forbidden { michael gray } ON TEMPORARY HOLD

t e n

Talya picked at a small spec of dirt underneath her nail as she waited in the sitting room for her father to come down. In a few minutes, they were due to leave for the meeting with the Shelby clan, and her anxiety was through the roof. Not over the outcome - she couldn't care less about that - but over seeing Michael. She hadn't seen him since the night Alexei tried to attack his family, and she knew they needed to have a serious talk.

Around Talya stood almost 20 Ivanov men. Some of them were just soldiers and some of them were trusted members of the association, but all of them were as tense as Talya. Shoulders drawn up, backs straight, eyes focused on some far off point. It was almost choking, the heavy anticipation for the meeting. No one was sure how it would turn out. No one was even sure what was going to be discussed. Of course, Talya knew that the situation with Alexei would be, but what else? Territory? Terms of engagement within their war? Her's and Michael's relationship? Well, they needn't worry about that for much longer.

She was snapped from her thoughts as one of the men, clad in an expensive suit, offered her a cigarette. Gratefully nodding, Talya took it and lit it with his lighter, but the cigarette offered no stress relief. Each inhale only made her chest tighten.

"Are you alright, Miss Talya?"

With a displeased frown over the formal title he addressed her with, she looked up at the soldier, whose name was Bogdan, and shrugged. "Do I not look alright?"

"Well, not really, no." He said uncomfortably. "I don't mean any offence, mind. I-I was just wondering... You just look stressed, is what I'm trying to say."

Talya gazed at the boy, who she doubted was any older than her, for a few moments examining his childlike eyes before letting out a soft laugh. "I'm alright. I just want to get this over with."

"Over with? The meeting or the war?"

That was a question she didn't know the answer to or didn't care to answer. Instead, she just shrugged again and slouched into the couch as the room continued to wait in painful silence for Mikhail.

As soon as he walked in, all of the men stood to attention. He gave them all a reassuring nod before glancing at his daughter, who hadn't so much as acknowledged him from her seat. "Ahem."

Talya looked at him, her eyes almost glazed over with disinterest. Her father wondered what was going on with her, but he daren't ask in front of so many people. Recently, Talya had grown more and more irritable and somewhat apathetic towards him. Whenever he spoke of business or her job, she just zoned out or walked away. She refused to stay in a room with any of their soldiers - in fact, a huge argument had broken out when she had said she wouldn't be attending the meeting. Mikhail had been enraged. How could she expect him to win the war if she wouldn't help them show a united front? But of course, Mikhail didn't know that Talya didn't care about winning the war. She didn't care about any of it. Not him, not Alexei, not the business, not Thomas fucking Shelby. All Talya wanted to do was to wash her hands of the whole thing, and that was exactly what she planned on doing as soon as the meeting was over and done with.

Earlier that week, Talya had stolen some money from the office and gone to an estate agents. She found a nice flat in Sparkbrook, an area next to both Small Heath and Greet but usually void of any conflict between certain Russian and Irish gangs. She'd organised a few bits of furniture, paid the bill for the utilities to be ready for her and snuck out the night before and moved her clothes and belongings in. Her plan was to go to the meeting, speak to Michael and go home to her fresh flat, a place free from painful memories of abuse.

"Are we ready to go?"

A chorus of 'yessir's' rippled through the room, and Talya took Bogdan's outstretched hand as he guided her to her feet and then fell into close step behind her. He was her assigned bodyguard for the meeting, in case any of the Blinders got brave and decided to try something.