I've come to realise that when I upload a new chapter at three-ish in the morning there's bound to be loads mistakes even when I proofread, though there are some spelling/grammar mistakes for dialogue reasons. I promise I'll edit and change any mistakes throughout the next couple of days on all my chapters.

I hope everyone is okay and safe.

Please enjoy this chapter - It's very Finn oriented.

Love, Comet96 xx


I trusted Tommy on most things but on this, I wasn't too sure.

Why did he want to enter a horse into a race if he knew it had no chance of winning? And to put Dusty through the training of such intensity when he wouldn't be ready for his first race.

"Wow, that horse is fast!" Finn exclaimed watching as Maddox ran through the course with Dusty once again. Finn was excited to see the horses at the estate and he looked happy when I asked him to help bring Dusty from the farm to here this morning.

"He is, but I need him faster," I said to Finn, ruffling his hair as Maddox brought Dusty over to us and jumped down.

"When's Tommy's jockey gonna ride 'im?" Maddox asked as he brought Dusty over, running his hand over the horse's nose. "He needs to get used to 'im if you want 'im to stand a chance in the race."

"He's meant to be bringing him today." I shrugged as if that was enough explanation. Whether or not Tommy brought his jockey was enough thing. He should have been here by now. "Finn, shall we got take Storm out for a ride?" I asked, knowing that Finn wanted to ride his horse.

"Yeah!" He was just as excited when I had him move Storm into a trailer to bring with us too. "Come on!" He yelled running over to the stables where we'd left Storm earlier.

When we came to the stables Colin, the stable manager and Tim were directing Howie and Frank into two stables. Howie had hold of Aden's ropes and was trying to bring the horse into his new home, but Aden as fighting him, trying to get to Wen, who was being pulled away by Frank.

"Hang on," I called to Finn, pushing him away from the commotion as I rushed over to Aden, grabbing his reins from Howie. "Hey boy, remember me? What's wrong?" I ran my hand over his nose but he still tried to fight me. He was trying to get to Wen. "Frank, bring her here." Frank seemed to understand that Aden wanted the mare near him, so without hesitation, brought her over. Aden calmed as the other horse approached and when she was close enough, he bumped his nose against her neck. "Huh."

Still holding onto Aden's reins, I moved closer to Wen, running my hand over her back. There was a strange feeling to her and I had a feeling I knew what was behind Aden's fighting. Running my hand from her back down to her stomach, I smiled as I found the course of all this fuss.

"She's pregnant?" Maddox asked as he came into the stable with Dusty.

"You sure?" Colin asked, stepping closer as if I had just told him I was the Queen of England.

"Aye, Ellie always knows when a horse is pregnant," Maddox said a hint of pride in his voice. Where Mah-mee had the sight with people, I had the sigh with horses. It's why I always worked with the horses cause I knew what they needed. "We ain't had 'em long at the farm, she can't be more than two months gone."

"Put them in one of the bigger stalls at the end. I'd rather no one gets hurt by Aden because he's protecting her," I said, waving Howie off as he tried to take Aden. It was probably best I take him to the stall. He seemed so much calmer now he was with Wen. I wonder if Tommy knew this would happen when he bought the pair.

"Ellie, can we still go out?" Finn asked, his eyes flicking over to Storm as if worried he wouldn't be able to ride him.

"Of course, Finn, let's saddle Storm and then I'll saddle Tilly and we can go for a trot around the grounds while we wait for Tommy to arrive." I followed him to Storms pen, and as Finn calmed the horse I grabbed his saddle.

I hadn't been lying to Tommy when I said Storm would be fine around Finn. The horse wasn't even bothered by the boy anymore and I knew they were both perfect for each other. Finn helped me fasten the clips to the saddle and I helped him put the reins on before Finn gave a gentle tug and Storm followed him out of the stable.

One of our other stable boys was already saddling Tilly when I went down to her pen and I gave Billy a smile as he ran his hand down her neck and handed me her reins. Tim was helping Finn onto Storm when I approached and Maddox was waiting to help me onto Tilly.

