Pearl barely got any sleep as she anticipated having to meet with Tommy. She imagined it to be so core splittingly uncomfortable that she wasn't sure if she should even go. After realising she was being downright childish, Pearl decided to get there early so that she didn't have to spend any longer pondering on the forthcoming day.

Therefore, she found herself resting against the wall of number four Watery Lane, thirty minutes earlier than she needed to be, smoking to calm her nerves. Her hands trembled slightly as she brought the cigarette to her lips. She'd always found smoking to be meditative. Exhale your doubts and physically watch them swirl away in a sliver of grey smoke. Once she'd reached the end and discarded the cigarette Pearl pulled a mirror out of her small bag to check her appearance. There were rather prominent dark circles under her eyes and she rubbed at them, as if it would make them go away. She added a little more red lipstick that she'd started wearing every day since gaining a split lip - even though it was starting to heal. Pearl applied a little to her lips and cheeks in an attempt to draw attention away from her clear lack of sleep.She checked her watch and saw she had five minutes to get into the betting den and walked to the door and gave it a firm knock.

To her utmost relief it was John who opened the door, who she felt the most comfortable with after their chat the other day. Pearl wasn't sure how she'd react if it was Polly to open the door - she'd probably turn on her heel and go straight back home, Tommy be damned.

John ushered her inside with a small smile.

"Are you ready?" John asked apprehensively.

She turned and looked at him, eyebrow scrunched and utterly baffled. "Ready for what?"

John pushed open the green doors to the betting den and Pearl was greeted by the sight of every member of the Shelby clan - barr Finn. Every set of eyes was trained on her and every face was in a deep set scowl, all mirroring each other. Polly's eyes were the harshest as she leant up against a wooden post, smoking, instead of taking a seat. Pearl couldn't bear to look in her direction and she knew she needn't by the way the hairs on her neck rose.

John took a seat beside Ada and Pearl sat beside him, so that she was nearer the end of the table and further from the rest of the family. As she sat her eyes locked momentarily with Arthur and her heart cracked a little as he instantly averted his eyes.

Tommy coughed a little to clear the air and stood from his seat ready to address the group.

"I know not everyone here is happy about this arrangement" as Tommy said that he shot a sharp look at Polly, who simply scoffed and rolled her eyes, "but we have a common enemy. We need to work together to send this Inspector back to London. So we're here to brainstorm"

Tommy practically grimaced at the way the word rolled off his tongue which caused a few members of his family to snicker.

"Fookin' brainstorm, eh Tom? Don't you hav' a plan for everything?" Arthur laughed, smugly.

"This is something we do together Arthur, so... I'm open to suggestions"

Tommy looked around the group and raised an eyebrow as he invited suggestions. John sat up and smacked the table with a smile as an idea crashed down on him, "Why don't we kill him?"

"What?" Tommy responded, a dumbfounded look upon his face.

John looked around at the table as if trying to convince them, "Yeah, yeah- we get some men together and we fookin' shoot the bastard"

"Yes, John boy!" Arthur exclaimed, returning John's smile. He then looked to Tommy, who had a stern look upon his face and Arthur's head began to shake as his smile dropped, "No?"

"It's not that easy, John" Pearl spoke up, causing everyone to turn to her.

"Why?" Polly asked with a tight lip.

"You know why" Pearl responded, knowing the woman didn't think John's idea was a good one, she just wanted the chance to have a go at Pearl. She turned to the rest of the group, "Killing the Inspector incharge of investigating the guns would set alarm bells ringing in London. The coppers sent down would increase tenfold"

John sat back with a huff as he realised the many flaws to his plan and Pearl rubbed his arm sympathetically. She turned back to the front and noticed Tommy's eyes trained on her hand that was on his brother's arm and she swiftly removed it and placed her hand in her lap.

"Right, anything else?" Tommy said as he looked back at the group.

"What about planting them on someone?" Ada piped up, "He'd stop sticking his nose in our business if it didn't look like we had the guns anymore?"

Polly chuckled, "How on earth are you planning on planting a crate of machine guns on someone, Ada?"

"Not actually planting but making it seem like we've passed them on?" she looked around her family to see approving nods, "What about Kimber? Two birds with one stone"

Pearl stayed silent but shook her head a little, Ada noticed and turned on her, "What now?"

Pearl winced slightly at her outburst but carried on nonetheless, "You need to remember your lot may be big in Birmingham but you're nothing compared to the rest of the country - I hadn't even heard of you before I arrived. Kimber outranks you in power, men, resources- there's no way you could blame something that big on him without him finding out. Then you'd be royally fucked"

Ada followed in John's footsteps and slumped back in her chair as her idea was shot down.

