My resignation

"When your intentions are pure, you don't lose anyone, they lose you"

Alfie's POV

"So you think, if you kill him, you will kill the message, yeah?" I asked
"I will kill the man, then I will kill the message" he confirmed
"How much you paying?" I asked
"I thought you would have only wanted one thing" he said
"I would like my wife brought to me yes, but money is also needed if I am to rally the people of london in your cause Thomas" I said

"Why me?" He asked
"What are my other options Tommy? Turn up on her doorstep? Wait in the house for her? Have men bring her here? Confused? Scared?" I asked
"I will give each man twenty pound, you will get five thousand" he said

"I will rise above those insults mate, as a god, and as the man you murdered, yeah, took away from his family and ruined his life" I said, closing my eyes
Waiting for him to gain some respect
"Ten?" He asked
"How is he? The boy? What does he look like?" I asked instead

"I have a picture, if you would like it" he said
"A picture, oh a picture would be lovely mate, hand it over" I said, taking the paper from him.
Looking at my sons
Carter was so grown up. So tall. And Laurence, Laurence looked the spit of him
"And what are you doing, with a photo of my boys? Eh?" I asked

"I took it from Mariana, before she went home" he said
"Thomas Shelby, OBE and thief" I commented
"Can I keep it?" I asked, he held a hand up, gesturing yes

"I appreciate that Tommy, I do, ten will be enough, alright, where do you want the men?" I asked
"Birmingham"
"No, no, that twenty will not be enough for my lads to step inside that fucking shithole. It'll have to be twenty five at least" I said
"Your wife walks through the shit bare foot for free" he said calmly

"For that Tommy, it'll have to be thirty" I said
"And where do you want your wife?" He asked
"Here" I said
"In your version of hell?" He questioned
"Yes" I said slowly

"I cannot be seen in public, it is better for people to think I am still dead" I said
"But not her?" He said
"No, not her, I would like to see my family before I die Tommy, I would like to meet my son" I explained
"She took a long time to grieve you Alfie" he said

"You know do you?" I asked
"Polly talks to me, she tells me things, and after all the time she took, she then died Alfie, she died in hospital when your daughter died. Charlotte Solomons took a piece of her heart and she has never been right since" He explained

"But she was away from you, for years" I said
"Yes, until men showed up wanting her dead" he said
"Because of you" I said
"Because of both of us, the Billy boys want her dead on account of her association to me. Mosely and them want her dead for her marriage to you" he said

"But she was free of you, for so long, you just can't stop yourself Tommy, ain't got no Margate to go to" I said
"No" he let out

"I was on a lot of drugs, at first, due to the pain, on account of you know.,, being shot in the face by some cunt, I won't bore you with the details, Ollie fixed me up he did, got me off that shit, but I had a recurring dream. I saw you in a field with a big black horse, and you said goodbye, then bang" I explained
It was irritating

It was boring
Maybe it was metaphorical
But waking up from this pricks face was not pleasant
"So, what now? You will bring her here" I said
"I will bring her, after I have shot Oswald Mosely" he said
"Why?" I asked
"Because the man unsettles her. And maybe once he is dead... she will have the courage and the mindset to deal with her husband being alive" he explained

"Thinking of her eh? Of her feelings?" I mused
"Yes" he said
"Fine" I replied
"Until then, I will continue... until I find a man I can't defeat" he said
"Have you ever thought Tommy, that the person who defeats you, may be a woman?" I asked

"I have, yes" he said, standing up
If Mariana was the one who killed Thomas Shelby
Maybe the world could still move on.

Tommy's POV

He was more 'enlightened' than I thought he would be
I was surprised he was so willing to comply with my terms
I shut the office door, to find Polly sitting in the corner, drinking
Smoking.

"There will be a war, Mariana tells me, one of you will die, and I am to pick a side" she mumbled
"But which one I cannot tell" she said
I hummed
"He's going to do it anyway" I said. Mariana was right
Arthur was right
He wasn't to be trusted
Polly just didn't want to see that.

