Stolen Heart [Tommy Shelby x OC]

Chapter 39

The ride to Small Heath was quiet, considering everyone except Tommy was asleep. He noticed Lily snored a little, probably due to her asthma and he wondered how she would cope with it in Small Heath. But she had to deal with it, for he wasn’t letting her go this time, he thought as he looked at her sleeping form. She looked different, just like she had when she came back from Greece. But this time, she wasn’t an exotic country girl with wayward curls in cotton housedresses.

She was polished. She might’ve looked like the upper-class women of London, but her lips were too lavish and her figure too curvaceous. And he didn’t mind that at all, he thought as he glanced at her one more time, trying to ignore the swell of her breasts and her parted lips.

Since it was either thinking or getting into an accident, he let the memories revisit, despite his reluctance.

In the initial days of her disappearance, he had had his men posted in every city, every county and every town of the country. He wasn’t letting her get away so easily.

Two weeks later, when his men were without any updates and one of them was even on his way to Greece, he got a call from a London phone booth.

‘If you don’t stop with your tailing, I swear I’ll go somewhere even your men haven’t been.’

‘Where are you?’ He had almost gotten up from his chair at the sound of her voice.

‘I am in London, as you probably know. And if you even think of calling the police, I’ll come and kill you.’

‘How is he?’ He asked, ignoring her empty threat.

‘He is good. I’ll send a picture every month, but you won’t come any close to him.’

‘You’re playing with fire.’ He had hoped the warning in his voice was evident, but she retorted back.

‘You called the Parrish to arrest me, put your entire family in prison and I saw a man looking at my bedroom window yesterday. Forgive me for my impudence.’

She had hung up after that, probably slammed the phone down and Tommy almost threw the phone across the room. But he had picked it up again and called Andrew who was stationed in London. After he had got hold of the address of the house he was looking at, he had sacked him. And told him if he were ever seen near that house again, he would’ve to face criminal charges.

He had every intention of barging into her house and taking his son away, but decided against it. He was on his way to getting an OBE and she was the one who had ran away. She was the weaker party, with a son and no husband. It was only a matter of time before she came back, asking him to take his son back.

But she didn’t and over the year, he put it behind him. He no longer concerned himself with the fact that his family wasn’t speaking to him. Or a woman was keeping him away from his son.   

He became so occupied with work that he had stopped bothering with Lily and Oliver. They were now a part of a dream which had no place in his nightmarish life. The time they’d spent together in Arrow House was good and he had been almost happy, living under the pretence of a family. But he had accepted he wasn’t entitled to happiness, that he had to keep on going in life, for there was no settling down for him.

He had Charlie and he could barely take out time for him. Oliver was lucky he wasn’t near him, that he had a mother who would fight against the world for him. But he still kept a watch on them.

He knew she lived in a surprisingly grand house in London and worked at a general store, possibly a cover since tonight proved that she was with her company. He had also known she was coming to Birmingham and where she was living while in the city. But he wasn’t going to see her. He had become numb to everything, indulging in whores and whisky sours, trying not to think how fucked up his life was. He had a thriving business, a good position in the society and a child, who was the last reminder of Grace. He wasn’t going to dwell on the shortcomings.