Lila couldn't believe her ears. "Marinette?" she repeated in a whisper.
Gabriel nodded.
"You're willing to sacrifice your own pregnant daughter-in-law to protect Ladybug?"
"Like I said, Ladybug is nothing but a nuisance. I can afford ten thousand a month to shut her up. Marinette, on the other hand, is causing quite the headache for this family."
"Really?" Lila asked, intrigued. "How so?"
"You already know how I feel about her, and you already know that she was never good enough for Adrien. I tried to convince him myself, but he wouldn't listen, too blinded by his love for her. But that love is gone now."
She cocked her head. "But they seem so enamored with each other."
"It's all an act for the cameras. The reality of their relationship is far from the image of the happy couple they portray to the media. Things have been bad, and they've been slowly getting worse through the years. Adrien has been suffering, and now it's gone too far." Gabriel paused and turned away. Then he continued in a softer voice. "Adrien confided in me a few weeks ago. The timing for the pregnancy just doesn't add up. They hadn't been intimate with each other around the time that Marinette got pregnant." Another pause. "I've had my suspicions before that she was cheating on him, but I never had any proof."
A snort of derision. "I certainly wouldn't put it past her. She was always popular with the boys back in school. She was probably cheating on him way back then too."
"Indeed."
Lila shook her head. "Adrien doesn't deserve to be treated like that. But why doesn't he just file for divorce?"
"He can't. There was no prenuptial agreement signed when they got married. If he divorces her, she could go after everything. All of our money would be at stake." He looked at her again. "So you can understand my predicament now. If Marinette wipes out the family fortune, I won't be able to pay Ladybug off anymore."
All the pieces of the puzzle falling into place in Lila's mind, she nodded.
"My wife, my daughter, my son and myself, we're all at the mercy of a wretched specimen of a human being," Gabriel continued in a low growl. "But if Marinette were simply gone, everything would be fine."
She narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Gone?"
"Let me put it this way; horrible tragedies happen every day. It would certainly be a shame if Marinette were the victim of an unpredictable freak accident. I can just imagine her walking down the street one day and she slips and falls down a flight of stairs, smashing her head open in the process. Everyone knows how clumsy she is, after all. That would be such an awful, awful shame. Don't you think so?"
Lila tried to contain her evil smile. "Well if accidents happen all the time, why do you need me? Why not take care of it yourself?"
"Unfortunately, whenever a young woman meets an untimely demise, even one that looks like an accident, the husband is always the number one suspect. And following the husband is the extended family. So, this horrible tragedy has to happen when Adrien, Emilie, and I are all in a highly public location."
"So you want me to do your dirty work for you?"
A shrug. "You're the one who craves revenge. I'm simply giving you the chance to exact it on someone you hate just as much as Ladybug."
And Lila didn't respond as she started weighing her options.
"Well?" Gabriel asked.
"I'll think about it."
"Alright," he said. "But just remember one thing. You need to fight the fights that you can win. Ladybug might be injured, but she's still Ladybug."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Look, you have the Butterfly Miraculous, so you can do whatever you want. If you decide to go after Ladybug, I can't stop you. But I'm warning you right now, that path is a dead-end. If you go after her, she won't rest until you're back in jail, or worse. That's a guarantee. If you decide to go after Marinette, however, that path leads you to a world where Adrien is single again."
And that caught her attention.
"So think it over," Gabriel continued. "You know where to find me if you decide to accept my proposition." And he went back to his desk and started working at his computer.
But when Lila didn't leave, he looked up again.
"We're not done," she said. "I told you that I came here for two reasons. Ladybug's identity was only the first one."
He sighed, annoyed that she was still there. "And what is the second reason?" he asked in irritation.
"I want you to hire me as a model for your brand again."
And his eye twitched involuntarily. "You can't be serious."
"I am serious. And it was actually an idea that I got from your beloved daughter-in-law. She's a peach, isn't she?"
A pause. "Marinette gave you the idea?"
"Uh huh. Not on purpose, of course. She just mentioned how before I went to jail that I had a good thing going for me. And I actually agree with her. I liked being a model, and I liked being close to Adrien. So I figured, why shouldn't I do that again?"
"You want to work for me?"
"No one else will hire me. But you, you're a special type of person. Someone willing to overlook the wrongdoings of my past, and who will give me a second chance at life. Isn't that correct, Mr Agreste?"
He shook his head. "It will seem too suspicious if I hire you..."
"Well the important thing to remember is that you have no choice," she seethed. "Not unless you want me to proceed with the interview that I rescheduled for next month. You might think that it's an empty threat, but I know that it's not. You're not as indispensable as you think, Mr Agreste. Now come on, I think hiring me is the least you can do. Especially if I agree to your proposition."
Silence for a minute where he didn't respond.
So Lila continued. "I'll take that as a 'yes.' Now since that's settled, I suppose I should go home now. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy our time together, Mr Agreste. But I don't want to have bags under my eyes at my photoshoot tomorrow. So I hope that you have a lovely night." Then she walked out of the room and left.
