Next part, as promised. ;)

Song of the chapter: Грустная сука - IC3SPEAK

—-

As promised, a Blinder was outside of the bar when Aleksandr and I were ready to leave.

It had taken another hour and an empty whiskey bottle to force us out, as we both began to act like fools and drop cigarettes everywhere when we realized it was that time to go.

Truth be told, I knew I had hell to pay when I returned to the hotel, but I didn't care. I wanted to extend the moment forever. I wanted to avoid the inevitable, like a child.

But all good things had to end.

Arm in arm, Aleksandr and I started singing songs from our parents' youth on the short route back.

We began to sing Kalinka, jumping around the street and dancing.

Honestly, in that moment, I felt pure bliss, something I hadn't felt in so long. I knew we were acting well below our age, but it was like a salve on my soul. I had been unhappy and so much had changed, it felt nice to return to happier moments. Even for a second.

As we entered the hotel, we giggled and fell down like loons, laughing at our performance.

Blinder men ran to me to help me up, but I pushed them away. My vision was fuzzy as I swatted my hands at the seemingly many arms trying to help me up.

My face met the carpet many times, before I finally got my balance to push myself up on two legs. Even swaying, I felt accomplished.

"Boys, boys, boyssss, I can handle myself perfectly, thank you."

I searched for a cigarette, after slurring the words.

"Can you, Antonina?"

The voice of Thomas Shelby seemed to thunder through the lobby and you could hear a pin drop after he spoke. Everyone seemed to freeze but me.

Swaying around, I finally took out my cigarette and lit it. Breathing in the smoke, I blew it out theatrically.

I finally met his eyes, biting my lip, and smiling at him.

"Oh Tommy, you're here!"

He didn't seem amused, as he watched me sway around.

His voice seemed to boom, almost a command.

"It's time to go to bed."

I tilted my head and looked at him.

"That's not a way to court a lady I'm afraid, Mr. Shelby."

I saw his jaw tense and knew what was coming next.

So I decided to interrupt him completely, by shocking him and everyone. I needed to move fast. I smiled and decided to just skip past him to steps. Even as he called out to me, I ignored him as I began to run up the steps, towards our suite.

Feeling a surge of energy, I began to sing again.

"Kalinka, Kalinka, Kalinka, moja-"

I sang as I danced into the suite, shutting the door behind me.

I locked the door and ran to the bedroom, locking the door.

"Serves him fucking right," I said to no one as I hiccuped and spied the bed.

I suddenly felt so tired. The rum and whiskey caught up to me, making the room spin.

As I walked over to the bed, black spots met my vision.

The last thing I remembered was hitting the pillow before darkness took over.

—

The sounds of Camden Town seemed to scream, as consciousness came to find me.

Everything seemed to hurt as I awoke.

I began to stir, realizing light was already coming through the window. My head pounded at the sight of the sun. Stretching out my arms and meeting cold sheets, the memories of the previous evening began to flash before my eyes.

Fuck.

I flew up, opening my eyes, looking around.

In the corner of the room, Tommy sat, dressed in his clothes from the night before, with a glass of whiskey in his hand. Smoking a cigarette, he seemed to have been studying me all night, stiff in his posture.

Although his eyes were tired, they blazed with anger as he gazed at me.

Locking eyes with him, I could see he was furious with me.

The memories of the night seemed to flood through me, even more. Chewing on my lip, I tried to think if I was sorry for any of it.

Before I could decide, he interrupted me with venom in his statement.

"You're awake."

Looking at him with my pounding head, I didn't like his tone of voice that he spoke to me with. I didn't appreciate his judgment, as this was the big occasion I had acted out. Looking to the nightstand, I grabbed a cigarette and lit it before I spoke. My voice was full of bitterness.

"You sound disappointed."

He doesn't answer, instead drinking the last of his whiskey. He looked as if he'd been up all night.

Studying him, I speak and know what will be the answer.

"You didn't sleep, did you?"

He looks at me, nodding. It burns me up.

"Because I stayed out late? That was fucking childish, Tommy. I am an adult. I am your fiancée!"

