It took three whiskies before Tommy had finally formulated a rough idea of what he was going to do. And the rough idea was to wing it. The longer he left it, the more danger the girl was in and the more he would overthink what he was about to do. All he had to do was get her out of there, then he would have no part to play in anything else.

Inside her brother's whore house, Rose was dosing off. Before she had left home, she hadn't had the opportunity to collect her belongings, and so the plain room left her with little options other than to sleep. She wished she at least had a book with her, or a window to look out of, but the tiny room gave her no indulgences. Her brother was cruel.

Just as she was about to fall into the world of dreams, there was a sudden knocking at the door. It was harsh, loud and fast; unmistakably Charles. She shuddered at the thought of having to see her brother again, moving to sit on the end of the bed. The door opened.

"This is her." Charles was stood in the doorway, flanked closely by another man. He was maybe thirty five, with slightly graying hair which was slicked back onto his head. His moustache was bushy and his eyes jumpy; already he made Rose feel nervous. He looked at her like she was a piece of meat he was considering buying. It took her only a second to realise that that was what was happening. She cursed herself for being so naïve all the time.

As the two men stepped closer, her heart began to pound. It was like a loud drum beat in her ear, each boom marking a second closer to hell. This was going to be hell. She couldn't breathe.

"Ain't she a pretty one," the man remarked, a disgusting smile creeping up onto his thin lips. "Perfect."

"For the price I mentioned earlier?" Charles questioned, winking at Rose sickeningly.

"Done."

"She's yours, then. One hour."

And with that her brother left her alone with a stranger.

The man must have been informed of Rose's situation; he could see she was timid and uncertain. It made him want her even more.

"Now then lovely, what's yer name?" he asked of her, moving closer. One of his hands picked up a lock of her hair, admiring the fiery colour. She shivered and tried to pull away. "Not so fast," he chided. His hand snapped away from her hair and onto her jaw, his fingers pressing down on her windpipe. "I asked what yer name was."

She could feel his warm, moist breath fan across her skin as he spoke, and the smell of his rancid breath practically burnt her nostrils.

"R-Rose," she barely managed to choke out against his tight grip.

"There's a good lass," he loosened his grip slightly, "my name is Walter. You're going to do what I say and please me for the next hour. I paid good money for you, Rose. I expect a good show. Is that understood?"

Walter's grip became even tighter as he pulled her up to her feet, his spare hand caressing her side. Rose nodded as a means of telling him that yes, she did understand. She understood all too well what was going to happen.

"That's a very pretty red dress you've got on there, Rose," Walter told her, fisting the material by her thigh. He pulled it up further and further, one finger running along the skin of her inside leg. "I think it would look better off, though, don't yer agree?"

The man's dry, cracked lips bent towards her neck, laying kisses over the skin there. Rose shuddered – she couldn't help it. Her breathing was getting increasingly fast; it was as if water was rising all around her and she was going to drown. Walter's hand was so close to touching her..there. She wanted to be sick. Tears were flowing down her pale cheeks, but the man didn't seem to care.

Rose decided in that moment, that this was the darkest hour of her life.

Bang

The door slammed open quickly, and Rose's head snapped up to see what was going on. In the doorway, her brother stood with the man from earlier. As soon as she saw that it was him, she dropped her eyes. She didn't want the pain in her head to come back or those awful, terrifying visions.

"Get off her, Walter," Charles drawled, moving towards them to pull the man off his sister. "Times up."

"You're fuckin' rippin' me off, you are! It ain't been an hour yet!" Walter yelled, clearly agitated to have been interrupted.

"You think I care, old man? I've had a better offer. If you have a problem, you can take it up with one of my men."

"Fuckin' bastard," the older man mumbled, walking out of the room reluctantly.

"Sorry about that, Mr Shelby," her brother apologised, beginning to back out of the room. "Nice to see you changed your mind about earlier. I'll leave you two, then."

And with that Charles closed the door behind him.

Rose hastily began wiping the moisture from her eyes, rearranging her skirts so that they were no longer scrumpled up.

"I suppose you want me to spread my legs for you, too," she whimpered, taking a seat on the end of her bed.

Thomas Shelby stood before her for a moment, studying her. He wondered how exactly he had managed to get himself into this situation, or how he planned to get back out of it.

Eventually, he responded. "Don't be stupid."

At this, Rose looked up with confusion. If he had not come in here to defile her, what on earth had he come for?

"Sorry?" she said, her voice shaking with nerves. She was still in shock that she escaped from Walter.

"Of course I'm not 'ere for that, do I look like yer fuckin' brother?" At that, the young girl began to cry, and Tommy regretted his words. He wasn't good at being pleasant to people. "What's yer name?"

The girl looked up at him through watery eyes, her stare so intense that he almost had to look away. Except that he never, ever, looked away from anyone first. "Rose. Rose Moore," she told him, and then, as an afterthought, "and yours is?"

"Nobody important," Tommy shrugged.

There was a moment of silence when neither of them knew quite what to do. It was Rose who broke this, "okay then, Nobody Important, could you perhaps tell me why on earth you are here?"

Tommy knew he had been right about her upbringing; her voice gave away the many years of privilege she had lived through. He hated her yet envied her all at once.

"To get yer out," he replied, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

"And how exactly do you propose to do that?"

