Just want to give everyone a big T/W!

If you are uncomfortable with descriptions of violence or sexual assault you may not want to read this chapter!

Please read with caution

VIOLENCE

Sophie had fought with the urge to visit Alfie every day, and settled for every other day instead. It wasn't until her second time visiting after having stayed in Birmingham the day before that Alfie had complained about not seeing her that Sophie gave in to that urge.

They'd spent hours sitting in that little park, chatting about their lives. Sophie hadn't quite explained the real situation with her family and their business, and she could feel that Alfie was holding back on his business ventures also. Even without that information, she still felt like she knew him so deeply and spiritually. She understood his emotions and his being, the way his mind worked and processed the information she'd tell him. They would be wrapped up in each other, hands entwined, her head on his shoulder. They'd kissed a few times since, but Alfie never let it go any further than that. He'd be damned if he started getting intimate with her on some fucking park bench in Camden for the world to see.

Alfie had promised to come watch her ride horses and Sophie had dreamt about it every night since. With that excitement, Sophie also felt anxiety at the thought of Alfie meeting her family. She'd strategized and planned out in her head how she was going to explain what her family really did and who she really was but no scenario seemed to be good enough. Alfie was surprisingly thoughtful, she'd realised that pretty quickly after listening to him talk about his stories of him and his mother. He was understanding and sincere with those he cared about despite shoving that side of him deep down and keeping it well hidden from those around him. Sophie was certain he wouldn't judge her, in fact telling Alfie was probably the easiest part of them being connected. Her brothers on the other hand, would not be quite so kind. They'd noticed her absence lately, even when she was in Birmingham her mind was still in London. Sophie had told them she was visiting Ada when she was actually visiting Alfie and had begged Ada not to tell her brothers the truth. Ada was challenging enough to come clean to but she'd kept some of her suspicions about Alfie's true business to herself, instead opting to explain him simply as 'a man named Alfie'. Ada had pushed for more details but had settled for the promise of more details at another time.

The sound of the train horn broke her from her thoughts. Today she was yet again visiting Alfie, though he did not know it yet. They'd made no plans to see each other but Sophie was determined to make herself completely transparent to him and explain what her world consisted of. She was going to meet him in his office, she'd remembered where it was from when Raisa had led her to it, Sophie thought that seemed like the right environment. It would be a levelling of the playing field, she'd explain the danger in her life right at the heart of the danger in his.

Exiting the train station, Sophie pulled her coat tighter around her as the cold wind blew through her. The sun was starting to set and the street lamps had started to light up. As she walked along the pavement, taking the right turns towards the bakery, she felt something stirring deep inside the back of her brain. Something wasn't right. Analysing her surroundings, Sophie searched the street for anything that seemed out of place. The streets were unusually quiet and she found it deeply unsettling. She carefully glanced behind her, catching sight of a man in a fedora and long coat walking a few steps behind her. Turning off the main street she'd been walking on, Sophie started walking left down a side street and checked behind her again to see the man take the same turn. She wasn't far from Alfie's bakery now, if she could keep the distance between them for another couple of streets she'd be safe. She was cursing herself for having not listened to Tommy when he'd told her she should carry a weapon on her at all times.

Suddenly another man, dressed similar to the one following behind her, begins to stalk towards her. She was trapped with no way out now. There's no way she could outrun the two men, maybe she could slip between one of the alleys between the houses but they'd see her and corner her so that would be worse.

"Sophie Shelby?" The man in front says, tipping his head back so she can see the thick moustache covering his upper lip. His eyes glimmer darkly as he sizes her up.

"No." Sophie said, trying to keep her face passive. It was unlikely they'd leave her alone regardless of her answer but she had to at least try. She'd stopped in her place now as the man stood in front of her, peering down her blouse. At his wandering eyes she took a step back, only to bump into what she assumed to be the man who had been walking behind her. As soon as they made contact, his arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Sophie kicked back, trying to make contact with his shin or his knee, anywhere to throw him off balance so she could escape. She felt her foot make contact with his leg but this served only to agitate him more as he grunted and began to drag her backwards into an alley next to them.

"No! No, get off me! Fucking let me go!" Sophie began to plead uselessly. She knew it was pointless to say anything but the panic had sunk in. Perhaps she hoped that she'd alert a passerby who would scare the men off. Though these men weren't ordinary bums harassing women on the street, they knew who she was. They were no doubt here to make some sort of statement to her brother, so they likely wouldn't be scared off by anything.

