This chapter has been edited and proofread. If you've read it before 13/04/2020 is highly suggested that you read it again.

She was the first to notice the commotion.

It was Newmarket and Alfie was too annoyed at having to be there at all to take in what was happening in his surroundings more than was strictly necessary. That was one of the reasons he always brought her with him to these kinds of things - she was better with social conventions than him and had far greater patience. It made her a better observer in these situations.

Daphne wasn't exactly excited at being there, on the contrary, she would rather be home as much as him. However, she slipped on the facade of the social butterfly with much more ease than he ever could. Part of the reason why they worked well together was the fact that their virtues and flaws complemented each other.

That was probably why she saw the tumult around Darby Sabini before the Jewish gangster noticed it himself.

She observed the Italian's outburst of rage while ignoring whatever Alfie was saying in the background. The leader of the Italian gang shouted at one of his men before leaving in a hurry. Just then Alfie's attention was caught. It did not take much time for one of his men to come with the news, still a little out of breath.

"The Eden Club was attacked." Alfie looked at Daphne, whose hazel eyes scanned the place Sabini had just left. She waited for the confirmation of what she already knew. "By the Peaky Blinders."

"They've made their move then," Alfie mused, smiling. "Fucking hell, they are a bold bunch of fuckers."

"We knew that they would do it sooner or later," the young woman stated, turning to face Alfie, who was scratching his beard in thought. They had talked about that - the Small Heath gangsters were gaining a lot of fame and it was just a matter of time before they would start looking for an expansion. It seemed that the time had come. "And by choosing one of Sabini's clubs they clearly wanted to make a statement; to pick a side. The real question is: what do we do now?"

"Now we make our move." Daphne sees the glint in his eyes and for some reason she is afraid that the next few months won't be quiet ones.

.

Buried under an unrealistic amount of paperwork, the last thing Daphne expected to happen was for Thomas Shelby to appear at the door of the bakery. She stared at Ollie for what felt like a few minutes until the younger man told her that the leader of the Peaky Blinders - who was supposed to be in a hospital bed for at least two more weeks - was there waiting to talk to their boss.

"Josiah is holding him at the door," he said "He doesn't look so well but is insisting on talking to Alfie."

"Ok, hold him for a minute while I go and talk to Alfie," she said, getting up from her chair to leave the room. When she crossed the corridor towards Alfie's office she saw the Brummie gangster in the distance. It was clear that he was giving Josiah, who was trying to hold him back, a hard time. He was impeccably dressed in a suit, something that made him look quite distinguished in the middle of a distillery, but her trained eyes could see that he was in some kind of pain. Ollie made his way towards the pair of them, discharging Josiah. Thomas' attention was brought to her, and despite the distance, Daphne recognized a spark of surprise mixed with curiosity in his face.

He didn't know about her then.

"Ever heard of fucking knocking?" Alfie hadn't taken his eyes off the papers scattered across his desk when she entered his office. Daphne just rolled her eyes, recognizing that he was in a good mood.

"Thomas Shelby is here." His reaction was immediate; he lifted his gaze from the papers in his hands and looked directly at her as she approached his desk.

"Fucking what?"

"Well, you did send him the telegram, didn't you?" She asked, raising her eyebrows. "It was almost an invitation. You had to be expecting that he would take it."

"Well, not so soon, love. Your friend didn't said that he was beaten half to death?" Confusion painted the gangster's face as he looked expectantly at the woman in front of him.

"He was ambushed by Sabini and his men not a week ago." Daphne paused, remembering what Alice, one of the fellow nurses that she had befriended and, fortunately, worked at the hospital in Birmingham, had told her. "She said that he was severely injured and that he would be discharged from the hospital in more or less a month, if lucky."

"Hell, what is he doing here then?"

"Trying to talk to you?" The sarcasm was evident in her tone and this time Alfie rolled his eyes, making her smile. "Even injured, he is giving Josiah a hard time. Ollie is with him now." Alfie stood up amidst a bunch of curses, and headed to the door. When he was passing by Daphne, he stopped and looked at her before saying,

"You stay in your office. Let me deal with him. I don't want you around this one more than what is necessary."

"Alfie, is this really the best time for you to play big brother to me?" She almost rolled her eyes, again, but he seemed serious, so she held herself back. It has been a while since the last time he showed his protectiveness so explicitly. He knew her long enough to recognize that she knew how to fend for herself, but from time to time he seemed to forget it.

