𝐞𝐠𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 · 𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬

𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧, 𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟒

FROM THE MOMENT she could speak, Evelyn was taught that there were two things you can't take back – words and bullets.

The passage was something that her father had taught his eldest sons; Tommy finding himself reciting it to a five-year-old Evelyn for the first time after she had a particularly bad fight with Ada – a memory that she was yet to forget.

"You have to make sure that you hit where you shoot," Tommy spoke to the girl, crouching to her height as she let out small sobs through hiccups. "Make sure that you mean what you say or don't say it at all."

It wasn't until she was fifteen that those words held meaning. Most people didn't bother Evelyn physically; too afraid of what her brothers would do to them – but it didn't stop the verbal insults from the boys at school.

Evelyn had been sent home from school one particular day for punching James Champion in the nose when he called her "Gypsy scum." After a motherly scolding from Polly as she cleaned her nieces busted knuckles, the older woman decided it was time that Evelyn was taught how to properly defend herself. While reluctant to agree, Arthur took her out to the boxing ring.

"A punch ain't no good if you don't know how to use your arms," he elucidated, watching as her hands slightly trembled. "Being able to use both of ya arms is gold. Learn to interchange between both of 'em – don't just rely on ya dominant arm, even if you do deliver a mean punch with it."

Evelyn could clearly recount Arthur teaching her how to tuck her fingers and which direction she should throw the punch in order to deliver the most pain. She was proud that her brother wasn't treating her as if she was weaker than him because she was a girl.

"Sometimes, we have to do bad things to get what we want," Arthur told the girl, placing his hands on her shoulders as she looked at him with innocent, eager eyes – hanging off her brothers every word. "Folks often forget all the good you have in ya once that happens. Don't lose ya good, Eve."

Arthur had taught Evelyn to not pull her punches, to always hit their ribs first so they would hunch forward and she could deliver a blow to their face – effectively knocking them out. Evelyn remembers struggling to keep her footing as she threw her punches and Arthur only ever encouraging her forward with a curt "stop panicking."

From that day onward Arthur had taken Evelyn with him to the ring until she could effectively punch without having to think about where her hands were going – her punches being perfectly on target one-hundred percent of the time.

It wasn't long until Arthur could confidently put Evelyn in a ring with a few of the boys her age, watching her bring them down with ease; pride overcoming the older boy.

From that moment, people quickly learnt that the princess of the Shelby family was also one of the most dangerous – most of them trying to stay away. This made it extremely hard for Evelyn to find any genuine friends, most of Birmingham being too scared to even talk to her.

But London was different. In London she could be whoever she wanted to be.

It had been three days since Tommy had dropped Evelyn off in London, a small envelope in her hands containing the contract between the Shelby's and the Jews; Tommy instructing her to go straight to Alfie. She didn't.

Instead she stayed cooped up in her room; tempted to burn the piece of paper that she had signed; regret for saying yes to Tommy hitting her in waves. She knew that Alfie was expecting her there, Tommy having called to let him know, but she couldn't bring herself to go.