"Stay still, sweetheart, just want a bit of fun don't we, Antonio?" The first man chuckled, a thick italian accent heavy in his voice. His taunting made Sophie feel sick, acid rising in her throat. Using the man restraining her upper body, she leant back putting her weight on him and lifting both feet off the ground to kick the first man forcefully in the stomach. The man, Antonio, who had been holding her stumbled backwards, tightening his grip on her as he fell into the wall behind him. The first man doubled over, clutching his stomach and beginning to retch onto the floor.

"Fuck you." Sophie spat at him. In a flash, the man holding her had thrown her into the opposite wall, her head colliding with the wet bricks. Soaring pain began to rattle around her head as she felt a hot wetness trickle down the side of her face. Sophie was left momentarily stunned, she stumbled back slightly - dizzy on her feet. A sharp scraping sound filled the alley as the first man dragged a sharp blade across the bricks. Sophie had barely been able to focus on the object before it was plunged into her side. A scream tore through her lips, the pain made her body feel as if it had been lit on fire from the inside. Biting her lip so hard she broke the skin, Sophie quickly pulled the knife from her torso and sliced it across the mans throat - he'd made the mistake of standing too close so that he could watch the pain on her face in glee. That glee had now turned into a look of shock and then nothingness and he spurted blood all over the girl, coating her clothes in his thick hot crimson blood.

She briefly registered a strong hand grab the back of her neck before she was forced down onto the ground, the knife leaving her hand as her back slammed into the cobblestones. Sophie began to wheeze, her body winded from the impact.

"Fucking pikey bitch has fight, eh? Sarà divertente abbatterti." Antonio seethed as he grabbed her face in one hand and ripping her skirt with the other. Sophie barely had the energy to react as she felt his hands begin to grab at her thighs. Tears began to roll down the sides of her face and collect in her ears. She couldn't just let this happen to her, she had to fight - but how? There was no way out of this. Sophie pushed her fists against his body in a futile attempt to shove him off her. Antonio shoved them above her head and issued her a swift punch to her face, sending a sharp pain across her right brow. A pained moan left her lips as her eyes rolled shut. Her hands had hit the body of the first man who she'd managed to take out, his body still warm. Quickly glancing up at him, Sophie noticed a leather strap looped around his shoulder which was attached to what looked like a holster on his side. That was it, that was her way out. If she could just reach his gun, she could shoot Antonio. His hands busily clutching up and down her body, moving to unbuckle his belt, he hadn't noticed her movement as her arm struggled to reach the weapon. The cold metal of what looked like a pistol brushed her fingertips as she weakly pulled at the holster. Sophie summoned all the strength left in her tiny frail body and yanked the pistol from the dead man's body, flicking off the safety and aiming it at the man's head. Before she could even think, she'd pulled the trigger and watched his skull explode. His blood and flesh splattered across the walls and her face painting a violent picture of what had just occurred.

Sophie exhaled a shaky breath, staring up at the sky in between the roofs of the two houses that made up the alley. Her mind was silent, stunned to stillness at the events that had just taken place. Fucking Thomas Shelby. What the fuck had he gotten into now?

She needed to move, if she was found here with two dead men then she would no doubt be arrested - they didn't have the London police in their back pocket like they did at home. She had killed two people. Maybe she deserved to be in jail, that was where people ended up when they committed murder after all. They'd been attacking her but she killed them. She had ended their lives for doing the same work Arthur and John did. They'd attacked people under the guise of business and now a family was missing two of its members.

As she took a particularly deep breath, a spike of pain shot through her body again. The reminder of the knife that had been buried deep in her side was another push to move. If she laid there amongst the blood, hers would soon fill the alley too and there would be three dead bodies to be discovered by the police.

Taking another painful breath, she clutched the gun tightly in her hand and shoved Antonio's body off hers. Her hands were trembling violently as she struggled to her feet. Her body seemed to be on autopilot, guiding her out the alley and along the street. She felt as if she was floating through London, not really there or visible to anyone - like a ghost. She held tightly to the weapon, what if there were more of them?

The young petite girl was covered head to toe in blood, as if she'd fallen and been completely submerged in a pool of vividly red paint. Her curly hair had been pulled from its bun and had fallen down to her mid back, frizzy and unruly and drenched in blood making them heavy. She'd have to throw away these clothes, there was no way they could be salvaged now. It wasn't just a spot of blood that needed some extra scrubbing, their colour had been completely changed never to return back to their original crisp hues. Her blouse had been pulled from the waistband of her skirt, some of it still tucked in random places where he'd not managed to fully pull it out. Her long skirt had been ripped, with a massive chunk of it torn off and abandoned in the alley and her tights underneath ripped to shreds.

She turned down the familiar street, coming face to face with the large forest green double doors.

