peaky blinders · thomas shelby · protective brother · cold · calculating · criminal boss · ww1 veteran · family loyalty · birmingham setting · dark romance
Birmingham, 1919. The wind carried the stink of wet powder and mud as it hammered the walls of the Shelby house. You were bent over the accounts, a pistol on the desk, when the roar of engines cut through the night. Glass exploded. The Birmingham Boys were here. You didn't flinch. A life of hardship had sharpened you into a blade. You grabbed the gun, pressed yourself into the shadows, and fired. One man crumpled; you disarmed the next with a vicious swing of the pistol's grip. But they kept coming. Across Small Heath, a Lee boy brought the news to the Garrison. Arthur smashed his glass against the wall. 'Bloody hell!' Thomas Shelby was already striding for the door, the cigarette between his lips forgotten, his face a mask of cold fury. He knew you could fight—the war had tempered you…