"Anytime is a good time to protect you from danger you don't have to expose yourself to. I made a promise that I don't intend on breaking." They just stared at each other for a moment before he left the room, leaving the door open for her. Daphne's fingers immediately searched for the locket hanging on a chain around her neck, playing with it. She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the lump in her throat before following his steps out of the room. This wasn't a good moment to revisit the past. Her eyes crossed Tommy's when she was going back to her office and she saw again the spark of interest in the way he watched her.

He was going to be trouble, of that she was certain.

She had been sitting at her office for a total of fifteen minutes when Ollie came in again.

"Don't tell me that there is another beaten up gangster at the door waiting to talk to Alfie." The man in front of her actually laughed before saying,

"No, it's just Mr. Berkley. He said he's here for you." She sighed, the lawyer, it had slipped her mind that they had a meeting scheduled.

"Send him in." Ollie nodded, leaving the room. The lawyer came in not long after, greeting her and taking a seat. They discussed some of the legal bindings of the business for a while before Alfie barged into her office.

"Ah, Berkley. How are you mate? I am borrowing Daphne for a moment, right." He didn't gave anytime for Berkley to answer as he stood in the middle of the room, one of his hands extended to Daphne. She looked at him for a moment, forehead wrinkled in confusion, but she got up and took his hand anyway.

"I'll be back in a moment, Mr. Berkley." The man nodded at her, knowing that there was no arguing with neither of them, as Alfie guided her out of her office, a protective hand on her back. She didn't ask anything, just let him walk her to his office. When they arrived at Alfie's office Thomas got up from his seat, observing them both, clearly intrigued by the interaction. The bottle of whiskey was resting on the desk alongside two glasses - that's why she was here then.

"Tommy, mate, this is my second in command, my right-hand woman, Daphne." It didn't go unnoticed by Tommy or Daphne the failure to use her last name.

"Thomas Shelby." He offered her his hand, which she took. Up close she could see that one of his eyes was bloodied from internal bleeding, he seemed tired and in pain. Considering what Alice had told her about his injuries, she expected him to be far worse, but the knowledge did nothing to stop her from cringing.

"I know," she said. That made him smile, and Alfie scratched his beard in thought, once again.

"Okay, good. I made you acquainted because you'll probably deal with her when I'm not available. Daphne knows everything about the business, probably more than me sometimes. So, you fucking respect her and everything should be fine." There it was, Alfie had just made clear that she was leading things as much as him at the same time as laying a claim on her, for protection. She had always hated it, the idea that she had to have some sort of connection to a man for others to respect her, but it was a man's world and she had learned to adapt.

"Wouldn't think otherwise." Thomas' eyes were fixed on Daphne, and she noticed how blue they were. She should feel intimidated, probably, but all she felt was curious. They were interrupted by Ollie knocking at the door.

"I am sorry, Alfie, but Mr. Sawyer insists on talking to one of you right this moment." Alfie sighed.

"Fucking hell, that man. Daph, can you…"

"No way. You talk to him, I'll take Mr. Shelby to the door. It seems your business here is already finished." She looked between the two men. "For now." She left the office without looking back, waiting for the Brummie just outside. Mr. Sawyer appeared in her field of vision alongside Ollie, making a beeline for her.

"Oh, if it's not a sight for sore eyes." The older man kissed the back of Daphne's right hand, lingering for a little more than was appropriate, just as Tommy and Alfie appeared at the door. Daphne didn't seem intimidated or uncomfortable, just annoyed.

"Leave the poor woman alone, Sawyer. Let's talk business." Mr. Sawyer said something that Daphne didn't bothered to take in, before he entered Alfie's office, with Ollie on his heel. She was distracted by the feeling of Thomas' eyes on her.

"Quite famous around here, aren't you?" was all he said when they were left alone in the hall. She just smiled and started walking towards the exit.

"You could say so."

"Didn't know that Alfie had a woman," he commented,

"Believe me when I say that Alfie doesn't have any problem finding women."

"You're what, his mistress?" That made Daphne stop in her tracks and turn to look him in the eye. They were already at the front doors.

"That's for me to know and you to find out." She saw a glimpse of surprise on his features caused by her answer, so she continued. "Don't take me for a fool, Mr. Shelby. There are things better left unknown. Now, if that's all, I think you're free to go. Have a good day, Mr. Shelby." With that she smiled and left him there, walking back to her office. The man certainly wasn't used to being denied what he wanted.

