Simon sat holding Ruthie's wet and unconscious body while he listened to the stomps of the man he hated, leading the rest of her family through the building. He glared above him as if he could see Alfie's angry face. Simon remained holding Ruthie, his hand over her mouth just in case, until the noise above him ceased and he heard the door to the building shut. He waited another minute or so before he gazed down at Ruthie's sleeping face. Slowly, he removed his hand from her mouth and wiped the hair from her forehead before running his hand gently down her cheek. Unable to help himself, he leaned down, placing his lips on hers. He kissed her again, running his tongue along her lip before moving her head to the side and kissing her neck.

Simon ran his hands up her body and grasped her breast, running his lips down her collarbone when Ruthie awoke.

"What the fuck-?" Ruthie said as she pushed his mouth from her body.

"It's okay. It's me." Simon implored. "I promise, I can make you feel so good." He said as he began to dip his head toward her again.

"Get off me!" She shouted as she attempted to free herself from him.

"Stop… Fucking.. moving!" Simon said as he tried to contain her in his arms before finally throwing a punch, hitting her in the jaw.

Ruthie fell to the floor and Simon followed.

"Be still!" he shouted.

"I will NEVER let you touch me!" She growled back.

"You are mine, now!" Simon argued, holding her wrists beside her head.

"I will never be yours! My body, my heart, my everything belongs to my husband!"

"He could never make you feel what I can."

"You are nothing but a sick fuck-" Simon's fist rained down, hitting Ruthie on the nose which cracked and blood began pouring immediately.

"Now look at what you've done!" He complained before grabbing her by her hair and dragging her to the wall where he chained her wrist and gagged her to prevent her from shouting.

Frustrated, Simon walked toward the stairs and removed the fake floor above it to exit. He hadn't made it three steps when a voice rang out from the shadows.

"Hello, Simon." Alfie's gravely voice echoed through the empty room.

Alfie stood quietly waiting for Simon or Ruthie to say or do something to point him in the right direction. He knew his brothers-in-law thought he was mad, but he had to trust his instincts. His whole body knew she was there somewhere or at least passing through occasionally. He had opened a window which Tommy had instructed one of his family members to stand outside of in case anything came of Alfie's suspicions. When the moment came that Alfie finally heard a muffled voice coming from the floorboards, he could have wept tears of joy. He knew that beautiful sound anywhere. Ruthie shouted and he could tell by the suppressed sounds that a scuffle had broken out between her and whoever was with her. Fucking Simon!

He looked out the window and caught John's eyes, which were wide with realization as he heard the voices too.

"Get some fucking axes!" Alfie growled and John turned to run toward Alfie's home to grab his brothers and anything he could find to get under the wood floor.

His anger grew as he heard his wife struggling below him, not knowing how to get to her. He had searched the building from top to bottom and found no basement or sign that there had ever been one. He owned the building which angered him more. He bought the building but hadn't looked at the blueprints in detail since he hadn't decided what he was going to put in it at the time. His body shook with the anticipation of getting his hands on Simon while waiting on his blasted brother-in-law to bring him a fucking axe. Meanwhile, the commotion below ceased and the building was quiet again.

What did that mean? Why was she quiet? What had he done? Alfie shook with fury to the point he thought he would explode when a noise came from the opposite side of the room. He crept back into the shadowed corner while he watched a patch of floor move and Simon emerge.

"Hello, Simon." Alfie said, threat seeping through his voice.

Simon froze and stared at the shadowed corner Alfie's voice had rang from.

"Did you think I wouldn't find you?" Alfie chuckled as he emerged from the shadows. "Did honestly fucking think I wouldn't find my wife?"

"She doesn't want you." Simon said. "She left willingly."

"Did she?" Alfie's eyes widened as he looked at Simon, as if he believed the story he was spilling.

"Yes. She left you a note."

"Right." Alfie nodded. "The note." He scratched the corner of his eye. "But see, the problem with that, mate, is you took my fucking gun. And I assume you held it to her head otherwise she never would have left her children to suffer. That's not willing, mate."