"That being said, it's not an entirely awful idea..." the group looked back to her as she piqued their interest, "You'd need to pin it on someone you can handle like... the Birmingham Communist's. I've heard Campbell wants to get rid of them anyway, so he'd be less likely to question how the communist's got the guns. Then while he's busy rounding up commies, Silver Fang can come in and take the guns without Campbell ever noticing. The heat's off you, the Inspector leaves Birmingham. It's a win-win"

Pearl looked around feeling rather proud of herself. She deeply hoped that by helping them with this that they'd at least start to trust her again.

"No" Ada blurted out.

Pearl side eyed Ada, not expecting anyone to disagree with her practically foolproof plan.

"We should leave the communist's out of it" Ada said whilst looking desperately at Tommy. Pearl on the other hand was looking at him puzzled as there was something she clearly wasn't being told.

"Ada, this would be for the benefit of the family" Tommy reprimanded in a hushed tone.

"Leave him out of it" Ada bit back.

The pair held a vigorous gaze and Pearl started to see that Ada was just as strong willed as her older brother. Eventually Tommy backed down and rubbed his hand against his forehead in frustration.

"Fine. Pearl, come into my office" He dismissed everyone else with a wave of his hand, to their dismay. Meanwhile Pearl stayed sat, her eyebrow raised suspiciously.

"Thomas, what are you doing? This is a family matter" Polly spoke overly pointedly.

Tommy rounded on her, clearly reaching the end of his patience, "Yeah? Is it? Well when my family can actually think plans through, then they'll be welcome to join us"

With that he entered into his office leaving the room in silence. Polly turned to look at Pearl and shook her head disapprovingly. Pearl stood from her seat, appearing more timid than she would've liked, and addressed the Shelby's.

"Look, I'm really sorry for any harm I've caused any of you. I know you have no reason to trust me but know I am on your side - I have been for a long time"

Arthur and Ada showed miniscule signs of a smile but Polly didn't crack, she just wordlessly left the room and Pearl sighed helplessly as she watched Polly walk away. John gave her a small nudge and a reassuring smile which she greatly appreciated.

"Pearl!" Tommy shouted and she quickly turned and met his expectant eyes through the glass. He raised his eyebrows and his hands impatiently, so she quickly made her way into the room and shut the door behind her.

Pearl sat down opposite him and watched as he mindlessly shuffled some files about.

"Pol's never gonna forgive you" he said in passing, without looking her way.

"Yeah I know" Pearl said as she looked down and fidgeted with her nails, "I never expected her to. You either"

She briefly looked up to catch his reaction, which was very little. Tommy froze holding the papers and his hand gripped the page a little tighter before putting it back down. He cleared his throat and met her gaze, bringing a cigarette to his lips.

"I'm never letting my family suggest again. Honestly, they're thick as anything" Tommy muttered.

"That's not fair, Ada was onto something good in there. Although John's idea was a little out of left field" Pearl chuckled a little.

She noticed Tommy watching her smile and the corners of his own lips had subconsciously begun to raise before he caught himself.

"Why did you ask them? Why not just think of something yourself, I mean you always do"

Tommy looked at her momentarily and she thought perhaps she saw a bit of his wall break, "Because I'm lost here, Pearl. I don't know what to do"

Pearl didn't mean to, but she sent him a pitying look which sobered Tommy instantly. She cursed herself inwardly at scaring him back into his shell. Any displays of emotion, no matter how little, seemed to have that effect on Tommy.

"So, how else do you suggest we get rid of Campbell?"

Pearl blew out a puff of air as she thought. She'd felt so strongly about pinning it on the communist's that she felt a little stumped now.

"We could really use some of your men" Tommy suggested.

Pearl shook her head, "Not bloody likely. That would need Grenfeld's go ahead and he'd see this cause as too insignificant. He'd never waste men on it"

Tommy looked away clearly a little offended, which Pearl caught. She quickly tried to backtrack on her mistake, "No, Tommy I didn't mean-"

"I know what you mean" Tommy said bitterly.

Pearl scrunched her eyes shut, internally kicking herself and telling herself to bite her tongue from now on. She felt like with each wrong move she could physically see him pull him further and further away and it was cutting her up inside. To know that she'd got so close to him just for it all to irreparably fall apart.

Tommy broke her away from her thoughts as he groaned loudly at his lack of ideas, he rubbed his temples as if it would generate ideas faster.

