𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 • 𝙟𝙤𝙝𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙗𝙮

• 2 •

I WOKE up tied to a chair. Sitting up immediately, I felt a wave of dizziness spin through my head, just before it was replaced with panic.

"Ah, you're awake," A voice spoke out from in front of me, though it was too dark for me to see him. He stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself to be a stranger. "Enjoy your nap?"

"Who are you?" I asked him, unable to recall what happened just before I blacked out. "I could have you dead in twenty-five seconds, so speak up now or forever fuckin' hold your peace."

Deep down, I was panicking. There was a strong chance that one of the ghosts from my past had caught up with me, back to get revenge for one of my many sins. If that was the case, I was as good as dead- and the idea of leaving Gerald without a mother made me feel ill.

The man snorted, "Not a lot you can do when you're tied to a chair."

"You'd be surprised," I muttered, having escaped from a few chairs in my life. Without another word, I used all my strength to push the chair backwards. It landed on the floor with a crash, the wood splintering into pieces. I stood up, the rope sliding off me, and he gave me an impressed look, right before pulling out a gun and cocking it. Remembering I had no weapons on me, I became desperate. I couldn't die here- I had to get home to Gerald. "Please," I begged softly, my heart racing. "I have money. I could get you whatever you want."

Stepping into the light, he allowed me to properly see his face. He had pale skin, a thick moustache, and cold, lifeless eyes. He chuckled, filling me with dread as he walked closer to me. "So it's true what they say. Alexandra the Great truly has fallen to her knees in submission to the good life. I never thought I'd see the day when the most feared woman in England would be begging me to spare her life."

"Who are you?" I repeated, trying desperately to remember how I could have got here.

"My name is James Arnett," He revealed with a sneer, and suddenly my memories came back to me. The bakery, the meeting with Alfie, the rum.

"Solomons," I whispered, shocked that he had betrayed me.

"I'm sorry, Tulip," Alfie's voice rang out just before he came out of the darkness, a slight wince in his features. "It pained me greatly to bring you here, but it's for the best."

"You fuckin' prick!" I yelled at him, getting up onto my feet. Rushing over to him, I grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall with a thud. "Five years of business together and this is how you repay me?"

James pulled me off of Alfie, before tying my hands behind my back with the rope. Alfie didn't say anything, his eyes on the ground as he sighed.

"Calm down, Alexandra, I would have found you one way or another," James said, moving to stand in front of me. He scanned my face, an unnerving smile resting on his lips. "So many people must be dying to be me right now. The Queen of Birmingham. The prima-donna Peaky Blinder."

"I'm not a Blinder anymore," I mumbled, glaring at him.

"Maybe not, but that doesn't matter," James said, before breaking out into a wide grin. "I have a proposition for you, Alexandra."

"Oh yeah?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what the fuck could that possibly be?" Since moving to London, I had received many propositions- all of them threatening the safety of my family. Nothing thus far had piqued my interest enough to risk ruining the utopia John and I had built for ourselves.

"I'm not gonna beat around the bush," James began, raising his hands in the air, his gun pointing upwards. "I have opium, and I want to sell it through your clubs."