𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟖

Madeline smiled at Polly when entering the betting den. "You called?" She asked. Polly nodded and put down her tree. "John's caused some trouble." Polly said with a sigh. Madeline shook her head. "When isn't he causing trouble."

"I believe it's far more serious this time around." Polly informed her.

Madeline raised her brows and sighed. "Jesus christ." She whispered. She glanced through the window of his office and bit her tongue. Polly moved to the door and motioned that Madeline followed her in.

John sat with his feet up and a newspaper in hand. Madeline closed the door behind her and leaned against it. Polly placed her hands on her hips.

"Did we run Kempton yesterday or not?" He asked nonchalantly. Polly tilted her chin up. "Danny Lee got drunk. Instead of injecting the horses with cocaine he shared it with his cousins." She responded.

Madeline closed her eyes in annoyance and let out a breath.

"Jesus Christ.." John whispered. "He's your in-law." Polly reminded him. "Madeline can speak to him about it." John nodded toward his wife who had her arms crossed. "Look. Before I start, I don't want you to do anything about this." Polly sat down.

"About what?" John and Madeline asked in unison.

"Vincent Changretta's son. The one that Lizzie was stepping out with." Polly said quietly. John swallowed his tea and sat forward. "What— Angel?" He chuckled. "He's no bigger than two pence worth of change."

Madeline stood and listened intently in hopes to get the story of what had happened.

"Well he heard you threatened him directly to shoot him in the knees and now he's going round Nechells telling everybody he's going to kill ya." Polly informed him. "This is Lizzie's fault to start with. Tommys for leaving it up to you."

Madeline sighed. "Fucking Lizzie." She whispered.

"What're you talking about?" John questioned with frustration after aggressively scribbling on paper. "We run London— we run the North. We run the whole fucking country. What do we care about some Nechells Green eye-ties?"

"We don't need to get involved in all these little piss pots." Polly scolded.

"You have a family. You cannot afford to be making silly mistakes." Madeline argued. John continued scribbling. "What does Arthur say?" He asked.

"That's why i'm here and not him. He said if there's be a fight— he says apologise." Polly said. John pressed his fist into his eye. "He fucking said what?" He hissed. "We own the city but we don't need to rub everyone's noses in it. If the old man decided to take a stand he'll get Sabini feeling sentimental." Polly glared at him.

"Sabini is done." John snapped.

"They're all done." Polly responded. "They all pay up. But we don't want rebellions."

John rubbed his forehead. "What does.. er what does Tommy say?"

"Tommy is busy. He left me in charge."

"And what do you say?" John asked her, avoiding Madeline's burning eyes. "Compromise." Polly leaned back. John grunted and nodded. "I've asked Lizzie to do it for you. She's gonna meet him and break up with him for good— apologise for any inconvenience and say it was all her fault."

Suddenly, John pushed everything from the desk and stood up, shouting angrily. Madeline's mouth fell open and her arms fell to her sides. "John." She scolded.

"You know what all this is? This is Arthur's fucking missus this is— turn the fucking cheek." He hissed. "We'll be handing out bibles in the fucking bull ring with her cousins!" He shouted angrily.

"John you don't have to do anything." Madeline reminded him. "Lizzie will do it for you. Then it'll all calm down—" She tried to grab his arm as he approached the door. "Then nobody will lose face."

"I'll take his fucking face how about that!" He said through gritted teeth before slamming the door.

Madeline didn't hesitate to follow after him. "John." She scoffed. John walked off. She huffed and continued following. "John Shelby stop fucking walking!" She demanded.

John stopped abruptly and threw his head back.

"You have a family." She forced him to face her. "A daughter and a son. A wife. You do not need to throw it all away now. You know how these people work." She whispered to him. "I cannot lose you and neither can the kids."

"You won't fucking lose me." He scoffed.

"We will if you keep letting your temper get the better of you." Madeline pressed a finger to his chest. "So please— for the sake of me, for the kids, think about what you're doing."

John leaned his forehead on hers. "We're fine. Everything's gonna be alright."

