The Gypsy Beauty

Derby.

Tommys POV

"You don't do or say anything I haven't told you, alright?" I ask the boy, as we walk towards Alfie's bakery but he doesn't answer me. "Alright?" I ask again and he nods. "Yeah." He says. "Hello, Ollie." Me and Letty greet Alfie's right hand man, who's leaning against the wall. "Wait, hang on." He says stopping me and Letty from walking through the door.

"Just you two, yeah? He stays out here." Ollie says, pointing at the boy. "You stay here." Letty tells him, as I throw my cigarette away before me and Letty follow Ollie through the bakery. Halfway through, I stop beside some barrels, kneeling down to pretend to tie my shoelace. Ollie shakes his head as he leans against the wall, writing on his paper. I discreetly place a grenade behind one of the barrels before standing back up.

We continue to walk to Alfie's office and I discreetly nod to Letty, telling her it's done. Ollie knocks on Alfie's door before walking in. "Letty. Hello, darling." Alfie greets, nodding at her. "Hello Alfie." She greets, taking a seat as I sit next to her. Alfie sits in his chair, his feet up on his desk as he reads through a paper and I glance at the phone on his desk.

It starts ringing but Alfie doesn't look up. "That'll probably be for you, won't it?" He says calmly and I stand up, picking up the phone. "Hello? Arthur?" I say into the phone, hearing Arthur's voice on the other side. "You out?" I ask him and he tells me he is before I put the phone down, sitting back in my seat.

"Right. So that'll be your side of the street swept up, won't it?" Alfie asks, flicking the papers. "What you got for me?" He asks, lowering his legs and Letty hands me the contract. "Thanks, love." I take it from her gently. "Signed by the Minister of the Empire himself." I tell him as he takes the paper from me. "Yeah?" He murmurs, putting his glasses back on.

"This means you can put your rum in our shipments, and no one at Poplar Docks will lift the canvas." Letty tells him, as I glance at Ollie. "You know what? I'm not even gonna have my lawyer look at that." Alfie says. "No, no. It's all legal, Alfie." Letty tells him and he nods at her. "Darling, I trust ya. That's that. Done." He says, tipping his hat at us.

"So..." He starts, reaching down and grabbing a bottle. "Whiskey." He says placing it on the table. "There is one thing though that we do need to discuss." He tells me as I take a drag of my cigarette. "What would that be?" Letty asks him. "This says here...twenty percent payed to me of your export business." He says, scratching his beard.

"As you agreed on the telephone." Letty reminds him. "No, no, no. See- see I had my lawyer draw this up for us, just in case." Alfie pulls out a sheet of paper as me and Aurora share a look. "It says, here, that a hundred percent of your business goes to me." Alfie says, laying the contract in front of me. "I see." I say blowing out smoke.

"Don't worry about it, right, because it is totally legal binding. All you have to do is sign the document and transfer the whole lot over to me." He tells me, leaning back in his chair. "Sign just here, is it?" I ask. "Yeah." He nods. "I see. That's funny, that is." I point at the paper, taking a drag of my cigarette.

"What?" Alfie asks, staring at me. "No, that's funny. That I'll give you one hundred percent of my business." I say grinning. "Yeah." Alfie nods. "Why?" I ask and Ollie suddenly pulls at his gun, aiming it at me as I stare at him blankly. "Ollie, no. No, no, no, no. Put that down." Alfie says, taking the gun from him. "He understands, he understands. He's a big boy, he knows the road."

"Now look...it's just none fucking negotiable. That's all you need to know. So all you have do to, is sign the fucking contract. Right there." He says, tapping the paper aggressively. "Just sign here?" I ask. "With your pen." He says. "I understand." I nod. "Good. Get on with it." He nods back.