Wild ||Edward Nygma|| [2]

Chapter Ten || The truth

"Out of all the ways we could have destroyed each other, we chose love".

Barbara Kean walked across Oswald's mansion for the second time that day. The first visit hadn't gone very well. She had barged in while Oswald and Charlotte were on a meeting with the members of the five families of crime. Barbara pointed a gun at Penguin, demanding to know where Tabitha and Butch were. She was sure Oswald had them kidnapped somewhere. Obviously, he had denied everything and before Barbara could insist a little further, his Russian maid walked in. Barbara thought it over and had a brilliant idea. She knew how things worked with the servants. They heard and saw everything. Surely, Olga had heard something about Tabitha and Butch.

The maid was found cleaning the chandeliers in the living room. She insisted that she didn't know anything, but Barbara knew better than to believe it.

"Listen, I grew up in a place like this. A large staff of people always coming and going. Listening," Barbara told her while placing a hand over hers to make her stop cleaning. The maid immediately noticed the big ring on Barbara's finger. It had what appeared to be a green Apatite gemstone on top. Barbara smiled when she saw Olga staring at her ring and continued. "You can't help but overhear things".

"Is handsome ring," Olga commented with her strong Russian accent.

"It is. And very expensive," Barbara told her, taking the ring off and offering it to the maid. "I bet it would look just fabulous on you".

Barbara frowned as she saw Olga put the ring on her finger. She liked that ring and was sad to see it go, but sacrifices had to be done in her line of business. It would be hard finding another ring like that one, though.

"Mr. Penguin, he treats me nice. I have warm feeling for him," Olga told her after she let out a sigh. "Miss Bateman is nice too. She just has issues. But the other one". Olga's expression hardened when she mentioned Ed.

"Nygma?" Barbara asked.

Olga scoffed at the mere mention of his name. "Don't know why Miss Bateman and Mr. Penguin like him so much. They could do better".

"Wait," Barbara needed a moment to assimilate what she had just heard. "You mean Oswald also likes Nygma? Likes, likes?" Olga raised her eyebrows and nodded with an annoyed expression on her face. "So that means that Charlotte and Oswald are not together. I always thought it was weird, but... wow. Okay, we should definitely revisit that another time. But what about Nygma? Does he say anything about my missing friend?"

"I don't know," a crease formed on Olgas's forehead. "But I hear Mr. Nygma talking about special delivery, but nothing come to the house but bill". She opened a drawer on Ed's desk and took out the bill.

Barbara took it from her hands and searched for where the purchase had come from. "'Stocks & Bondage'?"

'Ed bought something from an erotic shop?' Barbara asked herself as she wondered what he could possibly be planning. 'That surely wasn't going to be used for either Charlotte... or Oswald. That I am sure of'.