.

More than an hour after she had left Thomas at the door, Alfie stepped into her office and took a seat on one of the chairs in front of her desk. She did her best to ignore his presence, not taking her eyes from the book she was working on, but it was difficult to do that when he made it his mission to keep moving in the chair, puffing every second and making noises indicating his annoyance to draw her attention. When she couldn't bear it anymore she put the pencil down and looked straight into his eyes.

"Do you need something, Alfie?"

"Aye, actually, I do." He kept staring at her and she just raised a brow in acknowledgment. She knew exactly what he wanted - her opinion on Thomas Shelby - but she wouldn't make it easier for him.

"What did you think about the gipsy?" She hated his word usage - especially his tone - but chose to ignore it. She had learnt to pick her battles and that one could wait.

"You already know what I think about it."

"I know what you think about doing business with him, but not what you think of him," Alfie explained, pressing her for an analysis. Daphne let out a heavy breath, leaning into the chair.

"He is trouble." She paused for a moment thinking about their brief interaction. "He is overconfident, overly ambitious and he is fearless." Alfie could see the conflict in her eyes. "He is dangerous, Alfie. That's what he is."

"Well, I'm dangerous too, love."

"It's different." She picked the pencil from the table and started to play with it - it was truly shocking the way she had become used to danger and violence. "It's like you are two sides of the same coin, it's just… I don't know how to feel about him."

"Did he try anything on his way out?" She noticed the hidden concern in his question - Alfie was good at disguising his worries about her as something just business related but she knew him well enough to notice the changes in his behaviour.

"No. He just assumed I was your mistress," she smiled to herself, shaking her head. "He's very bold, we have to give him that.

"Mistress? The lad is out of his mind, that's what he is." He leaned closer to the desk, anger seeping through his features.

"He's not the first to assume that and he won't be the last." Alfie knew that it was true. He had heard the rumours around Camden about them being romantically involved. When he came back from the war with the beautiful girl at his heels people had just assumed, in particular because she went to live with him. But things were not like that for them - they were like brother and sister and Alfie hated that people just presumed that she had to be opening her legs for him. With time, people started to understand that, but there was always somebody who would still jump to the wrong conclusion. "You didn't help by not revealing my surname."

"I just wanted to know what he knew about us. He had clearly done his fair share of research."

"It's only fair, you'd have done your research on him too," she paused and then added. "You actually did."

"Well, now we know that he didn't know about you. We can use that to our advantage." Alfie smirked at her and they stayed in silence for a while, just staring at nothing, both deep in thought.

"Do you really think it was a good idea to make a deal with him?" Daphne knew they had to do something about the war against Sabini, but was still unsure if the Peaky Blinders were worth the trouble.

"We need to win the war, Daph. We'll just use him and after that we part ways, hmm," he reassures her, one of his hands taking one of hers and squeezing it.

"That's the thing, Alfie, I don't believe that Thomas Shelby is one to be discarded that easily."

.

.

Tommy couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that the mysterious woman - Daphne - hadn't appeared on his research. It had shocked him, to say the least, seeing a woman walking around Solomons's distillery. She was beautiful, he had to give her that. Long brown hair tied loosely, delicate features, a head smaller than him. Even in simple clothes there was something about her, something in the way she carried herself, head held high as if the business was her own.

The first thing that crossed his mind was that she could've been Alfie's wife. He really didn't want to believe that he would have missed such an important piece of information, but it was a possibility. However, when Alfie brought her to his office to introduce her, Tommy noticed that there was no ring on her fingers. She didn't shared any similarities with the Jewish gangster, so the chances of her being a relative - sister, cousin, etc – didn't seem that high.

Next logical thing that he could muster was that she was Alfie's mistress, but that seemed off too, because the way Alfie made a point of hiding her until he was sure that they would work together, even after that, when he brought her to the office to officially met Tommy, a protective hand on her back, all that showed a deep care for her. Not to mention the way he avoided revealing her last name.

"There is something bothering you." He hadn't noticed his aunt's approach, too lost in his thoughts. She took a seat on the opposite side of the table, observing him as he smoked.

"There is a woman working with Alfie Solomons." Polly looked at him, brow furrowed in confusion.

"A woman?" It still wasn't common for a woman to have such a high position in business like theirs. Polly was an exception because she was family and she had run the business while they were at war, but he still couldn't think of an explanation for Daphne.

