The Darling Of Gotham City//Victor Zsasz

Chapter 3

Salvator Maroni. There isn't a whole lot to say about Don Falcone's rival, but Darling had no problem with that. He paid her well and they stayed out of each others business, that was all she cared about.
Victor on the other hand. Darling had been watching him from the corner of her eye from the second they had gotten into the car. He looked antsy, fiddling with his gun, sliding the magazine in and out of place, likely thinking of any reason he could to put a bullet in the dons head. That kept him rather occupied for quite a while, since the next time he looked up from his gun, he seemed surprised to see that the car had stopped.

"You finished?"
Darling deadpanned as she slid out of the backseat through the door that Jeremy had been holding open for her. 'Italian Restaurant'
"How original"
The singer scoffed as she looked up at the sign atop the doorway.
Victor was quick to follow behind her, tucking his gun away in the holster under his jacket as they walked through the doors, spotting a sign written on paper stuck to the glass window that read 'closed for private party'. Private party indeed, the entrance alone had at least 4 men with very big guns standing guard, and 6 others around the dining area, and that was only the ones who held their guns visibly.

"Darling"
A drawling voice called belonging to the man himself. Maroni had made his was over to the singer, placing his hand on her arm as he leaned in to kiss either of her cheeks while she did the same.
"Salvator"
She replied kindly, a soft smile playing on her painted lips. The violet haired girl ignored the sight of Victor's hand traveling under his jacket to wrap around his gun from the corner of her eye the second the mob boss got close.

"You've met Victor"
She said, the smile on her lips twisting into a small smirk as both of the men froze in place for only a second before snapping out of it.
"Of course. Falcone trying to get eyes on me again aye?"
Maroni joked, though his voice lacked any humour as he 'politely' stuck his hand out for Victor to shake, though the assassin didn't move to do so.

"I'm afraid my eyes are only for our precious Darling"
He said smoothly, taking a protective step towards the woman in question, wrapping an arm around her waist. It clearly did not have the intended effect as Darling rolled her eyes and stepped out of his touch and away from the two men.
"Do I need to leave you boys alone?"

Victor merely shook his head and moved to follow her.
"I know it's a small restaurant, but you Don't need to be on top of me"
She said as she stepped onto the makeshift stage to set the mic stand at the correct height. While she was doing that, Victor actually did leave her side to do a sweep of the outside perimeter, the front anyway. One of Maroni's men came up to Darling to take her coat which she gladly handed over with a smile and a 'thank you'.

About then was when it happened. Looking up from the music stand she had been fastening in place, she saw a boy through the window that looked into the kitchen. No, a man, standing over the sink washing dishes.

Aside from Maroni, not many other guests had arrived yet, so no one seemed to notice when the singer stepped off of the stage and walked directly into the kitchen. The cooks were to busy to see her grab the dish boy by the collar and throw him through the door to the back ally behind the building.
The raven haired man stumbled down the two concrete stairs to the ground, sticking his arms out to hold his balance, which he somehow managed.
"What the hell are you doing here Oswald"
Darling hissed, and the man's balance was thrown off by getting punched in the shoulder, him in turn falling backwards onto his ass.
"I thought you were dead you son of a bitch"
Oswald scrambled back a few inches as he looked up into the fury filled face of his twin sister.
"Please calm down Olivia. I can explain"
But she merely held up her hand and his mouth snapped shut.
"You didn't think to let me, or our Mother know that you were okay. I've been lying to her for weeks saying you were 'away on business'"
She put air quotes around those last three words.

Darling sucked in a breath before sighing and holding her hand out, pulling her brother to his feet.
"Does Victor Zsasz know your face"
Oswald blinked, thrown off by the seemingly random question.
"I-I don't know, maybe?"
"It's a yes or no question Oswald"
Oswald shook his head, trying to remember if he had ever met the assassin or seen him in person before.
"I don't think so."
He didn't seem too sure of his own answer, but Darling had already turned towards the door.
"I have to go before they notice I'm gone, just keep your head down and try to stay out of sight"
And with that, the singer disappeared back into the kitchen, thankfully before Victor had returned.

No one seemed to notice she was gone, with Maroni busy greeting his other guests as they arrived, and thankfully, Victor had only returned inside when she had gotten to the stage.

"It's all clear"
He said, stoic faced with his hand resting on his waist, very near to his gun.
"You don't say"
She replied sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.
"How long do we have to be here?"
He asked as Darling slipped her own microphone into its stand.
"Well you're free to leave whenever you like"
Victor gave her a look at that, which only made the corner of her lips twitch up for a second.
"Then stop complaining"
As Victor situated himself to the side of the stage, looking among the crowd with a hard expression, Darling let out a long sigh.
"This is going to be a long night"
She mumbled quietly to herself.

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It took somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes for enough people to arrive that Maroni gave Darling the go ahead to begin her set.

Through her whole set, Darling could feel eyes on her, of course most of the men were watching her, but this was different, strange, intense.
The feeling was almost unfamiliar. She couldn't put her finger on it, that was, until she looked up from the strings of her violin, her eyes almost instantly locking on Victors. She was quick to break eye contact and focus all of her attention back on her song, catching herself when she nearly stumbled over a note. Damned assassin.

The three hours that Darling was on that stage flew by like minutes, she didn't even realise that she was nearly finished until she had completed the second last song on her set list and her eyes caught on the next song. Because of course Maroni being ever the Italian requested that she end her set with 'Bella Ciao'. Nothing like a bunch of drunk Italian monsters practically screaming the lyrics to Bella Ciao to end a night.
When the applause died down there was only one person still clapping. Darling rolled her eyes and pulled her mic out of its stand as the bald assassin sauntered up to the edge of the stage, still clapping his hands.

"Well well Darling, this job may not be as boring as I thought."
The singer glared at the man as she packed her instrument carefully into its case.
"Piss off Zsasz"
Victor clicked his tongue a few times while shaking his head, he looked like a parent disappointed at his child's language. Though, that probably had to do with that fact that this was exactly what her mother would do when she didn't like something. It was annoying, especially when Oswald started copying her. Darling was able to get him to stop by bringing up that he sounded like a penguin when he made that sound. He didn't like that much.

Packing up never took as long as setting up did, Darling had managed to have things ready to go within about 10 minutes, no thanks to Victor who was no help at all. He was busy glaring at every gangster who dared come close to the stage to thank the singer. His concentration was only broken by a large black bag being shoved unceremoniously into his arms.
"Focus big boy. We're leaving"
It was his turn to roll his eyes, following the woman as she said her farewells to, and relieved a check from Maroni before making their way to the car.

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I knowww this chapter took forever and I am so sorry. But I should be releasing a few more chapters if not today then tomorrow.