linda" Lottie sighed. "It's not me who's doing the gambling i'm just taking the bets"

The door opened and Finn walked in. "The rule is that door should always remained locked until 9am" he said, looking around.

Polly rolled her eyes. "Right boy, where are you going?" she stopped him. "Well, Arthur's not coming in today he's taking the day off, so.."

"So what?"

"So today Tommy said that i'm in charge" he told them. "Sorry your in charge?"

"Yeah that's what he said"

Grins appeared on their faces. Polly handed the phone to Linda. "Ladies let's give our boss a first day he'll never forget"