All That Jazz

Gisella Torrio wasn't quite sure what drew her to Argus Filch.

He wasn't anything at all like her fiancé, the man she loved deeply. He wasn't anything at all like her brother, who had been like a father figure to her. He definitely wasn't anything like her cousin, who she adored but disliked.

He was completely out of the realm of her experience.

And he fascinated her so. He was completely a horrible man- hateful, ungrateful, violent. But- but there were times when she caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, and he was looking at her with anything but hatefulness, ingratitude, violence. He looked at her like a starving man looked at a feast, and it frightened her.

It frightened her because she wanted to invite him in. She wanted to know why simple things like riding in cars or turning on the radio sometimes gave him trouble, but things like murder and hatred and cunning just flowed out of him. She liked to see his normally collected demeanour crack and buckle just because of her presence. She wanted to know what made him so bitter, despite being much closer to her age than most of the other men in the business.

She was curious about him.

She had been, ever since the first time she'd seen him, back at Gatti's. She had been hiding out there while her brother and Giulio had hunted down a man who had made several inappropriate comments about her that seemed to indicate he was interested in her company, whether or not she was willing to be with him. Normally, such a thing wasn't worth a man's life, but Fred's comments had increasingly become more like plans than chitchat.

So Aldo and Giulio had sprinted her away to hide in the last place anyone would expect them to take her, and she had been instructed to wait in the parlour until they came to get her. They hadn't wanted to take any chances about her getting caught up in something that might get her killed or worse.

She had been sitting, being entertained by Speranza Beaumont's colourful stories of her past and of her friends. She knew Speranza from the speakeasies she frequented- the girl was an amazing dancer. She was somewhat out of place in the northern city, but she had been glad to arrive. She had been born down south, to mulatto parents who couldn't afford the children they had, where she didn't quite fit in anywhere, being either too dark, too light, or too poor.

She had fallen into whoring herself out for rent money after dating a man who visited brothels often, and seemed to be not bitter about the situation. Whenever Gisella had pressed her, she had just shrugged it off and changed the subject. Gisella figured if she was really miserable, she would fid a way out of it, so she left the situation well enough alone.

Speranza had been regaling her with a tale of a man with only one leg who owned a three-legged dog when he'd walked in.

She could tell at a glance that he was utterly lost and confused. Speranza had leaned over and whispered, "Fresh meat." A whore behind them laughed raucously, and Gisella had looked at him carefully. He was rather unremarkable in feature, but something about the way that he held himself made her reassess him, and she decided he was attractive.

"I'm gonna go earn my rent... you okay by yourself?" Speranza asked. Gisella nodded, and Speranza moved away from her and struck a pose in line with the rest of the girls.

While Madam Bella talked to the young man, the confusion faded from his features and he looked around the room, eyes finally resting on Gisella. She coolly averted her eyes, and kept her features impassive. She didn't want to pique his interest too much...

When her eyes were drawn back to him, he was still looking at her. He said something to Madam Bella, and Madam Bella shook her head. Gisella realized with a start that he thought she was a whore, too. She wanted to laugh, but then realized that she was dressed basically the same as Speranza was, down to the luscious lip colour she so adored.

He continued to watch her with thinly veiled want, and Gisella decided that she wanted him too. She was young. She wasn't yet married. She was in a house of sin, for Christ's sakes. There was nothing stopping her from having a little fun with the young man who looked so appealing to her.

The sounds of a tussle came from the back, where an alleyway was, and Gisella made up her mind. She breezed past Speranza, who was trying to talk sense into her, and took the young man upstairs. Aldo and Giulio wouldn't look for her up here for a while- long enough for her to get what she wanted, in any case.

He tried to tell her his name, but she didn't want to hear it. It would break the spell over her, somehow. Anonymity was liberating, and allowed her to do things that she probably wouldn't have otherwise, like dragging someone up to a room while her brother was just outside. Plus, it was thrilling, in a way. She was no stranger to men, but this was the first time she hadn't even known the fellow's name.

The events that followed Aldo's discovery of where she'd gone (she blamed Speranza, who caved under pressure of any sort) weren't entirely unexpected, though Gisella had been surprised at how glad she was that the young man, Argus, would remain a part of her life.

She didn't know what she wanted with him- she already had her fiancé, after all, and Oscar was a good man- but that didn't stop her from flirting with him. She teased him a lot, because it was fun to watch him try and figure out if she was being serous or not. Plus, Argus (she really thought that the name suited him quite well; she couldn't see him as a Frank or Robert or any other typical name.) seemed, on some levels, a much simpler man than any of the others she'd known. He wasn't stupid- far from it- but he didn't have the complexities about him that others had. Remorse, guilt, and hesitation to commit atrocities were completely absent from his personality.

She had heard the stories about him, of course. It was impossible to be as closely tied to the crime world as she was without hearing a thing or two. The other men in her life all had tales told about them, particularly Oscar, though she had known about those stories before she had even started to see him, but Argus was different. He came from different stock, as the accent she loved to listen to plainly said, and he treated the cruel actions he did in a different manner. No bragging, no posturing, none of those obnoxious traits she associated with the manly men that seemed to hang around her brother. Though that was not to say that Argus was effeminate in any way... The exact opposite, in fact. Argus was just quieter than the other man, something Gisella attributed to his youth and inexperience. In a few years he'd probably be guffawing with the best of them.

But for now, she thought he was perfect.

Her brother was aware of her interest in Argus, and had pulled her aside one night to try and dissuade her of her feelings.

"Zella," he'd said, using the nickname she'd grown out of ages ago. "I don't like the way you've been leading Argus on."

"Who says I'm leading him on?" she replied, feeling rebellious.

Aldo raised an eyebrow. "You're engaged, Gisella. That means no more fooling around."

"I know," she had said with an overly dramatic sigh, "but-"

"No buts," Aldo chided her. "It's time for you to act your age."

"I am!" she protested, but didn't try to argue further. It really wasn't fair to Oscar for her to go around flirting with one of his associates, no matter if she meant to do anything about it or not. And she loved Oscar, and he loved her. There was no grey area there. It was just that Argus intrigued her so... he was the most fascinating man she'd known, and it drew her in.

"Just don't dig yourself into any holes, Zella," Aldo said. "You're a grown woman, I can't actually stop you from doing anything. But just remember, Argus is not a nice fellow. You'd be smart to not get involved with him at all."

Gisella had tried to heed his words, she really had. But she just couldn't help watching Argus when he didn't realize she was there, which was rarely. She couldn't help the way she felt compelled to tease him and flirt with the thin line between friendship and something more.

She didn't want to betray Oscar, or throw Aldo's caution to the wind, but inside something smouldered when Argus watched her with those intense dark eyes of his, and she just wanted to find out what could be. Curiosity was a strong emotion when coupled with something that would cause disapproval by her brother, and Gisella had never really been a rational girl.

Besides, what's the worst that could happen?