𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟏
𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐃𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬

Aurora pulled back from Finn when hearing a door close followed by footsteps. They looked at each other with wide eyes and Finn held a hand over her mouth when seeing the way the corners of her lips turn upward.

He shook his head quickly. "Tommy will kill us— we're supposed to be working." He reminded her. She bit down on her tongue and tried to say something but his hand muffled the words.

The footsteps slowed, stopped outside Finn's office. They held their breaths. The shadow blocked the light that was coming through the glass on the door. Finn slowly let go of her mouth and stepped away from her. He opened the door. "Tom?" He asked.

Tommy looked at his younger brother with suspicion. "It's late, Finn." He said.

Finn cleared his throat and reached into his pocket to check his time piece. "Oh, it is. Must've lost track of time— been doing work and stuff." Finn scratched the back of his neck. Tommy raised a brow. "And stuff.." he mocked. "Rory come here."

She winced and stepped away from the wall, coming into view. "Evening," she smiled, hands behind her back.

Tommy gave her a once over. "I hope you're not distracting Finn from work."

She shook her head. "I'd never do that." Aurora answered. "I came to keep him company." She shrugged. Tommy hummed. "Of course you did.." he sighed and looked over his shoulder. "Well— I think it's time you both get back, don't you?"

"Why, Tom? You having some sort of secret meeting?" Finn teased with a grin. Aurora nudged him in the side. "What was that for?" He whined.

"Shut up.." She hissed.

Tommy stuck his tongue into the side of his cheek. "Go home." He ordered, stepping aside and waiting for them to get out. Aurora looked down to hide her grin and walked out of the office. "Night, Tom." She said.

Tommy said nothing and closed the door behind Finn.

Finn walked beside Rory and they practically ran out of the office building, sniggering to themselves. "Did you see his face?" Finn asked. "What do ya reckon is up with him?" She laughed, linking her arm around his.

"Fuck knows," Finn said as they walked down Watery Lane.

"That thing with John.. is it sorted now?" Rory asked him. Finn shrugged. "I'm not sure— don't worry about it though. Stuff like this always happens." He said.

"Yes but— what if they actually try and kill John?" She looked up at him.

Finn shook his head. "They wouldn't. They'd be fools to come after us— it would start a war." Finn tried to assure her. Rory took a deep breath. "I'm sure it's already began." She said.

-

Ada walked into the betting den, her heels clicking against the wooden floor. "Tommy says he needs to talk to you—" Aurora began but soon paused when realising it wasn't Polly. "You're not Polly."

Ada grinned. "No, i'm not." She confirmed.

Aurora jumped up and wrapped her arms around the Thorne woman and closed her eyes. "I feel like i've not seen you in forever." She breathed. Ada laughed. "It's been a while." Ada agreed.

"How's Karl?" Aurora asked when pulling away.

"He won't stop saying the word shit after hearing me say it once." Ada told her with a smile. Rory chuckled. "Sounds about right," she joked. "What are you doing here?" Aurora asked.

Ada took a deep breath. "Tommy sent me to get you ready for this Charity Dinner that he's hosting."

"I don't have anything to wear."

"That's why I got you something." Ada said, stepping into the hall to get the dress she had brought her. "I remember not long before Freddie passed— he said he wished he would've been able to see you in a wedding dress." She said sadly. "So this is for you."

Aurora swallowed hard at the mention of her brother and took the dress from Ada's hands. "Thank you, Ada."

"That's alright— go on, go get ready. We haven't got much time before we need to leave." Ada nodded toward the stairs, feeling herself tear up slightly.

Aurora couldn't have moved quicker and practically ran upstairs with the dress in her arms. It had been a while since Rory had a new dress. And this one was.. beautiful. More than beautiful.

It was white, like Ada had implied. It didn't look like a wedding dress though — that would be absurd. It was a long dress. Long and elegant. It had jewels sewn into the neckline. She smiled at herself in the mirror and ran a hand over the fabric. She looked over to her bedside table and bit her lower lip.

Aurora took the jewellery box from it and opened it up, staring at the necklace that belonged to her mother. She ran her fingers over the small diamond that hung from the silver chain.

She looked back at the mirror and jumped when seeing Finn stood at the now open door. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

She placed a hand on her chest. "How long have you been stood there."

"You were dressed, don't worry." He assured her with a smile. Aurora looked back down at the necklace. "Do you need help putting that on?" He offered whilst his hands sat in his pockets.

