Chapter twenty-three: Hammer horror
"I live here," Kate says with a smile. "with my husband."
"Husband?" His voice raises as he slowly realizes that a dramatic change has happened in a mere two hours. "What the f**k are you talking about? You're not married!"
"Yes, I am." She holds out a hand towards him. His eyes bulge as he stares at the ring. "I married Thomas Shelby."
"F**K!" Her brother swore violently as he cursed her. Thomas instantly moves to stand beside her, drawing her protectively into his side. "You married that f**king gypsy bastard Thomas Shelby?!"
"Kindly refrain from calling my husband names, he does take things personally." Her brother shoots him a dirty look as he holsters his gun. "Tell your men to stand down; you cannot touch any of the Shelby family now."
"Well, you made damn sure I can't now. That was low of you Kate." He spits in fury. "Joining up with the enemy and forcing father to have to accept such a thing."
"Well, considering how he hated Emmett," she bit out. "he should find Thomas an improvement."
Thomas glowers at Anton, pulling Kate into his side, showing Anton that she belongs to him now. "Now, I have a few questions for you that I want one of your men to answer for. Have them stand down."
Anton turns towards one his men and nods. "You heard him, no fighting today. Pass the word." As the man turns back down the stairs, Anton states venomously. "My little sister made sure of that." Kate exhales as Thomas guides her away from the door to allow her brother in. he steps in and kicks the door shut behind him. "So," he looks her up and down. "now, you're property of the peaky blinders." Kate glowers at him as his voice gets louder. "I can't believe this. Why the hell did you marry him?!" He shouted. "Why?!
"Because," Kate shifts back a step. "I love him and I didn't want you or father to hurt him."
"I'm not buying it!" Her brother shouted in her face. "He forced you to marry him, didn't he?"
"Get out," Thomas warned him sharply. "of my wife's face or you will be sorry!."
"Thomas didn't make me marry him." Kate snaps at him, her patience starting to fray. "No man makes me do anything I don't want to do, even you know that."
Her brother chuckles darkly. "So you claim. But don't illusion yourself; the man bought his life for the price a wedding ring."
Thomas took a step towards him, but she held his hand. "Don't. He's not worth it."
"Are you sure you're married to him, and you're not just putting me on?" her brother demands. "You probably just put the ring on and didn't go through the ceremony and all."
She shook her head. "No, the marriage is real."
"I want proof." Her brother smirked at her. "Bring the bridal sheet down here and then we'll talk about how things are going to work now."
Kate blanched feeling absolutely sick to her stomach that her brother actually demanded that evidence. Yet relived that she and Thomas actually consummated their marriage because heaven knows what would have happened if they had not! "You're honestly going to humiliate me like that?"
"Not intentionally." He stepped towards her. "I know you Kate. You'll lie to save anyone….even scum like him."
"How dare you!" she almost shouts at him.
"Kate," Thomas grips her elbow and guides her towards the library. "stay calm, have a seat." She exhales as he sits her in the chair nearest his desk. He then turns to her brother Anton. "You will not say a word to her, until I get back."
"She's my sister."
"But she's my wife." Kate actually smiles at the way he puts emphasis on the word 'wife', makes it sound genuinely caring. "She's under my protection now, not yours and you won't say anything to her. Understood?" Anton nodded and Thomas turned towards her. "I'll be back in a moment. I'll also bring a copy of the marriage license."
Kate nods and leans back in the chair, attempting to relax. She's almost tempted to close her eyes, but she doesn't dare appear too relaxed before her brother. He sits in a chair opposite her, seemingly compliant, until Thomas closes the door. The moment Thomas's footsteps are heard going up the stairs, he stands up and heads for his desk.
Kate shoots him a glower and stands up. "Get away from his desk."
Anton looks at her, amusement on his face. "Or what?"
"Don't test me." she warns. "I've had enough stress for one day. You're skating on thin ice already."
He snorts. "And you aren't? Do you really think dad's going to honor mom's wish because you married Thomas Shelby?"
"He better." Kate states. "Regardless of what your business dealings are, Thomas is a good man and I love him."
He snorts. "I'm not buying this one; you've been in love with Emmet for years, even after his death. Don't tell me he got you to fall in love with him; he's totally the opposite of Emmet."