-

Madeline held James on her lap whilst Katie played on the rug. Theodore was sat beside her on the floor. The door had closed which made Madeline look over and see John who had returned. She passed James to her brother and walked through to the kitchen where the family was.

"Sit down John. Sit down." Tommy instructed. Madeline stood behind John. "John, you cut Angel Changretta." Tommy began. Madeline's heart dropped and she ran a hand over her face. "Even though Arthur told you to apologise. Polly told you to compromise and Madeline asked you to forget about it. You chose not to listen to Mr Apologise or Mrs Compromise and now i've got an Italian walkin' round my backyard saying he's going to kill my brother. What do we do, John? Do we apologise or do we compromise?"

John looked down.

"Oh it was just something John said as a joke." Arthur offered. Tommy looked over. "Yeah but he's your brother as well Arthur."

"I didn't want to start a war over something John said without meaning it." Arthur excused. Tommy frowned. "So should he apologise in Italian or in English or should we ask them which language they fucking prefer? I'm not clear."

Madeline placed a hand on her husband's shoulder in a reassuring way. John placed his hand over hers.

"You said whilst this was going on in London you wanted peace at home." Polly interrupted. "The only way to get peace is by making the prospect of war seem hopeless." Tommy said. "If you apologise once, you do it again and again and again like taking bricks out of the wall of your fucking house. Do you want to bring the house down Arthur?"

Arthur muttered something.

"If you're soft on rebellion, it'll grow." Tommy added.

Arthur pushed up from his seat. "Bloody soft on rebellion." He mocked. Maddie squeezed John's shoulder. "You did the right thing John. Now we go on the offensive. We take two of the Changretta pubs— we take them tonight." Tommy walked away.

"Oh— right, for Christ's sake. Why?" Polly shouted.

"Eh?" Tommy shouted and spun around. "Why?" Polly repeated. "Why? Because we fucking can! Because we fucking can and if we can, we do. And if we lift our heel off their necks now, they'll just come at us! Remember these are the bastards that wanted Danny Whizz Bang dead. You're getting soft brother. Soft and weak. Save the bibles for Sunday, eh? Finn, I need to get to Hockley then home. It's been a long day."

He pointed a finger. "You take the Rexhem and the Five Bells. You get them signed over to us in the morning. You make sure the coppers stay away. Don't use the fucking phones, alright? There's someone listening." He walked off.

"Well done." Arthur glared at John.

"Arthur don't." Madeline defended. John stared at the table and then at Polly who had began slurping her tea once Arthur left.

"Let's go home. Come on." Madeline whispered to him. John sniffed and got up from his chair. Madeline linked her arm around his and led him to the door. "Don't stress about this." She whispered, being able to feel his anxiety.

John said nothing. "We have the charity dinner at the end of the week. It'll all be okay." She said as they walked across to the house.

His breathing was heavy as she spoke. "I've fucked up, Mads." John finally said once they got inside. "I've fucked up, haven't I?" She placed two hands on the table and let out a breath. "It'll get sorted. It always does."

He kicked the chair and huffed.

"You'll wake the kids." Madeline placed a hand on her hip.

John paced angrily. "Why did you go through this trouble for Lizzie?" Madeline asked harshly. "You need to forget about her— whatever you had with her." She kept her tone calm.

"The fuck you talkin' about?" John stopped and scrunched his eyebrows together, a hand on the wall.

"You've risked starting a war for Lizzie Stark." Madeline said.

"I didn't fucking do it for—" He paused, knowing he didn't have any excuse for why he had done it. "I see Lizzie the same way as the next person would see her. She doesn't mean shit." John assured Madeline.

She hummed. "Well if anything happens to you she must understand that I will go after her in some way or another."

John's eyes widened slightly.

"It is because of her that we are now involved in this piss pot." Madeline reminded him.

-

Madeline stood at the open door of the house with a welcoming smile on her face as George's car pulled up. She waved as he got out. "George," she sighed and walked to him with open arms.

George held her and lifted her from the ground slightly. "It's nice to see you again.." he whispered.