"It's okay, we'll come up with something" Pearl said in a poor attempt at soothing his distress.

Tommy stood and placed his hand flat atop his desk and leant towards Pearl, "But we haven't. We have nothing, we might as well just hand him the guns"

Pearl's eyebrows scrunched together in thought and Tommy was curious about her sudden silence.

"Well..."

"No, Pearl. We're not giving him the guns"

She stood from her own seat and grabbed his arm, "No listen. We don't give Campbell the guns, we lead him to them. He thinks he's found them so he won't be suspicious, he leaves the city and you alone and when they're being transported I can get Grenfeld's men to intercept the truck and steal them. We have a calling card so no one will suspect the blinders"

Pearl rambled quickly and once finished she beamed at Tommy. The corners of his lips slowly began to raise, ever so slowly.

"That's brilliant" Tommy smiled as his hand thoughtlessly raised to Pearl's cheek.

Her own smile dropped at the action and her eyes flicked between his. As soon as Tommy realised what he'd done he dropped his hand and she, in turn, took her hand off of his arm.

"Yeah, good. We'll continue this tomorrow" Tommy uttered as he turned back to the files.

"Yeah" Pearl stepped backwards towards the door with a small smile. Tommy never looked back at her as she left and she was glad because she felt the way her cheeks flushed. Pearl pressed the backs of her hands to her cheeks to try and cool down but no matter what she did she could still feel the loitering touch of his hand against her skin.

"You'll never be one of us" Polly was resting on the wall across the room, her eyes shooting daggers at Pearl.

Pearl felt defenceless as Polly had just caught her giggling like a schoolgirl and went straight for the jugular. She straightened her posture to try and regain some form of composure, "I never said I was. I have a family"

"Not like this. This family trusts each other like you'll never understand" Polly stalked menacingly towards Pearl. She had such a ferocious demeanour for such a petite woman, if she didn't feel so vulnerable Pearl would be impressed.

"I know that-" Pearl's voice was weak and she cursed herself for it.

"No, I don't think you do"

Pearl made a last ditch attempt at defending herself but she knew no matter what, she'd never win with Polly, "I don't know what you think I'm doing, but I'm no threat to your family"

Polly looked mildly stunned as she stopped in her tracks, "Of course you are. You're Maxwell Wright's daughter and Tommy's in love with you. You'll always be a threat to us"

Pearl's brain short circuited and she was rendered speechless, she simply gaped at Polly as she struggled to process what was just said.

"Don't tell me you didn't know?" Polly snickered.

"No- that's not-"

She rolled her eyes and stepped so close to Pearl that she could feel her breath fanning across her face, "Look, believe what you want - honestly I don't care. When this is all over I never want to see you again. We need Tommy, I can't let you go and break him"

Pearl took a breath and attempted to hold her own, "You know, he sounds just like you. I don't think you have anything to worry about"

"Polly!"

Both women turned to see Tommy stood in the doorway to his office. Pearl inhaled sharply as she wondered how much he'd heard and prayed to whoever was up there that he hadn't been there long.

He tipped his head towards his office to beckon Polly in. She paid no attention to Pearl as she brushed past her and Pearl made a hasty exit from the house, barely able to handle the stifling atmosphere any longer.

The moment she stepped outside into the fresh air she pressed her back into the brick wall and clamped her hand to her mouth. Pearl felt tears prick at the back of her eyes and she tilted her head back as she willed them to go back in.

Tommy's in love with you.

Those words looped in her mind and each time the lump in her throat grew. She didn't even know if it was true but deep down she wished it wasn't because how could it ever work? No matter how painful this all is now it would be ten times worse if they fell in love with each other.

No. She would never let that happen.

Pearl heard the front door open and took three quick breaths to try and swallow the lump in her throat. Ada stepped out and noticed the way Pearl's nose had gone red and her eyes were glassy.

"Pearl? What's wrong?" she muttered with a tone of genuine concern.

Pearl sealed her lips and shook her head defiantly, yet a stray tear still fell. Ada wasted no time in wrapping her arms around Pearl and resting her head atop her shoulder, glaring at all those on the streets who stared.

"I'm sorry, Ada" Pearl whimpered as a few more tears fell.

Ada rubbed her back reassuringly, "It's okay"

"I don't know what I'm going to do'' Pearl breathed.

A/N

Sorry it's been so long since the last chapter school deadlines have been killing me!!

My aim is still to post one chapter a week but I'll be going back to uni next week so I'm sorry if any are a bit late from now on but I'm determined to finish this book :))