The Girl and The Gangster
Summary: After being turned down from every secretarial role in Birmingham, Alice becomes desperate. Unable to provide for her sick mother, herself and more importantly, her young child, she takes a chance on joining the Shelby Company ltd. But when she runs into a familiar face, her whole world comes crumbling down around her.
Chapter Nineteen
It was finally time for his months of planning to happen, but Tommy couldn't focus on Danny or the shipment, his mind kept spinning around the idea of Michael leaving the company for New York. He thought he would've calmed down by now, but as he stood in silence beside his cousin, waiting for Arthur to check over the cargo with Danny and one of the Polish, the anger bubbled away inside him. He wanted to say something to Michael, something that would make him stay but his mind was drawing a blank. How could he tell him what was best for Johnny when he wasn't his father? He watched Michael smoke from the corner of his eye and cleared his throat just to fill the silence.
"Whatever you've got to say to me Tom, just say it." Michael said as he stared down the length of his cigarette.
"I'm not going to say anything." He slipped his hands into the pockets of his duster coat and turned his head away from his cousin.
"Suit yourself."
Tommy took in a deep breath and tried to stop himself from spitting venom. "I don't think moving to New York is a good idea." His voice was surprisingly calm.
"So, it's not a good idea for me to go of my own accord but when you send me, it's fine?"
"I know that it wasn't your idea. This move has Alice written all over it."
Michael flicked his cigarette away with his thumb and middle finger before making his stance wider. "You know why she wants to move to New York so badly? Look at what we're doing here, and you involved her in all of this."
"It didn't bother her when she took the job on. She's not stupid, she knew what she was getting in to."
"Things change, don't they?" Michael's attention turned towards Arthur and Danny as they approached them. "Well?"
"Everything's good to go." Arthur replied, looking between the two with a raised brow. "Everything alright here?"
"Just fine, Arthur." Tommy replied through gritted teeth.
"I love it when there's tension in the air, feels like I'm back in Ireland." Danny said with a grin on his face. "Where's my money?"
"In the car. Go and fetch it Arthur." Tommy didn't take his eyes off Danny as he swayed back and forth with a smug look on his face.
"Alright Tom," he rubbed his cold hands together and wandered towards the car. He stopped in his tracks when another car pulled into the clearing.
"Have to ask, why did you need an advance on your money? We all agreed that once the guns were delivered, we'd get paid." Tommy watched Danny with a raised brow.
"Won't be here for much longer and I don't plan on coming back to collect. You just keep that three grand and we'll be even."
"Tom!" Arthur called out, stopping Tommy from questioning Danny any further.
All of them looked towards the cab and when Alice stepped out of it with a determined look on her face, no one was happy to see her there.
"Alice, why're you here?" Michael asked as he approached her swiftly.
"I can't leave on bad terms." She replied quietly, her eyes glued to her brother's as he stared back at her sternly.
"I thought I told you to keep her away?" Danny's eyes snapped towards Tommy. He was pissed off; he didn't want to see her.
"I told her to stay away. But she's not my responsibility, she ain't my secretary anymore." Tommy clenched his hands into fists as he watched Alice stroll towards them.
"I don't want to speak to you." Danny said before she had a chance to say anything.
"I don't care if you want to, you're going to. I'm not taking no for an answer." She started to walk towards the office building but stopped when she didn't hear his footsteps behind her. "Danny, do you really want father to look down on us fighting like this?"
He let out a deep sigh and glanced at Tommy and Michael. "Have the smart one count my money, this won't take long." He reluctantly followed Alice into the building and slammed the door shut behind him.
Alice rubbed her growing belly as she watched Danny pace around the small room; his movements were making her nervous, but she knew that he wasn't going to do anything to her. She knew he felt guilty about pushing her and that was the only thing she was certain of.
"Michael, Johnny and I are leaving for New York tomorrow night and I couldn't leave Birmingham without trying to make things right between us."
"What?" he stopped and watched the floor for a second before looking at Alice. "You're moving to New York? You can't move to New York."
Alice raised a brow at Danny's shocked expression, his face turning a paler white as his hands moved to the top of his head. "Yeah I can, and I will, it's the right thing to do for Johnny."
He nodded at her, wanting to tell her to stay but he couldn't say the words. "If that's all you wanted to say to me," He dropped his hands by his sides and went to walk away.
"It's not all I have to say. I should've told you about Nora from the beginning but I found out about her when you were trying to marry me off; I think you can understand why I wasn't in a big rush to tell you about her."
"We haven't been fighting the whole time. You told me about your pregnancy early on, so why didn't you say something then? Then, without saying anything you invite the both of us to your party and expect me to react the way you wanted me to, to your secret." He felt jealous, he didn't know why but he couldn't help how he felt. It was probably because he was never as close to his sister as he wanted to be. "This whole situation makes me feel weird, Alice and the reason why I didn't want you coming down here was so that I can heal my bruised ego. But you can't leave well enough alone, can you"
"If I had the time to sit around and wait, I would."
"No, you wouldn't, I know you too well."
She made a face, as if she agreed with what he said. "I am sorry, Danny. I'm actually admitting that I'm in the wrong," she let out an exasperated breath with a small smile, "can't we try and build our relationship again?"
He weighed up his options, his glance turning away from her. If she knew what he was planning, she wouldn't be standing here in front of him, begging him to forgive her. What he was going to say was going to save himself from a whole pile of hurt later down the line.
"I never want to see you again, I wish I could forgive you," he glanced at her, his face showing how torn he was about the words that he was saying, "but I can't move past this."