"I was speakin' to Colin, he said you got a new stable bein' built," he said, pushing on the bottom of my heel as I settled on Tilly. I hadn't taken her out in a while, I normally rode Hellfire and only took Tilly when Papa wanted a ride.

"We've got fifteen horses here, Mad, most of them are racers but the others are breeders or leisure horses. I'm thinking of having Aden, Wen, Storm, and Hellfire moved here permanently and the course here is better to train them for the races. I just thought it would be better to build another stable in case we buy more horses," I muttered, looking back at the large stables behind us. I knew it was one of the largest estate stables holding up to twenty horses, but this was part of our business. We needed more space.

"I wasn' against it. Just thought I 'as helping ya with the 'orses, is all," he grumbled causing me to smile down at him.

"You are, I was hoping you'd move in and start a training schedule with Colin."

"I got trust in ya, Ellie," he said, tapping Tilly on the bum causing her to walk forward. How could he ever think I'd forget about our plan?

"Come along, Finn," I called, nodding encouragingly at him as he muttered to Storm and tapped his feet against his stomach to get him to move. "Gunner, come." I watched as the black dog began a trot next to the horse, being cautious about approaching. It was good to see he'd had training near horses as he gave them their space.


I was taking Finn down my favourite trail when he made me realise he wasn't as naive as we thought.

"Is Tommy going to kill Graves?" he asked, startling me as I turned to him.

"Why do you think that, Finn?" Had he heard something? No one would have said something like that, not to Finn or around him.

"Tommy's been really angry and I know it's to do with Graves." He pulled Storm to a slow trot and gave a small shrug. "I 'eard 'im on the phone. He said sumthing about killing and I 'eard Graves name."

Oh. He must have been talking about Gideon Smith. Shit, had Finn heard Tommy planning Smith's murder?

"Finn, you have nothing to worry about," I assured, his reaching over and setting my hand on his arm. I didn't want him to worry about this.

"But Tommy's gonna kill 'im!" he shouted, his face red as he wiped violently at his eyes.

"Finn, trust me, Tommy won't kill Graves." He couldn't, not that I would be able to tell him that. "Look, tonight at dinner, I'll convince Tommy to let you stay so he can explain things to you."

I'd have to speak to Tommy first, make sure he only told Finn the basic bits of the contract before sending him to bed.

"Yeah?" He seemed happy about being part of a family meeting. I think it would be good for him, but he still needed boundaries. He was only nine, he didn't need to know everything.

"Of course, Finn. You're part of this family and you deserve to know what's going on."

"Ellie, I 'ave to tell you sumthing," he said, looking scared as tightened his grip on Storm's reins.

"What's wrong?" I asked, reaching over and taking his hand in mine. He looked scared and that wasn't something I was used to seeing with Finn.

"Ya know Robbie?"

"Robbie Miller?" Why would Finn bring him up? Unfortunately, Finn had witnessed a few of my run-ins with the man and he'd seen what he was like.

"Tommy cut 'im at the docks," Finn admitted, pulling his hands from mine as I frowned at him. How did he know this?

"When was this?"

"Wednesday at lunch."

"How do you know this, Finn?" I asked, searching his face for something and frowning as I saw his sheepish look.

"I saw it," he said, turning his face away as he fiddled with the reins.

"Why weren't you at school?" I couldn't help but be annoyed that he'd skipped school.

"I was, but I saw Tommy and Arthur go by and I snuck out when Annie was busy." He looked ashamed and he should be. Poor Annie probably had no idea how to deal with Finn and she was probably scared when he left.

"On Monday I'm taking you to the school and you're going to apologise to Annie. How could you do something like that? Finn, it's really dangerous at the moment. You need to stay at school where we know you'll be safe." Why hadn't one of Tommy's men seen him sneak out? He could have been hurt.