"Well, Rose," Tommy replied, taking a deep drag on his cigarette, "I 'aven't quite got that far yet."

The young girl rolled her eyes at him, unable to believe that he would come here without so much as a plan. "Such a great rescue, I have to say I feel like some sort of princess."

Tommy smiled, genuinely, for the first time in a long time. He couldn't believe the confidence of this girl; he was used to people tip-toeing around him, always making sure never to offend him. And here she was being outright sarcastic.

"Fairytales ain't real," he told her, taking another drag on his cigarette. "Want one?" Tommy held out his box of smokes to her, but she politely shook her head. He thought as much.

"I'm not stupid," Rose argued, irritated that he spoke to her like a child.

"Just privileged and naïve, then."

"At least I plan things before I do them," she quipped back. "Have you come up with something yet or not?"

"I'm thinking."

"Well you're not thinking hard enough. I think I've got an idea."

It took Tommy several minutes to recover from his state of shock. He had expected her to be a mess of crying when he came in here, but she composed herself scarily quickly. And now she was claiming she had a plan. He was being slow.

"What is it?" he finally wondered. Rose jumped up from her seat at the end of the bed and set about telling him.

Once she finished indulging him in her plan, Tommy sat back and thought for a moment. "Yer know what, Rose Moore? That might just work."

"I know," she told him cockily. "Go on then!"

Tommy followed the girl's command and left the room just as she'd asked. Once outside, he left the door slightly ajar and made his way down the corridor, towards the entrance room where Charles usually resided. He knocked on the door.

"Come in," Charles called out from inside the room. Tommy stepped inside, and so the diversion began.

Meanwhile, Rose heard the front room door close, hard, and so she knew she had to move. Quietly and cautiously, she peeled the bedroom door open, peering down the corridor to see if it was clear. There was nobody there. She darted towards the front door moving as silently as she could, knowing that a single loud noise could result in the end for her. Once she reached it, she eased it open with such delicacy that she wondered how she managed it. Hopefully Tommy was keeping her brother entertained enough that he wouldn't notice anything strange.

The cool fresh air caressed her face once she stepped outside, and she breathed it in gratefully. But she could only relish in the delight for a moment; she knew she had to keep moving. Following the orders of Tommy, she rushed across the street, rounding the corner of the Garrison and pressing herself against the wall there. Now she had to wait for Tommy, and after that she had to run.

Inside the building, Tommy was doing his best to converse with Charles without shooting him in the head. The urge to cause him pain in any way possible was almost irresistible, but he knew he had to resist killing him, at least for now.

"How was she?" Charles asked with a smirk on his face.

"Inexperienced, tight, perfect," Tommy said, wanting to gag on his own words. He hated that those words came out of his mouth, even if they were lies.

"I expect she'll need a little recovery time," the girl's brother laughed, and Tommy felt like he was going to be sick. Was it time yet? Surely Rose must have gotten to their agreed meeting place by now? Yes, he decided, she must have.

"Well, Charles," Thomas began, fighting the urge to smile, "let's 'ope you'll need a little recovery time after this, eh?"

Before Charles knew what was going on, Tommy's fist connected with his nose. He felt the cartilage shove back into the disgusting boy's head, and a rush of adrenaline sent him into overdrive. Charles fell backwards, landing with a snack on the floor, but the other man just couldn't stop. His fists kept going and going – it was as if he wasn't even controlling them.

Stop, Tommy thought. He knew he had to stop and get away – he couldn't kill Charles, not today, anyway. As a final means of disrespect, Tommy spat on the other man's crumpled figure, before rushing out of the door to find Rose. He didn't indulge in aimless violence, but what he just did was by no means aimless; the man had deserved what he got and more.

When Tommy finally reached Rose, he was out of breath.

"What took you so long?" she wondered.

"Nothin'" Tommy lied. "Come on we've got to get further away from 'ere."

They ran down street after street after street, until Rose was entirely lost and Tommy had to pause to get his bearings. He decided that by now they must be far away enough to part.

"Okay," he said, digging into the pocket of his coat and pulling a wad of money out, "this should be enough to get yer started wherever yer choose to go."

"What?" Rose questioned, refusing to take the money which he tried to press into her hands. "You're just leaving me here?"

"What do yer propose I do? I 'ave a family to look after. I don't even know yer."

Rose began to panic, her eyes watering once again and that choking feeling returning to her chest. Would anything ever be okay for more than five minutes?

"But I don't know where I am – my brother will look for me, I don't know what to do! I've lived my whole life in the lie of privilege, how do you expect me to just live on my own?"

"Look, Rose, my family 'ate me enough as it is just for 'elpin' yer. Can yer imagine what they'd do to me if I brought yer back with me?" Tommy tried to reason with her, but even to him the idea of leaving her here sounded stupid.

"Oh," the young girl whimpered, as she began furiously swatting her tears away. He could see she was putting on a show. "Well, thank you for your kindness, Nobody Important. I will be eternally grateful for what you have done."

Rose began walking away, not knowing where she was going or where she was coming from. She didn't even know the city, or how to navigate it. She was useless, and she knew she would probably end up back with her brother.

Just as she reached the end of the street, she heard the man shouting.

"Rose, Rose wait!"

Don't forget to leave a review if you like the story, thanks for reading:)

Ellie X