If You Play With Fire

Chapter 3

"Tommy!" John shouted boldly, swinging open the door to the illegal betting shop on Watery Lane. The men who were once bustling around inside the jail like building all quietened down and fearfully moved out the way of the Shelby brother who was followed by a frustrated looking Ada. She could easily have been mistaken for an angry bear with her thick fur coat and deep scowl.

"Where's Tommy?" John questioned Esme as she tiredly plonked some heavy books down on the wooden counter. She peered up at her husband and noticed his stressed features and tense shoulders under his smart jacket, "He left about an hour ago, should be back any time now. Why? What's happened?"

Many of the men who had once been in the shop had left due to their better nature, but a few remained, causing John to glare, "Everybody get the fuck out." The men scurried away quicker than a bunch of mice being chased by a hungry cat, it was almost laughable at the power the Shelby's had over people.

As they evacuated, Thomas Shelby strolled in, narrowing his icy blue eyes when he realised the usually packed shop was completely empty par John, Ada and Esme.

As soon as his presence was noticed, John began talking, "Tommy, Marilyn was right. The Davenports are planning to attack on Tuesday, but that's not even the worst thing." The three stared at him intensely, urging him to continue, only to be interrupted as Polly strolled through the double doors.

"Guess who's fucking getting married." She waved around a black invitation with intricate white ink and she strutted towards the group. John rolled his eyes but finished nonetheless, "Harry Davenport is marrying Marilyn tomorrow."

Ada crossed her arms as Tommy placed his cap down aggressively on the table, clearly agitated by the news. "Well she obviously isn't marrying him willingly, and if she thinks she's his sister, how can they expect her to marry him?"

Polly sat down beside Esme at the table, holding the letter out for Tommy who stared at it disgustedly, "Your Father has invited me as his guest, no doubt it's part of their plan to join their two companies. He claims he wants to talk, but he doesn't know that we met Marilyn. He has no clue that we worked it out already. Maybe this could work in our favour Tom."

The five of them sat silently for a few seconds, only looking up when Arthur, Finn, Isaiah and Michael all streamed in, "We heard the shop had closed, thought there had been some trouble." Arthur muttered, watching all of their faces intricately, trying to assess the situation.

"There's been no trouble Arthur, not yet." Tommy responded, still staring at the invite. For once, he was thinking of all the possibilities. He needed to stop this wedding, whilst intercepting the attackers and defending his family.

"What's going on then?" The eldest Shelby pulled up a chair as the three boys leant against the brick wall, listening closely.

"Your sister is getting married tomorrow." Polly exclaimed; both Finn and Arthur shot their heads straight towards Ada who rolled her eyes, "Not me, you idiots. Marilyn's marrying Richard Davenport's son."

Finn wiped his face with his hands and sighed heavily, "What are we going to do Tommy?"

Before Tommy had the chance, Polly interrupted the silence, "Right, here's what we are going to do. You need to get as many men as you can. Have them keeping watch all the way into Small Heath. If you can wipe them out before hand, then do it, but if not, you need to be waiting in Charlie's Yard. The attackers will go there, we'll make sure of it. Meanwhile, I'm going to accept the invitation and I'm going to go to the wedding."

John huffed, stepping forwards, "Like hell are we going to let you go the Davenport's alone." Arthur nodded, to show that he agreed, but Tommy kept looking at his Aunt.