23

Ekaterina was restless. The ticking in her brain had always been there, constant but dull, like a timed bomb waiting to blow. But with the pressure of waiting for her daughter to find a way to those jewels, it was louder and she was afraid it could go off at any moment. She was scared of what she would do.

Placing responsibility onto someone else was hard enough, but it was Anastasiya, her darling daughter. She had planned this from the start, ever since she threw her on the train and ordered her to never look back. Yet now that her planning was in motion, and there was a chance that all could fail, she was regretting it wholly.

She was worried about Tatiana just as much as Ana. Her eldest child always had a habit of ruining things before they had already begun. And her plan hadn't even been made yet.

Ekaterina was restless. She needed those jewels and yet they seemed so far away from her sight. It seemed she would have to plan a way to get them herself.

Ana had hoped that she had heard the last of the priest that she hated with such passion, but the minute she had heard of Tommy Shelby's missing child, she knew it must have been him. She felt sick, her stomach curling in on itself. This was the man who her family was working with? She couldn't believe it, even if the knowledge came securely from her mother. She couldn't believe anything she said.

Tatiana seemed to have no knowledge of the situation with Tommy Shelby, in fact, her sister's calmness nerved Ana far too much. It seemed that everything was going normally for her- that was the first indication that Ana had noticed.

She would have to think. Her mother had already taken to observing her every movement, making sure each one was used wisely. Whether the woman knew that Ana was aware of the gazes or not, she wouldn't care, but Ana took it as a hint to get the job done quickly. But, if anything, it just made her panic even more than she already was.

Ekaterina had cornered her that morning too, adamant that she wanted a conversation about something other than the jewels. So Ana talked about her time in England: of Tommy's wedding and the meeting after it, of the parties and even of John Shelby, though not as intimate as her thoughts of him. Anything to keep them both distracted. But Ana's thoughts kept coming back to the plan.

They had gone to the treasury the other day with the jeweller, Mr Solomons, as per Tommy Shelby's request. That had to be significant, she thought. Tommy didn't seem the type of man to be awfully bother by which jewels he was getting for his money- she couldn't imagine him having much use for them.

Not that he would ever see those jewels. Ana knee her family and their ways well enough to know that they would never pay out a single diamond from that treasury. They hadn't even used it to pay for a doctor for her father when he was terribly ill and out of money.

But perhaps Tommy Shelby knew that too... Tatiana knew as much. She didn't seem to be at all moved by anything that was going on around them, and Ana had seen for herself how in with Thomas she was.

A deal. A deal had been made. That must have been the case, because what else could explain anything at all?

But for whose side? It worried Ana, but surely her sister wouldn't work for the priest.

Tatiana sat in the drawing room with a drink and a cigarette, a set up that she had caught her sister with more than often recently. She barely batted an eyelid as Ana slid through the door, setting it shut behind her without a single thud. She sat beside her, watching her carefully pour another drink and hand it over.

"You have heard about Mr Shelby?"

"Yes, what terrible luck."

Ana nodded in agreement, but her jaw clenched. "Is that all you would say about it?"

"What else is there to say?" Tatiana said, finally turning to look at her with a raised brow.

"You know who is behind it?" Ana asked.

"Of course I do, isn't it obvious?"

"You're not in with it, are you?"

"Anastasiya, who do you think I am?" She barked out a laugh. "What use would I have for any of that?"

"None. None at all." Ana scoffed.

"Right."

Ana slammed down her drink, gripping her sister's arm so she would be forced to look at her without being distracted by the drink. "What use do you have for being in any part of this business at all? What use do you have at being here but for your own gain? You're working with Tommy Shelby, aren't you?"

"I don't know-"

"Tatiana," she breathed out lowly. "Tell me."

With that, Tatiana snapped. She ripped her arm from her hold, slamming the glass down with a harsh thud.

"I'm not obliged to tell you anything, sister," she almost growled. "I owe you nothing."

"You've always been selfish- "

Tatiana interrupted. "You call me selfish when you're helping our mother! Did you ever stop to think about why I the way I am?" She was seething, her eyes darkening until they were charcoal black, shadowed by the glare of her brow. "You were ruthless Ana, but at least you had a heart. I don't, you know why?"

"Mother," she whispered.

Tatiana has always loathed her, hated the way she favoured Ana whenever she would even bother to show her face.