Alfie began walking toward Simon, who stood hunched over at his side that Alfie had permanently damaged with his cane three years prior.

"We are meant to be together." Simon declared.

Alfie looked the other man up and down, his eyebrows pinched together before he shook his head. "You're just fucking sad, mate." Before Simon could respond, Alfie reared back and struck him as hard as he could.

Simon fell to the floor before he glared up at his attacker and charged at his waist, knocking Alfie to the floor. Simon tried to get on top of Alfie to punch him but Alfie was larger, stronger, and filled with more rage than Simon could ever imagine overpowering.

Suddenly, the door opened and the Shelby men came barreling in with weapons to break through the wood floor. A wave of angry noises followed when they saw Simon under Alfie's pummeling fists.

"Downstairs!" Alfie yelled as he briefly pointed to the whole in the floor.

Knowing Alfie wasn't going to allow Simon to walk away from this building, Tommy ran toward the stairs to the basement.

Ruthie could hear something happening upstairs and just knew that Alfie was there to rescue her. Meanwhile, her nose still gushed and the blood was absorbing into the cloth she had stuffed into her mouth. She looked up to see Tommy rushing down the stairs with a mallet in his hand and tears quickly began to flow from her eyes.

"Tommy!" She tried to say but her words were indecipherable.

Tommy ran to her and fell to his knees to remove her cloth gag and then put it up to her nose. "What happened?"

"He hit me. I think it's broken."

Dropping his hand from her bleeding nose, Tommy examined the iron cuffs chained to the wall.

"He wears the key around his neck." Ruthie explained before breaking out in panic when Tommy stood to walk back up the stairs. "Wait! Don't leave me, please! Don't leave me here!"

"I will be right back." Tommy said gently to his sister. "I'm not going to leave you here, but I have to get the key."

"NO! No please, Tommy!" A part of Ruthie feared this was a dream as it had been before and that if he walked up the stairs, he wouldn't be back. She didn't want to open her eyes and find herself still trapped without anyone knowing her whereabouts.

Upstairs, Alfie, John, and Arthur kicked and punched Simon who had curled into a ball.

"ENOUGH!" Alfie said as he held out his hand to Michael who laid a crowbar in his palm.

Simon rolled painfully onto his back to look up at Alfie who held his gaze.

"You failed to kill me once, you'll do it again." Simon said, blood covering his teeth. "It's your fault. I will survive again. Her and I, we are destined."

Emotion swelled inside Alfie at hearing the words of guilt that he had thought, but not said out loud. He shook his head at Simon before saying, "No. You won't." and brought the crowbar down onto Simon's skull.

At that first hit, Alfie knew Simon was truly dead, but he couldn't stop himself from raining the crowbar onto his enemy's face until it was unrecognizable and skull fragments littered the vicinity. Alfie dropped his weapon and fell to his knees, relief and guilt now overwhelming him.

"Here." Arthur said as he reached under Simon's torn shirt. "A key."

Alfie extended a shaking hand, wrapping it around the metal object. A thousand images went through his mind at once. Ruthie in a cage, Ruthie in a chest, Ruthie in chains. He didn't know what he would find when he went down those steps and he tried to mentally prepare himself. He had seen a lot in his life, had done a lot. But seeing his wife tortured and hurt was something he wasn't sure he could bear.

"Alfie!" Ruthie shouted, bringing him to himself.

"Ruthie?" He yelled back, standing up and running toward the basement entryway that had been hidden from him.

"I'm here!" She said, relief flooding her voice and Alfie knew it didn't matter what he found, as long as it was her.

"I'm coming!" He ran down the stairs, his feet practically floating to her.

"We need a key." Tommy said as he pulled at her chains.

Alfie held it up and began undoing her prison. When she was freed, Ruthie flung around her arms around his neck.

"You found me!" She said, tears falling from her face.

"'Course I did. I will always find you." Alfie responded, wrapping his arms tightly around his wife.