Aurora nodded.

He took it from her and stood behind her, focusing as he tried to do it.

Aurora watched him and watched the concentration on his face and the way his brows were furrowed as he did so. "I don't think i've ever seen you wear this— is it new?" Finn asked her.

"No, not new." She said. "It was my mums. Polly gave it to me on my fourteenth birthday. It went in that box and never came back out until now."

"What made you wear it?" Finn asked.

Rory hummed. "Well.. Polly said my mother told her to give it to me when the time is right and she did.. it now feels like the right time to wear it. Ada got me this dress because Freddie wished he was going to live to see me get married and.. well, he didn't get to do that. So wearing this necklace feels appropriate."

Finn nodded. "You look pretty."

"You don't look too bad yourself," she grinned, looking at him through the mirror. He was wearing black suit pants, a long sleeve dress shirt and a black tie. "I like it when you dress in proper suits."

Finn smiled and kissed her cheek. "I like it when you're happy.."

She refrained from cringing because she knew he was genuine. He had seen her in her worst times and he was getting to see her in her best.

Rory leaned up and kissed him. "We need to leave." She whispered. Finn nodded and let her leave the room first. He walked behind her as they descended the stairs where Ada was waiting with John who seemed to have been confiding in his younger sister.

John stopped talking when seeing Rory walk in. Ada frowned and looked over her shoulder at her brothers sudden pause.

"Oh, Rory." Ada said with excitement but also slight sadness knowing that Freddie would have been proud to see how she had grown. Ada cupped the girls face. "You look gorgeous— Freddie would tell you the same." Ada told her.

"Thank you, Ada." Aurora put her hand over Ada's.

Finn seemed to be grinning unknowingly whilst he watched the interaction. "What are you smirking at, trouble?" Ada moved to her younger brother and squeezed his cheeks.

Rory faced John and he put his hands in his pockets. "You look like an angel," he complimented with a slight smile at the way he had called her an angel and that was the name he and Arthur called her. "You're our Angel." John whispered, pulling her into a hug.

Aurora couldn't wipe the smile from her face. She didn't understand the fuss. It was only a dress.

But the reason they were fussing was because it was only two years ago that they weren't sure if she was going to live to see another year due to her unhealthy lifestyle and relationship with herself. So to see how far she had gotten was like a relief.

"You've always been my favourite," she whispered to him. He scoffed and laughed. "Yeah, I bet you say that to Tommy too." He said. Aurora shrugged. "Well— it was you who stopped the boys picking on me in school after my dad left." She reminded him. "You were the one to take me to the dad and daughter dance when I had no one to go with.."

John nodded at the memory and placed a hand on the side of the neck. "And if that dad and daughter dance comes up again," he referred to her wedding — in the future of course, "I hope it's me who you dance with again, Angel." He whispered.

Aurora felt her eyes well up slightly and she blinked a few times. "Of course it'll be you."

-

John pushed through the crowd and swiped a drink from a server, finishing it in one sip. Aurora held onto Finn's arm and they finally got out of the crowd and stood beside a table. "Do you know all these people?" She looked around.

"No— but Tommy probably does." Arthur grumbled. They began talking amongst themselves and Finn was laughing with John when Rory's eyes landed on a dark haired woman. "Who's she?" She tapped  John's shoulder. He followed her eyes and hummed. "Not sure— she seems to be invested in Tommy though. Grace will be fuming." He joked as they watched the three discuss something.

"Tommy doesn't look happy." Aurora said, examining his stance and face.

Ada approached them and said something to Grace which caused her to walk away with a smile of excitement. Tommy and the brunette continued to talk and Tommy's angered facial expression only worsened.

"Did you see that necklace?!" Aurora gasped, grabbing Finn's arm. "Grace's necklace, did you see it?"

Finn shook his head.

"It must have fucking cost somebody's life." She gasped. "Don't be dramatic." Finn chuckled. "No, i'm serious. It has to have cost something like that— it was a massive fucking sapphire. I knew that Shelby Company Limited was doing well but not well enough to afford sapphires."

Finn shrugged. "What Tommy wants, Tommy gets."

Rory raised her brows in agreement and turned around to start walking to Ada now that she was free. "How is it that a singular person can know so many people?" She asked with a laugh.

Ada sighed. "I haven't a clue." She said truthfully. "But they're donating good money so who cares?" She laughed. "Oh god," Ada noticed John and Arthur crying laughing with each other and began walking toward them.

