To Fix a Broken Heart
Summary: She was broken, fragile and in pieces. Cora was a troubled girl who just happened to get involved with the Shelby family. No one ever asks for a dangerous life but when it's thrown at you, there are only two things you can do; let it engulf you or run away and she didn't want to run.
Prologue
October 1927
She wrapped her fur coat around her frame a little tighter as she stepped through the cold and dirty city streets of Paris; she hadn't been here long and Cora already knew that she didn't want to spend another second in this god forsaken hole, but this was where her father told her, her career as a ballerina would take off. Cora longed to be back on English soil but if she wanted her success, she had to continue to tour Europe with her partner, Julian and her choreographer, Edward. The one thing that was getting her through her time in Paris was Edward; she had loved him for a couple of years and when he suggested the idea of marriage, she couldn't refuse. Cora adjusted her engagement ring before stepping into the hotel that they had been residing in for the past couple of months. She climbed the staircase until she reached her floor and unlocked her room to stumble upon Edward entangled in an embrace with Julian. Their hands were all over each other and their lips were locked in a passionate kiss; it was a way that he had never kissed her before. When she dropped her bag, the thud drew their attention to her, and they separated almost immediately.
"Cora," Edward said breathlessly as his eyes roamed over the face of hurt and betrayal. Before he could stop her, she had bounded over to him and slapped him as hard as she could. The force of her hit made him fall back onto the bed but before she could get another hit in, he gripped her by the wrist and returned to his feet. "Cora, you need to calm down and let me explain."
"I chose not to listen to the rumours about you, I am supposed to be marrying you in a month's time." Her vision was blurred by her tears, but she could see the embarrassment oozing from Edward's face. "How could you do this to me? I have been nothing but good to you."
"Do you think I chose to be like this?" he shouted at her, shaking her body back and forth.
"I don't care if you are attracted to men, I won't ask and you will not tell me, but I will not be embarrassed by having a man break of an engagement with me." Cora loved Edward and she wanted nothing more than for him to be happy, regardless of who it was with, she just wished it could've been her; but she knew if they called off the wedding, she would bring shame onto her family.
"I am sure we can come to some sort of an agreement." Julian piped up as he buttoned up his shirt, when both sets of eyes were on his face, he pursed his lips and stood up straight. "But only if you can keep our secret, Cora."
She looked between the two men and felt the blood in her veins run cold. If she had of known what she was going to be setting in motion, she wouldn't have entertained the idea, but she was desperate for her career to take off and she lived in the hope that Edward would grow to love her if he was bound to her.
She swallowed back her doubts and ignored that voice in her head that told her to leave and never look back. "What is your bright idea, Julian?"
"I can see that you love Edward, the way you struck him could only come from a place of care, am I right?" Julian looked at her with a raised brow and watched as she nodded once, her eyes steering clear from Edward's sympathetic gaze. "Do you want to see us outcasted from society? Do you want to scramble to find a new partner and a new choreographer? Better yet, do you really want to go through another engagement?"
"No, I don't." she said in an almost whisper.
"Marry Edward to keep face. To the world the two of you will be a happy couple," Julian placed one hand on Edward's shoulder and the other in the space between Cora's shoulder blades, "but behind closed doors, Edward and I can continue our relationship. We love each other as I'm sure you'll understand. And I promise to you, we will not torment you by flaunting our relationship in front of you and we will never disgrace you."
Edward watched his fiancé contemplate her choices, he wasn't sure which way she would sway but he knew that she loved him enough to agree to their demands. "You can have any man you want, Cora while we're married. I could never deny you the chance of true happiness."
She nodded reluctantly and gave into their demands. It was the only feasible option that she could see; it meant that she could continue dancing at the peak of her youth and the other couple could live their lives without fear of being outcasted from society. They were the reasons why she accepted their proposition.
His flashbacks had only gotten worse, brought on by stress as the doctors said but they didn't know the half of it. He hesitantly took the pills they supplied him and leaned on his desk as he waited for them to take effect. When he heard the door to his study opened, Tommy turned to see Lizzie standing there with Ruby in her arms and Charlie lingering behind her. He tried his best to plaster a smile onto his face, but it was hard to grin throughout the torture that coursed his mind.
"What're you doin' Lizzie?" he croaked as his son ran towards him. He scooped him up and kept him on his hip.
"You can't stay cooped up in here, Tommy. It's not good for you." She was concerned for her husband, he spent many days and nights in here reading through documents and drinking his life away. "It'll drive you mad."
"Already has." He placed a tender kiss on the side of Charlie's head and placed him back on the floor. "I'll come out, just give me a moment." He nodded at Lizzie waiting for her to return the nod.
"Pol's been on the phone lookin' you."
He grunted at her as he sat down behind his desk and lit a cigarette quickly, he wasn't surprised that she was calling; she called almost every day begging Tommy to bring Michael back from New York. "Right."
Lizzie handed Ruby over to her brother and instructed for them to play in the hallway before she closed the door to his study. She approached his desk and waved for him to hand over a cigarette and when he complied, she kept it rested between her lips.
"Why won't you tell me what's gotten into you?"
He took a long drag from his cigarette and let the smoke escape his nose as he said, "Because I don't need to burden you with what's goin' on inside my head."
"I'm your wife, Tommy." She reminded him as he turned his gaze to the window. She worried about him, Lizzie acted like she didn't hear him punch his desk and turned a blind eye to the marks on his knuckles, but she didn't want to live like this. If Tommy hadn't have knocked her up, she knew that he wouldn't have married her.
"That's why I'm not tellin' you. I do care about you and I ain't draggin' you down with me. Not when you've done a good job of bringin' them kids up."
"If you can't tell me about your problems, then who can you tell?" she could see by his expressionless face that her words weren't getting through to him. Lizzie finally lit the cigarette and held it between her fingers as she stared at him through the smoke.
He wasn't the man that he used to be; what he had gone through in the war and with Changretta was starting to take its toll on his mental health. He thought he was doing the right thing by keeping quiet, but it hurt him more. Tommy came back to reality when he heard his study door close once more and when he looked forward, Lizzie had gone.
A:N This is my first Peaky Blinders fanfic and I love the show so I hope I'm going to do it justice. I wanted to do a prologue to introduce Cora and her situation before jumping right into the first chapter. Let me know what you think and if you want to see more, follow the story. Next chapter will be a lot longer, I promise.