Lines were being drawn. And she was slowly being torn in half.
"Yeah" she said
"You should know, if Aberama takes his side, I will kill him" I said honestly

Things had become too serious
And now was not the time for Polly to think things could be smoothed over
"What about me?" She asked
"I'll do what I have to do Pol" I said, honestly escaping me as I looked at her.

The woman who raised me
The woman I don't think I would ever be able to raise a gun to
"Kill and kill" she said
"The only way to make people listen" I said
"Mar told me" she chuckled
"She told me and I wouldn't listen. She told me you would not spare Michael, I didn't think that extended to me" she said, slowly standing up

"Soon you will have a stage to stand on, millions of people will listen to you and you will run the country like you run this family" she said
"It appears to be what people want" I said simply
"But not me. Not anymore. Michael was right about one thing, John is gone. Ada is suffering the consequences of your actions. Mar left. Arthur... you'll run that boy into a grave before he leaves your side Thomas... my resignation" she said, throwing her envelope onto the table.

Mariana's POV

"You made it home then? You didn't call me" I said
"Did I need to?" Polly said
"Pol, I don't want to fall out, I'm not saying I agree with Tommy any more than I agree with Michael, I just wanted you to see what's happening here. That eventually you'll have to make a decision" I explained

"I already have" she said
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, I have resigned from Shelby company limited" she said
"Resigned?"
"I will not stand by and let that boy kill me for the cause. Not anymore" she said

"Pol-"
"I keep thinking... thinking and thinking. All those years, all that time we told you, you shouldn't have left, you should have stuck by us. Maybe you were right. Maybe you saw him for what he'd become all along" she said
"Don't talk like that Pol, he's still the... he's still the man you raised" I said

"He's not anyone anymore, he's a shell. A shadow, he will swallow us all hole if we stay" she said.

•

"What are you doing here?" I asked Tommy
It had been only a day since Polly Gray resigned
And here he sat, smoking in the tunnel like a teenager
A boy, running from her

"Thinking" he said
"I heard Polly left the company" I said, sitting beside him
"Yeah, yeah she left, and Charlie just told me how my mother died" he said, looking down
"We know how she died?" I questioned
She drowned.

"I told him. That I knew. I knew it wasn't an accident" he said
"It was, she-"
"She killed herself" he interrupted me
"She just... stepped in. That's what he said. She stepped in, after he tried to stop her, you remember? You remember how much she was down here? Day after the day, that's why" he said

"That's why he took her away, that's why she bought me that horse, that's why she was down here all the fucking time" he said angrily, trying to contain himself.

"My grandfather, he killed himself too. Is that what I'm supposed to do? I won't find anyone bigger so I'll have to do it myself?" He asked
"No" I said
"You'll go, when that someone bigger comes along" I said
"And who's that eh?" He asked, seemingly trying to hold himself together

"Well Mosely seems like a worth candidate" I said
"Mosely will die, like all the rest" he said

"Like Alfie" I said, he said nothing, didn't look at me either
"Why did you kill him Tommy?" I asked
"Why would you... why did you do that to me? No matter what he'd done? He'd betrayed you before?" I asked

"Exactly, and he broke your heart every time" he said
"So what? You saved me" I said
"Maybe I did, the past few years, you've been fine, you haven't been hurt time and time again" he said
"When do I get to rid myself of your heartache Tommy?" I asked

"When I'm got" he said
"Or when I get myself" he said.

"Polly told me, to ask you where you were, yesterday" I said
"No where" he said
"She was adamant Tommy, so where were you? What are you planning that I don't know?" I asked

"Just... I'm just trying to figure out Michael Mar, that's all, doesn't matter where I was, she's just upset" he dismissed.

"Fine" I said, getting up
"Are you going home?" I said, wary of leaving him by a canal for the night
"No. You go" he said

"Big day in the morning" I said.
Today was the day we shoot Oswald Mosely
Today was the day, that Tommy may hopefully value what he has. Now he's lost Polly.

Vote and Comment
Thoughts???

•