A few more days had passed and Angelina had grown tired of sitting in her house alone. Instead of staring at the four walls of her front room, she left her home on Saturday afternoon and headed to a place where she thought she'd be safest, The Marquis.

The air was warm and the sun was shining, football fans with blue scarfs draped round their necks were heading to the match and the streets were much more crowded than usual.

Angelina had opted for a short, blue satin dress after noticing the sunshine from her bedroom window that morning, hoping it would keep her cool all day.

It wasn't any less busy in the pub that afternoon, but Angelina got herself a glass of wine and took a seat on a spare table in the corner of the pub, taking a newspaper from the bar on her way past.

She felt refreshed to be out of the house, even if she was still alone with her intrusive thoughts. She still hadn't heard from Lorenzo either, which did nothing to settle the nerves that had been eating away at her since the minute he left. Though in the end, she had admitted to herself that there was in fact nothing she could do. Angelina knew a handful of people in Small Heath, but nobody outside of the area, she barely knew what it was like a mile away from her front door. She was helpless.

News from Thomas had been scarce, too. Angelina had began to wonder if he was telling the truth about trying to help at all.

"Is there anyone here by the name Santoro?"

The pub fell quiet when a young boy, not much older than 15, entered the pub, stood on a table and asked the question.

Everybody looked around, a few men that were regulars in The Marquis turning to look at Angelina. She made eye contact with the barman who had become somewhat of a friend to her.

"Who's asking?" The barman replied to the boy.

"I've got a message from Lorenzo. He said to come here."

Angelina immediately rose to her feet, the scraping of her chair on the worn wooden floor drawing all the attention to her.

"Come with me, Miss."

Angelina threw the rest of the wine down her neck before hesitantly following the boy out of the pub, ignoring the stares and mumbles from everybody else.

The streets outside had emptied now the football game had kicked off, only a few men were working in the factories and children playing games in the dirt were outside.

The boy walked slightly ahead of Angelina, though kept turning his head to make sure she was following him.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

The child didn't respond, leaving Angelina even more confused. She wasn't sure why her brother wouldn't just write a letter, or at least send somebody she recognised to pass on a message to her.

They turned a corner down a street Angelina had never been down before. It looked the same as all the other rows of terraced houses in Small Heath, with the viaducts casting a dark shadow over everyone. Only this road had two expensive cars parked at the end.

The boy stopped and turned to look at Angelina. His eyes were dark and his cheeks stained with soot, his clothes were slightly torn and his shoes were ripped.

"I'm sorry, Miss."

"What?"

He fled without giving Angelina another word, disappearing around the corner leaving her alone in the street. She spun around, desperately trying to work out what was going on, only she stood still when the car doors opened at the end of the street.

Four men got out, and a fifth was pulled from the backseat of a car with a bag over his head and his hands tied at his back.

Stefano.

"Stef! Stef!" Angelina cried out as she began running towards him. The men pulled the bag off her brother's head at the same time one of them pulled out a gun and pointed it at Angelina.

"I wouldn't come any closer if I were you, darling."

Angelina stopped dead in her tracks, watching as her brother sobbed quietly on the street, restrained by two men in black suits.

"Wh-what's going on?"

"I am Billy Kimber, I think we might've met before?"

She had never seen the man's face before, but his voice made her hairs stand on end and her breath get hitched in her throat. The same Mr Kimber that had held a gun to Thomas' head, now had one pointed at her.

"Your brothers screwed me over, Miss Santoro. They gave me a right royal backhand you see, cost me a whole load of money and some good men. They begged me not to come for you, but I didn't think that was quite fair."

A million and one questions raced through Angelina's mind as she flickered her gaze between the barrel of the pistol and her brother's beaten and bruised face.

"I promised your brothers that I wouldn't hurt you physically, only scar you a little bit up here," Mr Kimber tapped the side of his head with the gun, "It's a shame I could only get my hands on one of them."

Angelina hadn't realised that she'd began to shake. She could barely hear what Billy Kimber was saying to her, the sound of her breathing was deafening to her as she tried to not choke.

