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Chapter Thirty-Four

Claire had almost screamed herself hoarse when she heard the cell door clang open. She jumped back into the corner, as far from the door as possible.

Her captor stepped into the light and she recoiled even more. It was him. She almost didn't want to open her eyes. She wasn't sure if she could survive this again.

"Hello, my little Josephine!" He said happily. "My little flying machine," he crooned.

She balled her fists at her side, her nails digging into her palms.

"What? No hello?" he asked, mocking hurt feelings. "Very well. I just wanted you to know that nobody can hear you down here and that our time is to not be just yet. We've been called away to a small raid. But I'll be back tomorrow. Don't you worry." He smiled grotesquely, his teeth yellow and some rotting. He set down a small tray with water and some porridge. "For you to eat. I want you to have your strength. All the better to hear you scream."

He edged out of the door and Claire lunged forward without thinking. The chain caught her leg and she fell to the ground. Hard. She caught herself with her already battered hands, still bleeding from her earlier rampage.

She stopped herself so as not to do more damage and decided she simply needed to fall asleep. She could contact Thomas in her dreams. He just had to be asleep, too. And he was bound to sleep at some point tonight, right?

She had to go to sleep. She idly wondered what time it was, how much of it she had lost. Falling asleep immediately was the best option, but that wasn't exactly easy, especially in a place like this. With the knowledge of that man, that monster, coming back tomorrow. Not knowing what would happen to her.

But she did know what was going to happen to her family, to Tommy's family. She had to do what she could to stop it.

So, without further thought, Claire rammed herself head first into the stone wall of her cell. She had only a moment to feel the biting, excruciating pain of the blow, before she blacked out for the second time that day.

x x x

Tommy went to the stables, where the Blinder's should be with Danny in tow. Everything had gone as planned. None of his men were hurt and Danny was in fine enough shape. Nothing worse than what Tommy had gone through. Probably a little less, since Campbell didn't hate Danny nearly as much as he hated Thomas.

He thought of Claire again. He had restored her brother back to her family which meant he only need take care of this business at the racetrack tomorrow before everything would be all settled. He dare not sleep in case he met Claire in a dream. He couldn't see her right now. It would cloud his mind and he needed to be calm, clear, and ready. Some men liked having a woman the night before a big battle, but not him. He wanted all that energy, the rage and bloodlust to mix with his emotions to make him more lethal than everyone. He set off to The Garrison to await the morning light. It was going to be a long one. The men were meant to wait at the city limits to head to the track together as a unit.

Polly soon joined him soon after and ordered a glass of gin. Tommy waited for her to speak.

Finally, Polly turned to him and said, "Thomas I need to talk to you about Claire."

He sighed and closed his eyes. It seemed he couldn't escape her no matter what he did this night. "What about Claire?"

"I know she spent the night with you last night. That you know about her scars. About the burn."

He snapped his head in his aunt's direction. "You knew about that?"

She sat back and pursed her lips. "I've always known. Claire made me swear I wouldn't tell. She didn't want that burden on you. I'll never forget the way Aiden looked after that night. All the boys."

Tommy looked at her for further explanation. Polly lit a cigarette and took a long drag. She spoke through the smoke. "They were all in those cells down there. They heard everything that was happening to her. The sound of the whip. They could smell her burning skin."

Tommy put his head in his hands. He could only imagine…hearing it all and not being able to do anything. Just like the way he had felt in his dream when he had smoked his opium pipe before passing out. Her screams still echoed in his mind. He could never have thought up what the reality of it was. The lash marks. The burn. It took a person more demon than human to do something like that.

"Claire's skin on her back was in ribbons. Her skin bubbled over from the-"

"Alright, Pol! I know!" Tommy bellowed at his aunt. He didn't need the imagery. He was starting to see red. He had to control his anger a little longer.

Polly pursed her lips again. "My point is that girl went through worse hell than you've ever been through, war hero or not. And she did it because she loved you. Because she was loyal to her family and this one. And by some miracle she has kept that love for you alive all these years and these months you have openly scorned her. That is a strength only a woman can know, a love only a woman can feel." She put out her dying cigarette in the ash tray on the bar top. "Do not squander that kind of love, Thomas Michael Shelby. God has shown favoritism on you once before, kept you and your brothers alive in the war, and has smiled on you again by bringing Claire back to you. Do not give her a reason to leave again or I swear I will maim you myself." She got up slowly, gracefully, like a cat, and walked out the pub door.

Tommy could only stare ahead. He knew Claire loved him and he knew he loved her, but he had never looked at it that way before. He had all the puzzle pieces now to see the full picture.

He had told Claire she wasn't broken and he had meant it. He could also see now that Claire had never left him. She had carried that torch for him all these years, been his silent warrior, and done it all because she loved him enough to leave if it meant he would never have to know the horror of her sacrifice.

Because it was a horror. Polly's words ate at him. Skin in ribbons…bubbled over. The damned wall was nothing compared to that. The nightmares she must have had. The pain of healing over those wounds. Not running for the hills the first time she had come face to face with her torturer was the bravest thing he could think of now.

He thought of what Polly said about her brothers. For them to come back here and embrace him as a brother, as if this horrible thing they had to listen to in the cells next to hers wasn't a burden they wanted to share. To keep that pain to themselves.

Thomas realized it wasn't just Claire's love that was strong, though hers was by far the strongest, Herculean even, her family's was as well.

The O'Casey's were his family along with his aunt, brothers, and sister. They had been sacrificing, all of them, all these years they had stayed away from the best home they had ever had.

For the first time in years, Tommy was humbled.