He looks at me, as I glare at him. He surprises us both, as he stands up, flinging the whiskey glass into the wall.

I am not amused. The loud noise hurts my head, but I don't let it show. I just stare at him.

"So now you pull a number from my book. It's not becoming."

I know I'm pushing it, but it's ridiculous. He is being theatrical to prove a point and it misses its mark.

He gets up, giving me a deathly look, running his hand through his hair, before speaking.

When he does, I realize he was afraid. And again, it's always the past

"You were nearly dead weeks ago. You nearly didn't wake up. You get drunk and pass out, barely breathing. Someone had to make sure you'd wake up."

It makes my heart stop in my throat.

I fling my cigarette, moving towards the end of the bed towards him. I need to put his worries to bed. His fear is killing us.

"Thomas. I just got drunk. I wanted fun. We just stayed out and drank. I came home. I wasn't going to die. Stop treating me like porcelain. I'm not a doll. I'm marrying you. I'm here. Your fiancée."

I tried to reach for him, but he moved out of grasp. He is too worked up. He starts to yell, pushing over the chair.

"No, you're not a doll. You are my fiancée. You're my wife to be. My soul. My whole reason for being And last night you paraded around likea—"

He stopped, freezing. His eyes flash with fear. I looked at him and anger fills me.

I finished his thought for him.

"A whore. That's what you're going to say?"

He has the grace to look down.

Even with my head pounding, I stand up. I am hungover, but I am not complacent. I walk to him, grabbing his face in my right hand.

I force him to look at me.

"Say it to my face, you coward. After everything I have done for you. Everything I have gone through. Finish it, Shelby."

His eyes burn in mine and he says nothing for a moment.

It may as well be everything.

Remembering the day ahead, I release his face and brush his shoulder walking past him.

I start to stomp to the bathroom, but stop halfway.

Turning to him, I caught his eye and can't help but feel rage as I speak.

"Make yourself fucking presentable for the bakeries, you look like shit. And don't fucking cross me again today or I'll slam this ring down your throat. You forget who I was. And who I will be."

"Toni, I didn't mean it."

I look at him for a long moment, before answering.

"Fuck you, Thomas Shelby."

As I enter the bathroom, I shut the door, locking it, and sink to the ground. He knocks on the door, I ignore it. My head in my hands, I feel lost.

Tears cascade down my face.

Taking a deep breath, I put on a brave spirit. I start to go through the rituals of the day, thoughts consuming me.

—

After getting ready and leaving the hotel, I do my best to ignore Thomas, even though we walk together.

We put up the united front as one, as we go down Camden Town. Even though I am in pain, I know how to put the business face on. I cover us both.

I know how to get it done.

Masking my feelings, everything seems to pass by like a moving picture to me and I am the mere spectator.

Somehow, too much has happened in a short amount of time for me to reconcile it all.

Just a few days ago, I was miserable in Small Heath. Then, Thomas blindsided me, by acknowledging everything negative I felt. Promising to make it better. Including me in business. Going to London.

Only for him to try to lock me in a cage again. And getting mad when I broke free.

As if he didn't know the real me.

The ghosts of the past consume me, as we enter the bakeries, the rum distilleries of Alfie Solomons.

As I walked through the familiar hallways of the bakery, it only seems to sink further in that I was nearing a point of no return.

Sooner or later, she would break out.

And good luck to anyone who encountered her.

When I see Alfie, it almost feels like I was a stranger. Alfie and I barely greet, before Thomas takes command, introducing our men to him, highlighting the sheer force we had.

Alfie only gets a glance at me, before we are all swept up in the methodical nature of business.

I know my silence is noticed. Thomas does his best to normalize relations, before Alfie begins his speech. But nothing feels natural.

It feels forced. But Alfie pushes on, taking on his usual demeanour.

As always, he is dramatic in nature, which makes my mind go on auto-pilot, spectating and further ruminating.

I am working out the things burning in my soul, when a man of Tommy's makes a joke.

I even smile.

It's innocent, but what happens next is not.