Kate gestures for him to go back to his seat, which he does. "I fell in love with him because he's the opposite of him. Both men are different, but… there's a strength and protectiveness to Thomas that I've always been drawn too."
"Protective?" he snorts. "That remains to be seen."
She glowers. "What do you mean by that?"
"Let me put it this way. Our butler saw you run out of the house at 3:00 and you must have gotten here around here close to 4:00. It's a little after 5:00 now and I've been here for at least 10 minute. The ceremony takes at least 15 minutes, even if it's being rushed. So, that means you had less than 20 minutes have some horizontal refreshment." Kate jumps up from her chair, her cheeks blazing in embarrassment. "And no man," he states as he crosses his arms over his chest, with a satisfied smirk. "if he loves the woman, is going to f**k her that fast for her first time."
"God, I hate you!" she snapped. "You're disgusting!"
"It would have been your first time Kate." Hot tears streamed down her cheeks at that reminder. "And if he loves you, he wouldn't have done it all. You deserve more than that."
"Well," Thomas entered the library and threw the sheet at her brother's face. "my husband didn't rape or hurt me. So clearly, your skills of wooing a lady are clearly lacking and inadequate!"
He made a face of disgust as he examined the sheet. Kate turned aside, wiping her eyes. "I stand corrected."
A hand on her shoulder caused her to spin around. It was Thomas. "You alright Kate?"
"I'm fine." she croaked. He handed her his handkerchief and wiped her eyes. "Thank you."
"You did this," her brother declares. "just to spite me."
"Marrying?" Thomas stated. "No. we were going to marry eventually, you just made it sooner than either of us planned."
"Why do you suppose I never told you and father Thomas's name?" She inquired. "Because I knew you two would somehow use our relationship and twist it into something. I didn't want that."
Arthur steps into the library and closes the door behind him. Thomas clears his throat. "And now, down to business."
Her brother snorts. "Right, you're to stay out of family affairs."
"You forget," Thomas states coldly, his voice sending a chill down her spine. "I am family now. I'm making the demands now…you'll follow them."
Kate stands up. "If you'll excuse me gentlemen, I've no desire to know any business of this sort."
"Actually," Thomas states. "you do Kate, because it concerns you."
She frowns. "How-
"Because Anton," Thomas states darkly. "is about to tell me the name of the man who killed Emmet."
Kate's world sways as she grabs a hold of her vacated seat for support. "He what?"
"I've been looking into the murder for months and all my sources confirm that he knows. In addition, he used one of your father's men to kill Emmett." Kate stared at him in shock as he demands. "Answer, the f**king question. Who killed Emmett Webber?." Anton makes the stupid mistake of smirking at Thomas, causing him to grab Anton by the shirt and wrench him out of his chair! "Who did it?"
"Thomas, what are you saying?" she demands.
"I'm saying, your brother hired someone to kill Emmett."
She shook her head numbly as her world spun. Her brother had hated Emmett, but he couldn't have hated him that much! "He's my brother, he wouldn't dare!"
"I don't hear him denying it!" Arthur points out. "He looks rather smug with himself."
Kate gasps as the blood drains out of her face. She stares at Anton and then she she sees the mask of faux concern just get stripped away from her brother's face. He'd been involved. She couldn't believe it. She shook her head in disbelief. "You couldn't. You wouldn't dare do that to me!"
"Kate, I heard from a reliable source that it was a planned assassination," she could only shake her head mutely. "so I did some digging and this is what I found out." Kate sank down onto the armrest of the chair as Tommy's words began to hit her like hail. "He needed to do it at the wedding, because once you two were married, he couldn't raise a hand to him. But he needed to be sure he was in the clear, so he hired someone to do it at the wedding."
She began shaking her head in denial. "No. please, don't."
"Your father knew that it was planned," bile rose in her stomach. "this is why he didn't investigate into Emmet's murder." Kate shook her head as Thomas stated. "He covered for your brother."
"Tell me he's lying." She begged Anton. She didn't want to believe it, but somehow, it all made sense. "Tell me that you didn't do that to me."
"Damn right I did!" he shouted. "Dirty Kaiser had it coming!"
"The name!" Thomas demanded as he slammed him against the wall.
"I'll die first!" he shouts as he spits in Thomas's face!
"Fine with me!" Thomas shoved him against the wall and bellowed. "Arthur!"