"Yep." He took another drag of his cigarette as he observed his aunt deep in thought. "He introduced her as his second in command."

"Second in command?!" she raised her brows at the information. "Interesting choice of words."

"Indeed." He put out the cigarette before continuing. "She seems educated, she knows her way around the business, the men respect her and Alfie seems to trust her more than anyone else."

"Well, if that's the situation you better discover who she is. If he holds her in such high regard it could be of some value being on her good side." Polly was right, of course, Daphne could be an asset to them, but Tommy wanted to discover who she was for entirely different reasons.

.

The Garrison was packed - people everywhere for the grand reopening of the pub. Tommy wasn't really in the mood for partying, but he had to keep up appearances. The last few days hadn't been the easiest for him. Aunt Polly was giving him the cold shoulder because he couldn't reveal where her son was, Arthur had been on edge after killing a boy in the boxing ring, he had to sort out the deal with Solomons and on top of it all, Grace's letter had been sitting in his pocket since Lizzie gave it to him. That is until he burned it minutes ago, before coming to the front of the pub to mingle. He spoke to John and welcomed Ada, sending the latter to speak to their aunt. He was about to return to the back room, when a furor at the front door caught his attention.

There, at the doors of the Garrison, was Daphne, in a beautiful velvet dress, the deep green of the fabric complementing her eyes beautifully, making them sparkle in the light. She held a black coat in one of her arms and a folder in the other. The sight took Tommy aback - the woman had been haunting his thoughts for days now. She searched the room for him and when her eyes found his she smiled.

He didn't need to look around to know that almost all of the heads in the room had turned to her, or that people were analyzing the beautiful stranger smiling at the leader of the Blinders. She started to walk towards him and Tommy couldn't avoid staring at the way the fabric of her dress brushed over her black stockings, or the way her hips swayed from side to side as she moved.

"Mr. Shelby." They shook hands holding each other's gaze.

"Daphne," the name swayed in his mouth like whiskey, sweet and smooth. "I would address you properly if I knew your last name."

"Daphne works for me," she knew that he was playing and wasn't going to give in that easily. Tommy liked the thought of her holding her ground against his advances.

"You are here for the party?"

"Unfortunately, no. Alfie sends you his regards and some papers that need tending to." She showed him the folder in her hands.

"And he sent you all the way from London, at this hour, just to give me some papers?" Her smile only grew at his direct approach.

"Contrary to popular belief, my life doesn't revolve around Alfie's." The way she referenced the Jewish gangster so casually wasn't lost to him. Neither did the fact that she had no problem talking back at him - she wasn't intimidated by him, which Thomas found enticing. "I was visiting a friend and since I was already there it was only logical to bring you the documents."

"Alfie really trusts you."

"We have history." Tommy couldn't quite explain why her statement bothered him. It was obvious that Daphne and Alfie shared a strong bond or he would not let her around his business dealings. He also knew that she wasn't his wife, but she hadn't denied being his mistress, although he thought it unlikely, given their conversation at the bakery. The simple thought of it being true made him angry.

"I don't believe the sight before my eyes. If it isn't Daphne Scott, here in good old Small Heath!" Tommy looked away from Daphne to see his sister approaching them.

"Ada Thorne. Back to your hometown, I see." The two women shared a long hug while a very confused Tommy watched the interaction with curiosity.

"Just visiting the family." Ada nodded at Tommy and he noticed that one of Daphne's hands instantly searched for the golden locket that rested hidden between her breasts.

"Where is Karl?" That picked his curiosity even more - she knew his nephew?

"Oh, he's somewhere with one of my siblings, probably." The two women looked around and found the little boy with Esme and John, playing at one of the tables near the windows. "What are you doing here? And where did you have the displeasure of meeting one of my brothers?" Daphne and Tommy shared a glance towards one another before she spoke again.

"Thomas is working with my boss, I was collateral damage." Ada looked at her brother and then at her friend, warning.

"Well, you better keep your eyes open because this one is trouble."

"Yeah, I figured that much." Tommy was vaguely aware of Ada smirking in the background, but was far too lost in Daphne's eyes to pay his sister any heed.

A/N: Thanks for reading and subscribing/comenting/favoriting, your feedback is highly appreciated. If you want, you can find me on Tumblr and AO3 as "amysteryspot". And please, let me know what you think.

WARNING: this fic (as most part of my works) is also been posted on AO3 and Tumblr (both as "amysteryspot").