Suddenly, Alfie flies towards the man and hits him as hard as he can. It's the sheer brute of force that shocks me out of my thoughts.

He falls, like a ton of bricks. Others go to him, trying to see if he is alive.

Alfie begins to scream, addressing the men, but looking at Thomas and I with an unspeakable twinkle in his eyes. As a dare.

It clicks.

He is out for blood. He enjoys the man on the floor, intimidating the rest. As he finishes screaming, he looks at us again, before retreating to his office at a leisurely pace.

A fucking coward.

I feel like I'm out of my body, as I watch the scene. I look to the man of Birmingham.

I am shocked and disgusted.

Thomas stands there, contemplating before doing fuck all.

I watch it all.

Telling the other men to get the fallen worker up and abiding by Alfie.

Doing nothing for the disrespect that was shown.

I see others shocked.

I can't believe it.

These actions begin to fill me with fire and then I know.

This is it. The point of no return has been reached.

Antonina Paltrowicz is back in the picture. And fuck all who get in her way.

I feel my body snap forward and I see red. Everything begins to set in motion. My killer sense returns to me in crystal clear focus.

I know what has happened.

As soon as Alfie struck the worker, something snapped in my brain. I felt my teeth clench to the point that they nearly broke into a million, just as they likely had in the poor worker's mouth.

Alfie Solomons had always been a man for theatrics and I was no stranger to the theater that beings like us delved in.

But for once, I would no longer remain in the supporting role that I had often been portraying myself in. How I had entered the bakeries in. How I had been with Thomas Shelby in.

It was all or nothing.

It was as if the switch inside my brain had switched on the light for the first time since my days in Chicago had ended and it put it all in perspective for me. I had power and for too long, I had let the men in my life, albeit the men I loved, lead everything for me.

I was not a damsel in distress or a sidekick. I was Antonina fucking Paltrowicz.

The theatrics had dangerously crossed a line within me that no man, not even Alfie Solomons, could return unscathed from.

For the first time in a very long time, the devil within me was unleashed and rearing its ugly head, as soon as the drama unfolding before me had ceased.

I had watched passively, marauding, as Alfie taunted the rest of the men, instilling fear in them, as if they weren't even human beings that were under our joint command.

Tommy's men, and by extension, my men.

Alfie treated them as nothing.

While they were not the likes of Alfie, Tommy, or myself, they were still good, working class men. Loyal men. Men who came along willingly to be cogs in a greater machine. Men supporting Thomas and myself.

They were not nothing.

Alfie Solomons had dug his own grave. And anyone in my way had done so by extension.

I remained seething in place, as men started to leave. I waited like a hunter, circling in on its prey. I didn't need an audience.

It was not unnoticed.

Thomas looked to me for several moments.

I knew that he couldn't go against Alfie at the moment, especially in a territory that wasn't his own, but it didn't mean that I couldn't.

For moments, I didn't meet Tommy's eye, as I calculated my next move.

When I looked up, I knew that my gaze reflected something that he had never seen before.

He couldn't hide the shock in his voice, as he spoke my name. Even scared.

"Toni?"

Looking at the blood and teeth on the floor and back at Tommy's stone cold face accentuated by the empty room, I turned my head to the side as if calculating my next moves. I spun on my heel and stalked off in the direction of Alfie's office.

In an uncharacteristic fashion, Thomas began to trail me, calling after me.

For once, I ignored him, as I began to pick up my pace. He began to run after me, making the mistake of grabbing my wrist. Twisting around on instinct, I squeezed his wrist with my hand, twisting my hips and kicking his legs out from under him. When he released his grip as he fell, I fled, with my eyes on the target, not bothering to look back.

For once, I held all the power in the situation, as the familiar office came into sight. I could hear Thomas trailing behind me with renewed purpose, yelling, as he realized all too late my target.

Knowing that Alfie kept the door locked, I lifted my leg up and smashed my foot through the wood, breaking the door and the heel of my new shoe simultaneously. With the lock broken off, the door opened.