"What 'bout Robbie?" he asked, and I knew he was trying to take the heat off him.

"I'll deal with, Robbie." I sighed, shaking my head at this news. Not only was Tommy hiding things from me, but he didn't even know that Finn was sneaking out of school to follow him.

"I'm sorry, Ellie," Finn whispered. He did look like he regretted it, but it should have been expected. He was a Shelby after all and they seemed to thrive off breaking rules.

"I know, Finn, just don't do it again." I hope he knew I was disappointed in him. No one would have known if he'd gotten himself in trouble. "Come on, I'll race you back."

I gave Tilly a nudge and moved her from her walk into a trot and then a gallop. Finn got Storm to gallop after us and it was nice to hear his laugh as he races past us. His confidence was soaring with Storm and I knew I had to try and do this with him more often. Or at least see if Maddox could get out with him.

It took us twenty minutes to get back to the stables and I was slightly surprised to see Tommy, John and Arthur waiting for us as we came to a slow trot. Finn was smiling down at his brothers as he waved to them from on top of Storm.

"Look, Tommy," he called, the pride oozing off his as he calmed Storm when Arthur approached. Gunner darted to Tommy and sat down obediently at his feet. The little traitor. I had a feeling the dog prefered Tommy over me, and he was supposed to be my dog.

I climbed down off Tilly, handing the reins to Billy as I made my way to Finn and lifted him down from Storm. I took hold of his reins as he tapped his hoof on the floor in frustration. There were too many men out here.

"Finn, get Maddox to stay with you as you brush Storm down," I said, gesturing for Tommy, John and Arthur to move out of the way. I couldn't deal with Finn or one of them getting hurt on top of all this new information.

As I turned to face my husband I could tell there was something wrong from the way they all looked sluggish and annoyed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned that all three of them looked like they could do with a fight. That was never a good sign with the Shelby men.

"Our jockey pulled out," Tommy said, digging into his coat pocket and pulling out his cigarette tin. I think it was becoming a bit of a habit for him now, to smoke when he was stressed.

"We think Graves is behind it," John added, twirling his toothpick between his fingers.

"We ain't go no one to race the 'orse," Arthur grumbled, crossing his arm in his huff and then immediately uncrossing them.

"We'll 'ave to pull out the race," John muttered, throwing his toothpick on the floor in his anger.

"Why don' you ask Maddox to race him?" I asked, fiding their little pity party a little stupid. There was no doubt that the three of them were related. They all looked like kicked little puppies. "He has a jockey license and he's been training with Dusty, they know how to work together."

"Why din't we think of that?" Arthur mumbled, frowning in confusion as he clenched his fist.

I raised my eyebrows at his obvious display of annoyance and looked over to John who looked just as frustrated. Casting my eyes to Tommy caused me to almost roll them. It looked like my dear husband was already on the same track as me when it came to Maddox if the tug of his lips was to go by.

"You know what, I'll go ask him and then I can show you to your rooms." I glanced over to John and then to Arthur. "Are the boys here?"

I knew Tommy wanted a family dinner and I knew he said everyone, but I wasn't sure if he actually meant everyone.

"Aye, they're with, umm, what's 'er name?" He waved his hand in the air as if her name was going to appear

"Daisy's got them. They're playing with Hunter and Winston," Tommy said, giving me a look I couldn't quite read. "Polly's gone to the kitchens and Ada's in the library."

"I'll be five minutes and then we can head inside," I replied, giving them one last look before finding Maddox by Storm's stall.


I had spent a lot of my childhood understand what was expected of me when I had control of running an estate, but even now, after having training, I was feeling overwhelmed. I knew this sort of stuff was dealt with by Papa because there was no way Grandmother would lift a finger to deal with dinner plans and appointments.

Or perhaps it was Mrs Hughes and Mr Crampton that had dealt with the house while Papa worked.

Throughout the afternoon Mrs Hughes and Samual had been like angels. Mrs Hughes had set up the small dining room off the main parlour. It was large enough for the family and it meant we didn't have to open the large dining room.