Stefano was pushed down onto his knees, his head pulled up by his hair so he was forced to look at his sister who stood just a few feet away from him, with no notion of what to do.

"Please," Angelina said, "Please don't hurt him. We can repay you, we can-"

"I'll shoot you as well if you don't keep your mouth shut. You could've at least worn black, would've suited the occasion a bit more."

Angelina felt disgusted as Kimber looked her up and down. She had never felt objectified by a man until then, and it made her sick.

"Down here!" A small boy's voice cried out in the distance.

"Mr Kimber! I wasn't aware we had a meeting today!"

Angelina turned behind her to see Thomas walking briskly down the road, Arthur, John and a small group of other men behind him.

Kimber just laughed.

"We don't, did you come to watch too?"

He smiled, chuckling to himself as he raised the gun, cocking it as he pointed it at Stefano who had tears streaming down his cheeks, eyes eyes telling his sister that he was sorry.

"Mr Kimber don't do-"

Tommy's plea was silenced by the sound of the gun firing and Angelina's bloody scream, nobody was sure which one was louder.

Angelina felt her knees go weak as she watched her brother's eyes roll into the back of his head and slump into the cobbles. It was like everything happened in slow motion right in front of her, though it felt like a lifetime before she heard a second gunshot and saw Mr Kimber fly backwards onto the ground, hitting the floor just before she was about to.

"Oh my god, Angelina."

She couldn't breath, she couldn't see and she could barely hear anything over the commotion that was happening around her. She heard more shots being fired, but they soon faded to silence as she felt herself being carried away from the carnage on the street.

"Angelina, can you hear me?"

"She's in shock, Tom. Fucking look at her she's white as a ghost."

Angelina wasn't sure how long she passed out for, but she didn't think it was longer than a few minutes.

She awoke to Tommy's face as he knelt on the floor beside her, laying on the sofa of his home. His hand was on her forehead, his thumb gently rubbing her skin to soothe her.

"Stef, Stefano-"

"I'm sorry, Angelina." Thomas choked, blinking back his own tears as he watched Angelina fall to pieces in front of him.

He pulled her close to him, cradling her like a child. Pressing his lips against her skin, he felt a surge of anger as he listened to her sobs become heavier and more painful, it was a horrific thing to hear.

"Fucking bastards."

Angelina recognised Arthur's voice as she looked around her through blurry eyes. Men filled the small room, coming and going through other parts of the house, almost all of them covered in blood.

"The man who shot your brother is dead, Arthur put a bullet between his eyes."

She looked up at Thomas, her breathing still shaky and her body drenched in cold sweat. Tommy gazed down at her, fighting down the lump in his throat as he saw the pain in her eyes. He had seen many men die, but watching Angelina fall to her knees as her brother was mercilessly shot in front of her was a pain he couldn't imagine.

"They will pay for this, Angelina. I will make them pay for every last tear that you shed, alright? I won't stop until they're all fucking dead."

Thomas pulled her onto his lap and she buried her head into his neck, her hands desperately clinging to the lapels on his blazer as she cried. He held her close, pulling the loose strands of hair away from her face and planting small kisses on her shoulder, squeezing her body tightly.

She pulled herself away from him, her cheeks stained with tears and her eyes tainted red. Tommy held her gaze, placing his hands on her cheeks. He was convinced that the pain he was feeling in his chest as he looked at Angelina was almost as bad as the pain she was feeling.

His realisation came from nowhere. The stubbornness he had over the thought of her with other men and the protection he held so highly for his own feelings seemed suddenly so incomparable to the way his heart began beating so much quicker as he held Angelina's body so close to his own. The way he had felt before about anyone and anything was no longer important to him, Thomas had made up his mind.

"I swear, Angelina, I will make sure you never have to hurt again. I know it hurts, I know how bad it fucking feels, but look at me," he lifted her chin with his finger, forcing her to look at him again, "I won't let anything hurt you, or your family, ever again."