Already sitting in his rightful place, Alfie looked up, unamused. Ollie was two feet to the left of the door, positively frightened by my sudden appearance and the shards of wood sprayed all across the threshold of the office.

Taking the first object that I saw, I took the vase to my left and hurtled it at Alfie's face. He ducked out of the way and it smashed against the cabinet behind him.

Just as Alfie went to say something to me, Ollie moved towards me and tried to grab me to restrain me.

He could only grab my arm before I could act. Grabbing his arm, I acted on instinct.

Kicking his legs out from underneath him, he fell to the floor and I picked him up. Grabbing him by the collar, I led him out of the office and threw him over the desks in front.

He landed with a thud at Thomas' feet, who stopped in his tracks at Ollie. If I hadn't been seething with rage, the shock on Tommy's face would have made me laugh.

Not bothering to appreciate the moment, I turned back to see Alfie Solomons standing up to face me.

His eyes flickered to his drawer that he and I both knew held his whiskey and a loaded pistol with the safety off.

"Take one move towards that drawer and you'll be bleeding out in a fucking second, Solomons. I fucking swear it."

He smirked, as he seemed to notice that I didn't have a weapon in my hand.

He began to taunt me, moving his hand in the air towards the drawer. I cocked my head at him, as if to dare him.

He dared.

"With what, Tonya? Your strength, aye?"

We remained staring at each other for a moment, before he decided to call my bluff. As he moved towards his drawer, I flew over his desk, tackling him, and grabbed a shard of the vase, before pressing the shard against his jugular.

Now I had his attention, as he stared into my eyes from beneath me. As he tried to resist, my knees dug into his elbows. He grimaced as the pain, but tried to escape, before I smashed my forehead into his. Finally, he stopped resisting. He only stared at me, as if to dare me.

"Well Tonya, if you wanted to fuck me, you only had to ask."

I laughed, leaning into him more.

"You'd only be too lucky, you fuck."

Suddenly, I heard commotion behind me, the tell tale sound of a gun's safety being clicked off.

A moment later, someone else's safety was being clicked off.

I didn't dare move, as I used all of my strength to keep Alfie in place, digging my knees into the crooks of his elbows even more.

I knew that it was likely Ollie and Thomas behind me, ready to act on a moment's notice.

The air was tense, to say the least.

Alfie's eyes flickered to the side and up to those behind me, before he smirked.

His attention went back to me, as he began to speak.

His words only made me see red even more.

"Well, I must say, Tonya. This ain't what I imagined, when I said I wanted you back in my office."

I was tired of his humor.

"Shut the fuck up."

My eyes narrowed in response and I pressed the shard against his neck. Little beads of blood began to pop up even more.

He sighed, before speaking again.

"Are you gonna fuckin' kill me or are we gonna talk like civilized adults about why you stormed in here like a fuckin' she-devil, aye?"

Knowing that the others could hear every word, I switched into the language that no other person in the room could speak, but us.

"I will talk to you like a civilized person, when you fucking act like one."

I answered him in Russian, letting him know it was personal.

He sighed, as he looked behind me, speaking in English.

"Can you two cunts leave us be for a bit and put your fuckin' guns down?"

I answered him immediately in Russian.

"No. They can stay. It isn't like Ollie knows what the fuck we are saying, nor that one I pretend to call my fiance. Besides, let's have a little fun, shall we?"

Switching back to English for the benefit of Ollie and Tommy, I began to spit my words at them.

"You two idiots can stay. In fact, I have problems with all three of you fucking bastards."

Finally, I let Alfie go, kicking him for good measure. I threw the vase shard beside Ollie, making him fall down, looking at me with wounded eyes.

I rolled my eyes, sighing.

"You don't fucking stop Antonina Paltrowicz and live to tell about it unscathed, you big fucking crybaby."

Ignoring Alfie's surprised laugh and the sharp intake of breath from Thomas, I smiled at them all, before taking out my wrist knife and playing with it.

Sitting on the desk, I drove the knife in, looking at them all.

I had their attention. And their fear.

Alfie's face fell, analyzing me. He looked down before speaking.

"Shall we begin?"