"She never loved us, Ana," she said, blinking against the gleam of the windows. "Why do you help her?"

"She wants to do right," Ana said, trying to convince herself as much as her sister. She had never trusted her mother, but she didn't want to say as much in front of Tatiana, not when it showed her own weakness. "I know they won't pay those jewels out for the tank. I know they don't want to use those weapons to help us."

"What?" Tatiana barked out, shaking her head. "This is so much bigger than you know, Ana. So much bigger than even I know. So many more people working in this than we know."

"She lies to you," Tatiana said, her eyes fluttering to land on her sister's, gaze so suddenly soft. "Why can't you see it?"

Ana let out a breath as she paused. She had nothing to say. All the thinking had frazzled her brain. But just one last push...

It was always the seemingly useless pieces of the past that would resurface at random times, only to be pieced together after it was needed.

Anastasiya gasped. She had puzzled about it from the start: why had the false code word from the soviet infiltrator seemed so familiar? Constantine. It all came back.

"I have to go," she said, rushing out, but Tatiana grabbed her wrist with a glare.

"Don't walk away from this, Ana," she hissed.

"I'm not. I'm walking toward this." Ana sat, gripping her hands in hers, urging her to understand. "Do you remember the name of the man that mother was seeing, when father was ill and all the time after that."

Tatiana blinked. "The horrid man, that you hated. You said he reminded you of a ghost, of the devil in human skin," Ana pressed.

"His name was Anton. But she called him Constantine around us. How could I forget?" Ana said, her jaw clenching at the thought.

"Mother said that the man she was seeing, the man she is going to marry, is helping her to use the jewels to aid in the revolution. To do what our uncle and aunt said they would do, except bigger and better and truthful."

"She doesn't mean that," Tatiana interrupted.

Ana dug into her wrists. "Listen," she snapped.

"She said he would make things better. That she loved him. But she spoke as if he was here in England already. And this morning, she asked about when I first came here and I told her about the evening of Tommy Shelby's wedding and of the infiltrator that had the wrong code name. But when I told him he was killed and burned, she went rigid and blanked out for the rest of the morning," she explained. "But do you remember what the code name was, the wrong one, Tatiana?"

"It was Constantine." Realisation dawned on her face. "You can't mean..."

"I think I do." Ana nodded gravely.

"But why would he use that as a code word?"

"Perhaps as a signal to someone near or outside. I don't know. But do you see what this means?" Ana asked.

"She was working for the communists the whole time," Tatiana said. "This doesn't make sense. Mother is the last person who would ever be on that side. What reason does she have?"

"Besides the hate for our family? Her own husband's last name?" Ana said, quieting her voice as she realised it was raised. She wouldn't put it past her mother to eavesdrop. "But I don't think she was doing it for them. I think she was doing it for herself. Especially now she knows he's dead."

"It's a lot to think about," Tatiana said. "We can't let her have the jewels."

"We won't let her. I won't tell her," Ana said. "But you're stealing them."

"Someone has to pay Mr Shelby." Tatiana smiled with a shrug. "So what if I get something out of it myself by stealing. They deserve it."

"That, they do."

Ana stood once more, glancing back down to her sister in the seat. The cigarette was back in her hands, but she looked as if she needed it.

"I'm going to check. To see if it really was him at the wedding."

"You remember his face?"

Ana nodded. "As clear as day."

"How will you find out?"

"I ask someone who saw him."

"John Shelby."

A smile played on Tatiana's lips. But it was without the usual slyness of her smirks that she always had. Ana turned away from the mention of his name, not prepared for the teasing.

But Tatiana called out for her, standing up to face her. "Ana." She glanced back. "You love him?"

Ana brushed the question off. "Something like that."

"You love him," Tatiana said, though it was not a question.

"And what if I do?" Ana finally smiled, mirroring her sister's expression.

So what if she did love him? It was more like asking herself. She was asking herself why she was so afraid to admit the fact that she felt for him in a way she had never felt for a man before.

"You have changed so much," Tatiana said, her voice gentle for once. "I wish I could say the same for myself."

"I don't want you to change. You're my sister. Always."

Ana stepped forward, taking a hand in her own. It was as much affection as either would ever show to each other. But it was enough. Even if they had spent so long on different sides, they would always end up fighting together, no matter what. They would always have that. They smiled.

"Even when we both forget."

Only three chapters left :(