The doors flew open, smacking against the walls and drawing the Shelby's and Michael's attention to Danny. He marched towards them and waved for the briefcase to be handed over to him. Moments later, Alice appeared, her face wet from her tears. Michael looked towards her and glared at Danny before attempting to console his wife.
"Is it all there?" he asked without emotion.
"Mhm." Tommy grunted as the briefcase was snatched from his hand. "Someone's in a rush."
"Wish I could say it was good doing business with you," Danny fixed his coat and glanced once more at his little sister before taking a few steps back. "I'd love to hang around, but I've got a boat to catch."
"No one's going to stop you." Arthur replied as he stepped towards Alice and Michael, his head hung low, shaking from side to side.
Tommy didn't budge, he was going to watch Danny get on that ship and sail out of their lives. That man had been nothing but a thorn in his side for months and now the pain was gone. Relief flooded him as the ship left the dock but when he caught sight of Peter strolling leisurely towards him.
"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr Shelby. If all goes well, you won't be seeing my face again, as I'm sure you'll be happy to know."
"Likewise." Tommy offered his Polish counterpart a cigarette, but he declined with a raised hand. "When will I expect my payment to be delivered?"
"We've got your money stashed away somewhere safe. Don't worry, I'll have someone deliver in due time. Good luck in your future endeavours." Peter walked away from him and returned to his car before zooming off, leaving a trail of dust behind him.
"I guess this is the last time we'll all be standing together." Arthur said as Tommy approached them. They had just calmed Alice down and now things were beginning to feel tense again.
"Why did you have to make things even more awkward than what they already were?" Michael complained with a jokey tone. His eyes flitted between Tommy and Alice as they avoided eye contact.
"Well, is it not the truth? Once you leave, that'll be it. We'll never see that baby of yours and the only contact we'll have is on holidays over the phone." Arthur explained and he put his hands in his pockets. He hated this, all the goodbyes; when a deal was done, it always ended up like this.
"We'll be back, Arthur," Michael placed a hand comfortingly on his shoulder and threw him a sincere look, "we're still family."
"Even if we're an ocean apart." Tommy commented with a nod. "And I've been doing a bit of thinking as I was watching that ship leave, I've been wanting to establish the Shelby company over in America and with the two of you leaving for New York, why can't we all win?"
Alice looked at Michael and placed her hands on the small of her back. "Everything would be legal?"
"Nothing illegal, you have my word." He turned his attention to Michael and pointed at him. "You've a head for numbers, far better than me. That stock market interests me, and we can make a fair bit of money if we play our cards right."
"What do you think, Alice?" Michael returned her gaze.
She could see by the way his eyes twinkled that he wanted this, and she couldn't help but feel like she was ripping him away from his family, even if it was the right thing to do. "It's up to you, I'll be a lady of leisure until this baby is born." She replied with a small smirk. "I'm behind you with whatever you decide." She said quietly.
He let out a breath and weighed up his pros and cons. He knew that Alice didn't want to work with Tommy anymore, but they couldn't survive without an income. He shook Tommy's hand, a grin appearing on his face. "We'll make this work."
"I believe we can. It's nice getting back into business with you." A smile finally crept onto Tommy's face and with it, Arthur started to become less erratic.
Alice watched with a small smile, it was hard to turn your back on family, even if they did things that you didn't whole heartedly agree with; it made her wonder how Danny was able to dismiss her so quickly. She could put her differences with Tommy to the side, why couldn't Danny do that for his own blood? Something was going on, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it, whether she was across an ocean or not.
As they loaded up their car, she thought about the way Danny reacted when she told him about the move, it was strange, and his reaction was shifty. Alice leaned against the car and tried to work out what was going on with her brother as she felt an uneasiness fester in her stomach. It made her feel ill, did she bring a rat into the family? For her own sake, she had to be wrong, Alice had to trust that even though they were no longer on speaking terms, he would keep his promise and wouldn't betray her trust.
"Are you feeling okay?"
Michael's voice made her wake up and come back to reality. She watched him as he carried their final trunk out of the house and peeled herself from the car. "I'm okay."
"You look like you've seen a ghost." He closed the boot of the car and placed his hands on his hips. "You're not regretting taking Tommy up on his offer, are you?"
Alice rolled her eyes playfully and slipped her arms in between the loops of his, clasping her hands around the back of him. "I told you that I'm fine with it as long as Tommy gets permits for racecourses."
"Then why are you so pale?"
She didn't want to voice her concerns with Michael, but she didn't want secrets in their marriage. With a sigh, she said, "I'm starting to have doubts about Danny, I think he might've done something."
"You know that he's not smart enough to pull something off, especially with limited time."
"He got what he wanted when we married each other." She reminded him.
"I would've married you anyway. Had I have known about Johnny I would've married you a long time ago, so it wasn't really a mastermind plan." He removed her hands from his back and pushed the hair out of her face. "There's no need for you to be worrying about Danny Finlay and his band of gypsies. Now that he's got his money, we'll probably never hear from him again."
All she wanted was to take comfort in Michael's words, but she knew better than to sleep on Danny; her mother's words stung her ears, she was expecting a betrayal and now she was going to have to prepare herself for a possible war with her brother. But it would have to wait until they set foot on New York concrete.
A:N Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year, I know this chapter is shorter than usual but I didn't think it was right to start in New York until the next chapter. I still have plenty to add to this story and I don't see it slowing down any time soon. We haven't saw the last of Nora or Danny so I hope you're all ready for what's going to come next! Thank you for your continued support on this story, and I hope 2020 is brilliant to you all!