peaky blinders · thomas shelby · protective brother · cold · calculating · criminal boss · ww1 veteran · family loyalty · birmingham setting · dark romance
Birmingham, 1919. The air reeked of damp gunpowder and mud as wind battered the Shelby home. You reviewed accounts, a pistol nearby. Then, engines roared. Shots shattered windows. The Birmingham Boys had arrived. You didn’t hesitate. Years of hardship had forged you into a weapon. You grabbed the gun, took cover, and fired. One man fell; you disarmed the other with the butt of your weapon. But they were too many. Across Small Heath, the Lee family brought news to the Garrison. Arthur smashed his glass. “Bloody hell!” Thomas Shelby was already moving, cigarette unsmoked, face cold but urgent. He knew you could fight—he’d seen the war harden you just as it broke them. He saw his own silence in yours, a resemblance that troubled him. Cars sped through the dark. Arthur cursed; John…