She'd gone over what was planned for the evening, drinks in the parlour and then a two-course meal, followed by tea and coffee in the sunroom. She'd introduced me to the staff that would be serving us tonight, Liam, Aiden and Nicholas would be our main servers and Mia and Zara would be on hand to help with John's boys.

Mrs Hughes had everything organised and had every answer to the questions Polly fired off. It seemed Polly was pleased with Mrs Hughes planning and left to get John's boys ready for the night with Mia and Zara.

Once I was sure everyone was comfortable in their rooms I thanked Mrs Hughes and excused myself to my room.

Tommy was at on the bed and seemed to be waiting for me as I entered. Thankfully he wasn't smoking but he did have a drink in his hands. He glanced up when I entered and gave me a soft smile.

"Your grandfather arrived an hour ago," he said, downing his drink and setting the empty glass on the floor. "We came to see you but you were busy with Mrs Hughes." He paused and took my hand in his, pressing a kiss to my palm. "It suits you."

"I just want everything to go well," I muttered shrugging as if it was nothing. "It's finally hit me that this is our home and we're in charge. I'm grateful for Mrs Hughes, I wasn't prepared for all this." I waved my hand in the air as if that was enough to explain things. "Getting rooms organised and sorted, preparing a menu and schedule. Did you know we have drinks in the parlour before tea followed by drinks after dinner in the sunroom?"

"We'll get used to it," Tommy said, tugging me to rest in his lap. He pressed a kiss to the side of my head as he wrapped his arms around me, holding me close.

"Do you want to get used to it?" I knew he wanted this but it wasn't on his terms. He still thought himself unworthy of this. It was a big cultural change and I wasn't sure if he was ready.

"In a year all two, when everything's settled with the company, this will be our normal," he muttered, pressing a kiss to my hair.

I pulled back and sighed. I didn't want that for him. I didn't need him thinking he had to work for it when we already had it. I knew that was who he was, he had to work for everything, but this could help his plans.

"Is that what you want? A big house like this?" I didn't know what his end game was. I knew he wanted to end Graves and I knew he planned to take everything from Billy Kimber, but what did he want to achieve from it all? "This is your house, Tommy. This can be out normal if you want it."

"It don't feel right," he grumbled and I had to laugh at that. I knew why it didn't feel right to him.

"You didn't earn so you can't have it. You feel like it was handed to you on a silver platter, don't you?" I laughed as he frowned at me and I couldn't help but place a kiss on his pouty lips. "You're too proud, Tommy."

"Shut up." He pulled me to him as he lay back on the bed, pulling my body over his as he held me to him. It was nice just lying here in his arms when I knew he had so much crap going on in his head.

"I told Finn you'd let him stay for the family meeting." I could feel him, getting ready to argue so I pushed up so I could look down at him. "Not all of it, but enough so he doesn't go round looking for answers. Did you know he left school on Wednesday and followed you and Arthur to the docks?" He tensed under me and I knew he was thinking about Robbie. "Why were you with Robbie Miller?"

"I was just catching up with 'im."

"Why don't I believe you?" I shook my head as I watched him try to come up with something. Was he being serious? Did he not see that I knew he was lying to me? Pressing my hands on his chest, I shifted so I was straddling him and then reached down and grabbed his balls, giving them a squeeze. I enjoyed the intake of breath at his surprise and the widening of his eyes. "Tommy," I warned, letting him know I wasn't in the mood for his tales.

"I found out he was working with Graves," Tommy let out, grabbing hold of my wrist with one hand and slipping his other under my hand and off his balls. "He was gonna come after you. Thought I'd deal with 'im first."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" I asked, feeling more than a little offended that he thought to keep it from me.

Tommy flipped us so I was resting under him and let his hands fall on either side of my head as he gave me his devilish smirk.

"I knew you'd bust my balls."


Thank you for reading xx