CHAPTER TWO

The days leading to the meeting at the Eden chose to move excruciatingly slowly. Adelaide felt as if she was unable to speak, her voice escaping as a cold screech every time she parted her lips. Harry had not coped much better, electing to remain in silence for the hours they haunted their apartment in the city. But the silence was not as welcomed as she had thought it might be. It allowed her mind to wander freely, thinking of all that had been said by Sabini and his subordinates, of all that had been mentioned of Tommy Shelby.

Now, she could imagine his face, littered with deep, fiery cuts and covered by a swell of bruises. She could imagine his face, so bloodied and contorted, that she could no longer remember the attractive facade behind the blood. The face she used to love. In her memories, his appearance remained nearly unrecognisable. Beaten, his blue eyes now red and bloodshot- even Tommy's voice came different to her: faint, unsure and hoarse. Adelaide imagined crimson-coated lips, blood leaking from his mouth like tears, caused by an Italian blade, carved by an Italian hand.

Could she even trust her own recollection of her times in Birmingham? Her memories appeared sporadically as if she were plagued by amnesia of the past. Perhaps it was for the best that his face materialised as nothing more than an outline of blood and muck. It meant her memories couldn't tease her any longer.

Adelaide had left him in the past and it was there he was supposed to stay. It was painful, allowing the thoughts of him to come flooding in, sending that familiar warm feeling infecting her body once more. She craved to let herself welcome the thoughts, remembering the man as more than the outline, the name. Even years later, she wanted him still.

After a few days of solitude with her thoughts, the silence was broken by an abrupt knock at the door. It had been expected. On Saturday morning, Sabini's men escorted them to the Eden, the flashy club in the heart of London's party district. Their friend Robinson- Avery Robinson- was already waiting in the back of the car. Her face was the picture of annoyance, lips pulled flat into a narrow line, eyes creased with the wrinkles of a frown. Such expression was targeted toward the driver, who sat with his hat pulled far across his eyes as if it would prevent him from catching her gaze.

The siblings had met Avery a little over a year ago. She was quick-witted and not one to let go of an opinion too fast. Adelaide had liked her instantly, welcoming the closer company that was not her brother or Robert. The woman had little family of her own- the only relation being her brother, an important solicitor who worked far across the country. She herself was good with the law yet not yet allowed to practise it.

In the back of the car, they didn't speak.

When they walked into the club, surrounded by Sabini's cousins, Marco was immediately recognisable: sat in the middle of the busy room, his silk black hair covered by a slim fedora, and his prominent jaw resting on slender fingers. Hidden by a cigarette, his smile was smug- like he was part of an inside joke that no one else knew. 

The club around them was oblivious to the meeting occurring at the furthest table. The music was loud, flashy, fast paced and the lights glimmered a fresh gold, making an atmosphere that Adelaide couldn't recognise. It was strange to think that she had been in London for almost a year and yet she had never witnessed anything like it.

"Miss and Mr Davis, Miss Robinson, good to see you all, please sit," Marco said as he stood, straightening his dress jacket before he reached his hand out to shake. "I trust Mr Sabini has mentioned the air of business for this evening."

He sent a quick glance to the rest of the men who sat bored at the table. 

Harry let out a sigh. "In some sense."

"I also trust you know the rundown of the recent news of one Thomas Shelby and Alfie Solomons." Marco looked tired but nothing about his expression revealed that he might've known just how well they'd been made aware of that very same situation. Adelaide only nodded. "Good. Our first point of order is to agree upon a new system of distribution. With the arrival of the Peaky Blinders, Emilio Smith's men will need to be stationed at the doors of each business opening throughout the city, such as the Eden."

Yet as he said his last words, his eyes drifted elsewhere, talking pointedly, slowly, wanting her to hear each and every word despite how uncomplicated it was. She didn't understand. Adelaide's eyes followed his point of gaze, nudging her brother as she did so.

It was then that the commotion began. Flashes of anger broke out behind the group, with loud jeers and explosive shouts bursting into their ears from each direction. At that moment, the cloaked instructions seemed crystal clear. Harry was at her side in seconds, Marco on his feet not long after, but she had to tug on Avery's hand to bring her swiftly trailing beside them. She pushed them all forward, making sure they headed to the doors first, blocked by the frightened crowds before she left after them.

Footsteps falling unintentionally slowly, Adelaide glanced to her side, gasping as she felt a small, cold hand grip her wrist. She half expected it to be one of Sabini's men, spotting her in the act of running, teeth gritted over furious, gnashing, dog-like teeth, ready to lurch her back into a cage. But the touch was too soft, too gentle, and as she turned to face the person, she was greeted not by a friend-shaped enemy, but by the rounded face of a young boy.

"Adelaide?" Shock leeched from the boy's tone, the noise of it lost to the buzz of clangour behind them. "You're in London?"

