Stolen Heart [Tommy Shelby x OC]

Chapter 12

Sleep didn't come easy to Lily that night. The meeting with Polly had worried her. But it was the rush of past memories which kept her awake. In the last twelve years, she had buried the event in deep recesses of her mind but today it felt as if she were fifteen again. She hadn't wanted the baby, but getting rid of it hadn't made it any better.

She had been in a dark place for weeks, with gruesome nightmares of a small baby swathed in blood troubling her.

One night, when she was unable to take it, she had ran from the children's home and to the nearby river. About to make her jump, a pair of hands had pulled her back. Gerard Davis' agile hands. Who was out on a job for the Guild, collecting stolen art from vain Lords.

And so began her life in the Guild. And the rest was history.

She slept fitfully, anticipating a knock on her door. Or a break in. In Small Heath, everything was possible.

And a knock did come. Next morning at 7. But not the boorish one from a few days back, rather a polite, almost nervous one. Maybe someone other than the Shelbys was calling on her. Putting on a faded shirt over her night clothes, she hurried down the stairs to open the door.

'Hello, miss.'

'And who are you?' she asked the tall teenager in front of her through blinking eyes.

'I am Finn Shelby.'

Of course he was. She should've known from that awful haircut.

'What brings you here, Finn?' she asked with her hand on one side of the door, lest he force his way in.

'Tommy wants to see you.'

'Tell him I don't. Good bye, Finn. Have a nice day.'

She moved back to close the door but the boy quickly pulled out something from his waistcoat. Pointing the narrow end of the pistol at her head, he said with a glaze of sweat threatening on his forehead, 'Come out, Lily.'

'Oh, for God's sake. How old are you, little Finn?'

He flushed under his flat cap. 'Don't waste my time.'

'Don't you have any shame? Pointing a gun at a pretty girl like me.' She huffed in mock outrage.

He flushed again, but this time not out of embarrassment. And Lily used that moment to kick his elbow (lightly, considering he was a small boy) and reach for the gun.

Finn grunted at the kick but picked himself up quickly. 'Lily, please give me my gun.'

'No, you shouldn't even be touching this.'

With an exasperated sigh, he said, 'I am sorry, Lily. Tommy told me to take it out when you refuse to come. It isn't even loaded.'

'Well, now I am offended. You think an empty gun is enough to scare me?'

'Well I –'

Lily decided to cut the poor boy some slack. He was only following his arrogant fucking brother's orders.

Taking a deep breath, she said, 'I'll come with you, if you promise to never to point a gun at a woman again.'

'Even if she wants to kill me?'

She smiled at him, 'Now would a woman want to kill you?' before he began blushing again, she said, 'Well, I need to get ready. You can wait in the hall if you want.'

He nodded sheepishly and entered her place.

15 minutes later, Lily was decked in a yellow dress which reached mid-shin and her dark brown wool coat. Adjusting her black hat, she made her way to the foyer.