𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃
chapter 20

"My mum is not going to be happy with you John." She walked into his office inside the betting den, placing her coat on the hook. "Speak of the devil." she said as Polly walked in. Polly walked through the betting den and into the office where they both sat, John staring at a newspaper. Polly glared at him.

"Did we run Kempton yesterday or not?" he asked. "Danny Lee got drunk." she said. "Instead of injecting the horses with cocaine, he decided to share it with his cousins."

"Jesus Christ." John sighed.

"He's your brother in law, get Esme to talk to him." she nodded, leaning onto the desk. "Look, Before I start.."

"Florence, out—" Polly said. Florence stood, biting her lip. "Sit down." John pointed at her. Florence looked at her mother then at John. "Florence," Polly began. She sighed and walked out.

"I don't want you to do anything about this." Polly continued. "About what" John asked. Polly closed the door, facing him. "Vincente Changretta's son." she informed him.

John stifled a laugh. "What, Angel?"

"He's no bigger than two pence worth of change." he joked. "Well he heard you threatened him directly to shoot him in the knees." Polly reminded him. "And now he's going round Nechells telling everybody he's going to kill you."

John scribbled on a piece of paper, grinning.

"This is Lizzie fault to start with, Tommys for leaving it up to you."

"What are you talking about? We run London. We run the north, we run the whole fucking country. What do we care about some fucking Nechells Green Eyeties?"

"We don't need to be getting involved in all these little piss pots." Polly said.

"What does Arthur say?"

"That's why i'm here and not him. He said if there'd be a fight, he says apologise."

"He fucking said what?"

"We own the city." Polly said. "But we don't need to rub everybody's noses in it. If the old man decided to make a stand, he might get Sabini feeling sentimental."

"Sabini's done." John looked up. "They're all done." Polly whispered. "They all pay up. But we don't want rebellions:" Polly bit her lip, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I think we need to compromise. Tommy is busy, leaving me in charge, there's no other option. Especially if apologising is out of the picture."

John stood up, pushing everything off the table.

"For fucks sake!" he shouted. "You know what this is, this is Arthur's fucking Missus. Turn the fucking cheek? We'll be handing out Bibles in the fucking bullring with her cousins!"

"John you don't have to do anything," Polly said. "Lizzie will do it for you then it'll all calm down and nobody will lose face."

"I'll take his fucking face how about that?!" he said slamming the door.

"Fucks sake.." Florence hissed as he walked past her. "John!" she shouted. "Fucking hell, John!" she followed after him.

"What!?" he stopped, turning. "She said to leave it, so leave it. The last thing we need is you getting yourself killed." He shook his head, walking away and slamming the door.

"He's going to get himself killed," she muttered, looking over at Polly. "Leave him too it, Florence, its him who Tommy will be annoyed with." Polly huffed, returning to the office.

-

John stood with a smug grin on his face as the line of suits that hung in front of him got pulled apart, revealing Vincente Changretta. He smiled at him before lunging forward, letting his face collide with h
is face, hitting him again and again.

He pushed Vincencente beside the stairs before walking to Angel, falling backward onto the floor. "Are you going to kill me?" he stuttered. "Get fucking up!" John laughed at him, dragging the boy to his feet.

"Stay away from Lizzie!" he shouted, taking his cap from his head and pushing the razor blade in to Angel's eye, Screams erupted from  his mouth as blood poured down his face.

"By order of the peaky fucking blinders." he hissed, hitting him once more and dissapearing up the stairs.

-

Arthur paced the room, Polly sat in the chair in front of him. "All right Finn, thanks for coming, fuck off." Arthur said as the younger boy brought John to the room.

"Finn you can stay." Tommy said, entering through the den. "Sit down John. Sit down."

John hesitantly took a seat, "John you cut Angel Changretta. Even though Arthur told you to apologise and Polly told you to compromise. You chose not to listen to Mr Apologise or Miss Compromise. And now ive got an Italian walking around my backyard saying hes going to kill my brother." he shouted.

Florence winced and bit the inside of her cheek.

"So what are we going to do, John, apologise or compromise?" he asked. They all looked at John, waiting for him to respond.

"Oh it was just something John said as a joke.." Arthur said. "Yeah but hes your brother as well Arthur." Tommy reminded.

Arthur nodded. "I didnt want to start a war over something John said without meaning it."

"So should we apologise in Italian or English? Or should we ask them which fucking language they prefer?" They began talking about rebellion and peace at home.
"We take two of the Changretta pubs and we take them tonight, thats it." Tommy said, walking away. Arthur stood, shaking his head.

"Oh, right, for christ sake why?"

He stopped. "Eh? he asked. "Why?" Polly repeated. "Because we fucking can, and if we can, we do. And if we lift our heel of their necks now, theyll just come at us. Remember these are the bastards that wanted Danny Whizz Bang dead!" he reminded them "Your getting soft brother, soft and weak, save the bibles for sundays eh?"

-

"Hello brother," Florence greeted, walking into his office. "Oh." she paused, looking at the brunette girl who stood beside the door. Micheal cleared his throat, standing up. "Florence, this is Charlotte, Charlotte this is my sister." he said.

The girl flashed her a soft smile and held her hand out with Florence hesitantly took.

"I saw you at Mr Shelby's wedding," Charlotte spoke, "I thought you looked beautiful." she complimented. "Thank you, Charlotte." Florence said, slightly awkward.

"Micheal," she returned her attention to her brother, "have you seen Tommy anywhere?"

"What do you need Tommy for?" her brother raised an eyebrow. She thought quickly, knowing she couldnt tell him the truth. "I wanted to ask him a few things, ive taken quite the interest for horses, again. Is he in his office?"

Micheal looked down at the paper, thinking. "I dont know where else he'd be." he shrugged. Florence nodded. "Lovely to meet you..Charlotte." she dismissed, closing the door behind her.

Florence walked up to Tommy's office. A woman stopped her. "Mr Shelby doesnt allow people to walk inside his office before he's been informed you have arrived."

She took a deep breath. "Move out of my way, or I'll have your eyes." she said quietly. The woman's face filled with worry as she moved away from the door. Florence swung the door open.

"Hello cousin," she sighed, walking to the desk. "Florence," he nodded, handing her a cigarette and lighting it for her. "Isiah said you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, i did. Some things have happened, it was discussed during a family meeting which you, obviously were not including in due to your mother being unaware that you help me with business."

She nodded, listening carefully.

"John cut Angel Changretta, we are taking two of their pubs tonight. I want you to go with John, Arthur and Finn, cause some trouble." he smirked. A grin appeared on Florence's face.