"Finn? Finn Shelby?" She gawked at him fully, hands reaching to touch his face, too afraid that she was imagining it. He looked different, his face slimmer and so much older, his hair a darker shade of gingery blonde. Had it really been two years? "My lord, you're not little anymore."

A man's shout had him looking backwards, lips bitten, torn between running and staying. The eldest Shelby brother took centre stage, face already splattered with his crimson costume. Arthur. She had not thought of him in so long. 

Finn turned back to her, deciding to say the words he'd held in. "He would kill me if he heard me say this- but Tommy, he's in a bad way. A really bad way. And I just think if you went to see him-"

"I know, I know, I heard."

That only made his frown deepen. Adelaide shook her head, unable to say anything else. She could hear Harry's shouts from the door, urging her to hurry. She had little time left. This chance for escape was once in a lifetime, and unwittingly, the Peaky Blinders had delivered it to her. 

"I have to go. Be safe, Finn. For me."

She left without hearing his response, sprinting toward the back door, and pushing Harry through in the process. The others were already at the end of the alley, lingering anxiously. 

"Who was that?" Marco said, leading them into the street, keeping to the side shadow. It seemed unnatural for him to do such a thing. She was so used to seeing him command the space he walked in, hat and long coat creating shadows larger than even a house. But now Marco seemed to blend seamlessly into the darkness, letting them do the same. 

"An old friend."

"What aren't you telling us, Del?" Avery said. 

The worry in her voice was evident but Adelaide said nothing. 

As they weaved through the Saturday crowds of London, Adelaide had no idea as to where their destination led them. Harry seemed equally unsure, and Avery was completely lost, but Marco guided them with a surety that was comforting. 

It was only as they'd been travelling for long enough, that Adelaide slid to her brother's side, taking his arm, angling him away from the others. Her voice was a whisper. 

"It was the Peaky Blinders attacking the Eden," she said and Harry's lips thinned in thought. 

"I guessed as much," he said, eyes flicking to Avery and Marco. "How did you know?"

"I saw Finn Shelby."

"That's who spoke to you?" Adelaide only nodded in response. 

They reached a small terraced house on a lane Adelaide didn't know. Marco shoved them through the door without hesitating, checking both ways before he shut it firmly behind them, double locking. Inside, the rooms were vaguely familiar, as if she'd seen them once in a dream. A drunken haze, more like, Adelaide thought, as the memory resurfaced. It was over a bottle of wine in the small, south-facing kitchen that she'd met his sister, Martine. 

Sitting at that table now evoked an entirely different feeling compared to then. Adelaide sat with her hands in her head, nursing the ache that had settled there since Robert's loss. Just thinking his name hurt. 

She glanced up sharply, remembering with a sting that Marco mustn't have been told just how deep their new problems went. 

"Is someone going to explain what just happened?" Avery said, folding her arms across her chest, the arms of her dark suit pulling tight across her lithe figure. 

Harry gave a sigh when Adelaide didn't speak. "That was the Peaky Blinders running over the club."

"And who are they?"

"A Birmingham gang we once had business with."

Avery's face still looked confused. 

"Their leader, Tommy Shelby, has put in his bid to work with Alfie Solomons," Adelaide said. She could see the girl processing it all, quickly dawning upon a realisation. "Sabini found out and made that both of our problems. Tommy is in hospital, barely alive from what I've heard."

"He thinks there's a chance you'll betray him."

The two siblings nodded, but it was Marco who answered. "He doesn't think, Sabini believes he knows you'll inevitably take their side against his," he said, placing his hat down and taking the last seat. "I heard about what he did to Robert, I'm truly sorry."

"Thank you."

"Robert?" Avery asked, the pitch of her voice rising unsurely. "You don't mean-"

"Sabini murdered him," she said, lifting her chin to avoid the wobble of a sob, forcing the words off her tongue. "He murdered him to keep us in line. But he doesn't get to get away with killing our family."

"We won't let him," Harry assured her, passing the box of cigarretes but Adelaide pushed them away.

Marco levelled her with an unreadable look, his face clouded with the smoke of a freshly lit cigarette. "What did Finn Shelby tell you?"

"He told me that Tommy is in a bad way. He tried to ask if I would see him but I cut him off."

"See him? That'll only paint a bigger, brighter target on your back, you can't risk it."

"They're supposed to be in the past, Harry," she said, and her brother nodded, taking her by the arms if to only keep her together long enough for her plan to form. "He's supposed to be in the past."

"I know, Addy, I know," he said softly, brows furrowed, struggling to come up with words to say. "But we need to figure out what we're going to do. The minute Sabini finds out about the attack on the club, he'll be out looking for us and we'll be dragged back the moment he does."

"I don't know what to do!" Adelaide cried.

"You do," Harry said quickly, not letting her have time to stew. "You always know what to do, Adelaide."

But though she knew it, she didn't want to have to say it. She looked up at Harry, eyes wide and vulnerable, staring long enough that he came to the same conclusion. 

Adelaide nodded, clearing her mind. "The enemy of our enemy is a friend."