Madeline closed her eyes and squeezed him. "How was London?" She asked when pulling away. George had been sent by Tommy to do some work in London — what work that was she didn't know.

George nodded. "It was good." He looked up slightly. "But I heard talk." He squinted and shielded his eyes from the sun. "That Angel Changretta wants to kill John. Is that true?"

"Unfortunately." Madeline looked down. "He made a mistake and now our whole family could be at risk — me and the children."

The dark haired boy let out a breath and shook his head. "It'll all blow over.. hopefully.." He trailed off.

Madeline squinted and nodded. "I hope so." She said. "I mean— it was ending a war that got me into this family in the first place. I just hope there isn't another on the horizon. I've worked too hard to get here." Madeline bit the inside of her cheek.

George squeezed her upper arm. "Tommy will sort it— i'm almost sure of it."

-

Tommy walked through the den and went into his office. "You done the odds for tomorrow?" He asked John. John leaned against the bars. He stayed quiet and earned a frustrated look from his brother.

Seconds later, Tommy handed him a gun. "Madeline, I need you to leave now. Go out the back door and lock it after you." He instructed.

She looked at him blankly.

"When I left the office—" He peeked through the window. "There's two truck fills of coppers out there, John." He said. John joined him and pulled back the curtain slightly to glance outside. "Where the fuck is Arthur?"

"He goes home to the Madonna of Mosley at the stroke of five." John mocked.

"You need to talk to him, Tom." Madeline said softly. "Madeline, please go now. Please." Tommy pleaded. She sighed and walked toward the door. Madeline stepped outside and fumbled with the keys in her hands for a few seconds.

Suddenly, hands wrapped around her and she screamed. Two men picked her up from the floor and carried her into the house as she screamed and kicked her legs. "John— John!" She cried out. "Get off me!" She begged.

John and Tommy placed down their guns and put their hands up when realising it was the Yard.

"No— get off! Get off!" Madeline screamed. "Let her fucking go!" John shouted angrily and attempted to run forward but only to be kicked to the floor. "Get your fucking hands off her!" He hissed.

Madeline continued kicking and screaming as they kept tight grips on her. She could feel her skin burning under their touch.

"Leave her alone!" Tommy demanded.

"The fuck is happening Tom?" John asked through gritted teeth as he was restrained and his wife continued crying out for them to let her go. "Put me down!" She begged.

"Tell Pol it's Russian business." Tommy said as he was carried out. "Alright.." John sighed.

Madeline looked at John with glossy eyes as the men held her tightly. "Let her fucking go!" John demanded. "Let her go or—"

"Alright." One of the men stopped him and nodded toward the officers to let her go. They put her to her feet and she shoved them away harshly and hugged her arms around herself. "Get out!" She shouted. "Get out!"

The men hesitated released John from their grip and let him get to his wife before leaving the house without another word. John moved Madeline's arms and look at her skin that was a light shade of pink where they had been holding her. "Bastards.." John whispered whilst running his thumbs over the bruising skin.

"What the fuck was that?" She asked shakily.

John shook his head. "Russian business?" He said with uncertainty.

He sighed and placed a hand on the back of her head to pull her into his chest. She could hear his heart beating rapidly and her breath hitched. John kissed the top of her forehead and breathed heavily.

"Tommy and his fucking Russian business is getting my family put in harms way!" She huffed.

"I know— I know." John whispered.

"I'm going home. It's almost time for the children to go to bed." Madeline pulled away from him and left through the front door.

The children were one of the only things Madeline truly cared for. She would do anything to prevent them from getting hurt — especially in the ways she had hurt. And John, well John was somebody who showed her what it felt like to be loved. So if anything were to happen to him, she'd be losing a piece of herself.

you have a careful decision to make for the ending of this book. Does John die like in season 4? or do him and Madeline get a happy ending/epilogue chapter where they move away like how Madeline and George had planned to do when they were younger. Or does he die and do Madeline and George get together??

any other ideas feel free to say.

(also, early chapter because why not)