Rory followed after her and locked eyes with Finn who couldn't help but smile at her. His face fell quickly when looking slightly to the right.

"Rory—" He shouted, pulling his hand out his pocket and reaching toward her as he began practically running. There was quite the distance between them and confusion filled her. She paused and looked to where he had looked.

A man stood, gun pointed directly at her.

He shoved past Polly who stumbled slightly and soon had wide eyes when realising where Rory was stood. She was frozen.

"Aurora—" John said and Ada too noticed what was happening.

Time moved in slow motion. Aurora watched the man get closer, gun still pointed whilst Finn was attempting to weave through people to get to his girlfriend.

"For Angel!"

Bang.

Rory covered her ears and squeezed her eyes closed, bracing herself for impact. She felt herself fall to the floor. She slowly opened her eyes, breathing quick. Finn had gotten to her just before the gun had gone off and managed to pull her out of the way. They had fell to the floor and he had his arms around her.

Arthur had ran forward in attempts to stop the man but it was as he grabbed him that the gun went off.

It went off and fired a bullet straight into Grace's chest. Ada, when seeing Aurora was safe with Finn, ran to Tommy's side as he held his wife who began bleeding out. John didn't hesitate to join Arthur in beating the man senseless.

Finn brushed Rory's hair from her face and shook his head. He was speaking to her but she couldn't hear him. Her ears were ringing. She searched herself for blood but found nothing. She was fine. She hadn't been hit.

Finn grabbed her face. "Rory— Rory you're okay. I need you to take a breath." He was shouting over the screams that had filled the room.

Aurora looked around and spotted Grace. She pulled away from Finn and stumbled to her feet, walking over to Tommy and Ada. She hand covered her mouth and put a hand over her stomach. She felt sick. "Grace— is she.. Grace?" Aurora couldn't get her words out.

Finn had joined Arthur and John in beating up the man.

"Get me a fucking ambulance now!" Tommy roared.

Aurora fell to her knees and pressed her hands onto Grace's wound in hopes to stop the bleeding. "You're going to be okay, Grace." She tried to assure, petrified to watch somebody die. Grace had her eyes on Tommy. Tommy was shaking his head and struggled to catch his breath. Ada was trying to talk to him but he didn't listen.

"You look beautiful, Grace." Rory couldn't find the right things to say. "You always look beautiful." She smiled, blood covering her hands as it continued to seep out of her. "And you make Tommy happy— you make him so.." Rory struggled to breath, "he waited for you to come back. Do you know that? He waited." She whispered, wiping the tear that fell from Grace's face.

Grace finally looked at Aurora. "Aurora—" She managed, wheezing slightly, "I need you to—" Aurora shook her head, "save your breath. You'll be okay."

Grace held her hand. "Be there for my boy.. for Charles— for Thomas."

Rory nodded quickly. "Of course.. of course. Always. But— I don't need to. You'll be okay." Aurora felt tears sting at her eyes and a lump gather in her throat.

Grace rolled her head to the side to look at Tommy and whispered a quiet 'i love you' to him. Tommy held her face as her eyes began to close. He shook his head. "Grace." He said, "Grace." He begged. Aurora removed her hands and looked down at them. Her breath hitched. Grace was dead. She used her hands to shuffle backward and felt a pair of hands pull her to her feet.

"She's dead—"

"It's okay.." Finn held her. Rory stared at her hands. Her stomach churned. Rory looked down at her dress which was somehow unstained and didn't have a single drop of blood on it. Her eyes widened, heart pounded, ears rang. "I can't get blood on this— Freddie.. he wanted— no, I can't." Her words came out quickly and broken up. She struggled to finish her sentences but Finn understood what she was trying to avoid and removed his suit jacket. He took her hands and began wiping them with the black jacket.

Aurora's breaths were quick and her eyes were still wide. She had watched somebody bleed out whilst asking her to look after their little boy.

With Grace's last few breaths, she asked Aurora to be there for Tommy and Charles.

Finn, once almost completely cleaning her hands, held her face again and calmed her down. Grace had been carried away from Tommy and despite being told she was dead, he ordered she was taken to hospital just in case.

Rory was taken to the car by John and Finn whilst Ada, Polly and Arthur tried to console Tommy.

Grace Shelby was dead. Officially dead. And the sapphire that hung around her neck had actually cost a life.. her life.