"Kate!" her brother shouted. "Don't let him do this. I'm your brother!" Kate freezes, hands over her ears for a moment. Anton yells again. "I'm your brother!"
Those words made Kate's last hold on sanity snap. She grabbed her gun from the holster on her leg, turned toward her brother and shot off the lobe of his ear. He howled and grabbed a hold of his ear as Thomas let him go and turned towards her as she shot off the second ear.
"Hold him!" She ordered as she advanced towards him. Thomas and Arthur were too shocked to argue with her as they held her sniveling brother on his feet. "Now," she orders furiously, tears running down her cheeks. "the name of the man you hired!"
"Never."
Kate cocks her gun and presses the muzzle of the gun right into his crotch, causing him to stop breathing for a second. Well, all the men stopped breathing for a second. "Now, if I fire, you'd have at least one hour to get to the nearest doctor. There's a huge blood vessel there, so you will drain out very quickly." She snarled. "There are major arteries supplying blood to your legs. You will also be the laughing stock off all of your men. Your ability to make love to a woman, or to even use the bathroom standing up, so don't you test me!"
There full on panic in his eyes. "You wouldn't dare!"
"I just shot off your ears." She snapped. "You killed the man I was to marry at the altar! My body is going through its monthly cycle. I just got married and you threatened my husband and his family, I'll probably kill you myself!"
"Kate-
"Give me the f**king name!" Kate shouts, drowning out Thomas's calming voice.
"Phillip Nash!" He shouts in her face.
"Where is he?!" Thomas shouts.
"Outside!"
"Fine!" Thomas throws him across the room towards the exit. "Get out!"
He looked to her. "He deserved it!"
"Just get out of here!" She screams.
"Kate," its Thomas. "Kate, Kate, give Arthur the gun."
"It's my gun." She states.
"Just for minute, eh? Breathe." Arthur takes the gun from her and Thomas pulls her against him. She holds onto him tightly, breathing him in. Thomas obliges her by holding onto her tightly. "Arthur, walk him out. Tell the men to stay put, I need to talk to them."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't, it's alright." He kisses her forehead.
She shakes her head. "I can't believe…you looked into that for me."
He kissed her. "Thank Daniel. He made a convincing argument in the club. Then, the more I looked into it, the more I wanted you to know the truth."
She exhales. "Thank you. I'm hurt but….i know the truth."
"I'll take care of it fore you." Thomas pulls away from her as he takes his gun from his shoulder holster. "Follow me."
She frowns. "What are you doing?"
"This is not your office Kate." He stated. "It's mine." Thomas stepped out onto the doorway and shouted. "Phillip Nash! Step forward." A man steps forward and Kate recognizes him as Nash. Thomas glances at her and she nods in confirmation. Thomas steps towards the porch step. "Did you or did you not, kill my wife's fiance, at the altar?"
Nash, barely reacts to the accusation. Then, he looks towards her brother and snaps. "F**k you."
"Her brother says he hired you." Thomas shouts. "Is that true?"
Nash nods. "Yes, but that's because he-
Thomas didn't wait to hear anymore excuses. He brought the gun up and fired. Nash grabbed his crotch and looked upwards as Thomas fired again. This time, the second bullet lodged in his throat and he fell back, grabbing his throat. He'd die at the hospital, but he was going to die a painful death. Thomas holstered his gun and turned towards her. He said nothing, just pulled her into his arms and held her tight. She held onto him and she reflected back on the moment in the club when he'd told her she'd never been with a man like him. And he was right, she hadn't. He was strong, dangerous, confident and fearless. Yet, there was a calm to him, like the calm after a storm with a strong air of protectiveness that attracted her to him.
He reached for her and whispered. "I promise you, I will keep you safe. No one…will ever hurt you again." he kept an arm around her shoulder as he guided her back in the house. "Let's get you inside."
"You'll be sorry for this Kate!" her brother shouted. "You betrayed me!"
"Oi!" Thomas snapped. "Get off my property before you find yourself without your f**king balls as well."
Her brother didn't need a second warning. He and all the other men piled into the car, two dragging a gurgling Phillip Nash. Thomas put his gun away and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, gently guiding her into the house. Her brother was right, Kate was sorry. She was sorry she hadn't married a man like Thomas Shelby all those years ago.