Alfie sat in his office flicking through the newspaper, reading the reports of the attack the other night on the Eden Club. He knew Sabini would be fuming at the blatant disrespect of his businesses by the Birmingham gypsy gang. It was certainly a loud statement they'd made, which was why he had sent a telegram to the leader of the gang, Mr Thomas Shelby, to meet. He hoped he could use their big dreams of expanding into London to his advantage against Sabini.

"Alfie! Fucking Alfie, get out here!" Ollie could be heard shouting from downstairs. A growl ripped through the back of his throat, Alfie rolled his eyes annoyed. Couldn't leave them to do anything themselves these days, he thought grumpily. Throwing the newspaper down on his desk, he stretched out his legs before slowly standing from his seat. His back had been acting up all day so he reached for his cane to help him walk around the desk (it also would be helpful to beat whoever was fucking up his bakery downstairs). Before he could get any further, his office door flew open making a loud bang as it hit the wall. Alfie's eyes shot up, his shoulders tense.

The sight of Sophie would usually make his body feel lighter, giddy at her beauty and soft smile. But as he looked at her now, his body had never felt so heavy. His heart felt like it had shattered into a million sharp tiny shards that scraped and tore at his organs. The woman he loved was drowning in fresh wet blood. Her usually soft blue eyes were now distant and empty as she stared in his direction. She wouldn't meet his eyes and he took slow and steady steps towards her.

"Ollie, call a fucking ambulance, now." Alfie barked as he reached out to take her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him properly.

"No." Sophie said quietly but surely. Her resistance took Alfie by surprise.

"You fucking what? Who fucking did this to you, love? Yeah, need to make them pay for ever fucking touching you." Alfie seethed, examining the large cut slicing through her elbow. Her bottom lip was torn, dark blood starting to crust around the cut.

"They're dead." She said quietly again. Alfie's eyes snapped back to hers at this. That was his fucking girl, full of fire. "They were Italian, two of them, most of the blood is theirs - they attacked me a few streets back, their bodies are still in the alley."

"Fucking hell, girl, you're fucking lethal aren't you." Alfie marvelled at the girl, before turning to glance at the skinny boy standing a few steps behind her. "Go deal with it."

"I need to call my brother." Sophie said to herself, looking anywhere but at Alfie.

"No, we need to get you to a fucking hospital, love." Alfie stated.

"They knew who I was. I need to call my brother." Sophie repeated, as if she hadn't heard Alfie at all.

"Love, I'm sorry, alright? This was my fault-"

"No." Sophie said, stepping past him, moving closer to the phone on his desk. She was in a daze, barely registering his presence.

"Sophie, stop, alright, I need to make sure you're okay, alright?" Alfie said, nervous and guilty at her clearly shaken state.

"I need to call my brother." She said once again, this time picking up the phone. As she turned so the side of her body was visible to him, Alfie noticed the large wound on her side that seemed to be losing blood very quickly as it continued to run from the cut.

"Sophie, fucking stop it, you're not doing anything until you see a fucking doctor." Alfie said harshly.

"I AM SOPHIE FUCKING SHELBY, ALFIE AND THEY KNEW WHO I WAS." Sophie screamed, finally snapping as she finally broke through her frozen state. The last of her adrenaline pumping through her veins. "I'm a fucking Shelby, alright? Now i don't know what the fuck my brother is doing making enemies in London - but clearly I'm not fucking safe here, okay? I just- I just fucking- I killed-" Sophie burst into sobs and sunk to her knees. Alfie acted quickly and caught her in his arms before she fell all the way to the floor, the two of them sat on the floor together. As she sobbed, he pulled her into his body holding her close and gripping her tightly, never wanting to let her out of his sight ever again. "They were going to…" She trailed off again, another round of sobs wracking through her.

"Soph' it's okay, you're safe now, yeah? Those fuckers are never going to touch you again, alright? I'll make fucking sure of it." He soothed as he stroked her hair with one hand and rubbed her back with the other.

They sat in that position for a little while longer, Alfie pushing down his rage at her brothers for letting her walk around London unprotected when they knew exactly what kind of danger would be there waiting for her. He noticed that she was still holding the pistol that she'd been clinging to when she first entered his office. Gently, he put his hand over hers and pulled the gun away from her. He clicked the safety back on and placed it carefully onto his desk. In place of the gun, Sophie clutched tightly onto Alfie's hand as she seeked reassurance that she was safe.

"I need you to see a doctor, okay love? You're bleeding a lot and you need stitching up okay? I need to know that you're okay." Alfie said softly. Her sobs had stopped now, but she began to shake violently, only increasing Alfie's worry.

"Okay." she whispered.