After listening to her leave through the front door, Gabriel exhaled. And he watched her on the security cameras on his computer screen as she left the property.
Now that Lila was definitely gone, he finally spoke. "All clear."
And for a moment nothing happened, but then the five miniature versions of Multimouse that were scattered about the room came together. Once back at her normal size, the superhero looked at Gabriel. "You think she bought it?"
"Hard to say," he murmured. "I guess we'll have to wait and see."
Multimouse nodded before she said the detransformation phrase. In a flash of pink light, she turned back into Marinette. "Thanks Mullo," she said to the kwami who suddenly appeared in front of her.
"You're very welcome, Master!" Mullo replied.
And Marinette reached up and removed her necklace from around her neck, causing the kwami to disappear.
"Why don't you keep it on?" Gabriel asked. "Since your other suit is damaged, why not just wear a second Miraculous so you can transform?"
She shook her head. "It takes too much energy to wear two simultaneously. And there's no way I'm taking my earrings off with Lila on the loose."
"Well, hopefully she won't be on the loose for too much longer."
"Yeah, hopefully. Hopefully she takes the bait and decides to give up on Ladybug and go after me instead."
Gabriel stared at her for a moment. "How do you suppose that she found out about your injury?"
"I... don't know. You couldn't see the damage to my suit on the video, and I haven't been out in public. I have absolutely no idea."
"Besides us, who else have you told about it?"
"No one," she insisted. "I haven't even told Alya or Nino."
He sighed. "Well we won't let her get near you, so I suppose it doesn't matter." Then suddenly his expression turned stern. "But did you seriously suggest that Lila should start working for me again?"
Marinette scrunched up her face. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. But I couldn't tell you before she brought it up herself. I needed you to have a genuine negative reaction to the idea. You know, just in case she has the Butterfly Miraculous on her. Otherwise she would get suspicious if you were happy about the idea."
"I don't follow."
She smiled. "If Lila is modeling at your photoshoot tomorrow, she'll have to change into your designs. Not to mention, she'll have to take off those fancy bracelets of hers."
And Gabriel actually smiled too.
"Lila will be distracted by work, giving one of us plenty of time to switch out the bracelet. She'll never suspect a thing. Especially since she thinks it was all her idea."
He nodded, impressed with her plan.
"Then after she leaves the shoot, you retake the pictures without her," Marinette continued explaining. "By the time the ad gets printed, we shouldn't have to worry about her anymore."
Now he shook his head. But not because he disagreed; because he was in awe. "I can't believe that I used to think that I could outsmart you."
Marinette smiled more. "You need to give yourself a little more credit. There were a couple of good ideas here and there."
"Oh, that reminds me," he said, going up to his computer again. "Nathalie has been going through all of the ideas posted to the Ladyblog about the missing ingredient. And there's a few strong contenders. A couple of people have suggested that the 'fiber from a born traveler' could be a bird's feather."
After a second of consideration, Marinette nodded. "I guess that makes sense."
"Another one is a piece of cloth from a pilot's uniform."
"Yeah, I could see that."
"So we'll get these items immediately and try them out. With any luck, one of them will be the answer."
And Marinette nodded again as Gabriel kept his eyes on the screen. Then after watching him type frantically for a minute, she quietly asked a question. "How's Emilie feeling?"
He stopped. "Worse. She's getting more tired every day. And it's the same with Annabelle." A pause before he quietly asked a question. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm... fine."
That was far from the truth, and he knew it. "After all we've been through, I thought that we were past lying to each other."
Knowing she was caught, Marinette moved her gaze down to the floor. "It's getting worse," she admitted in a whisper.
"You're in pain?"
A faint nod.
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "I'm sorry Marinette. I wish I could go back and change what happened, but I know that I can't. But I do promise you, we're going to keep working on fixing the Starfish Miraculous. And we won't ever stop."
She paused. "I know. I know you won't. You love Emilie and Annabelle too much. But, I need you to promise me something else too."
"I won't try to take your earrings if that's what you're worried..."
"No," she interrupted, keeping her eyes down. "It's not that. We all know that making an ultimate wish isn't worth the price to pay. It's something else." A pause as she gathered the courage to continue. "If we can't figure out the formula in time, if Emilie and Annabelle fall asleep, and if I'm... gone, I need you to promise that you'll be there for Adrien." She stopped to wring her hands together. "I know that you were going through a lot, but you can't shut him out like you did last time. You're his father, and he'll need you. He'll need Nathalie too. So I need both of you to be there for him, okay?"
Gabriel shook his head. "There's no need for me to promise, because you're not going anywhere. We're going to figure it out, and you will be there for Adrien. Don't think for a second that you can get out of being my daughter-in-law that easily."
Even with the joke, Marinette still didn't look up at him. "I need you to promise," she whispered.
And after a moment, he said the words. "I promise."
She nodded. "Alright, that's all set then. I'm going to leave now. Hopefully we'll see Lila at the photoshoot tomorrow and we can get the plan in motion."
"Are you sure Adrien is okay with this?" he asked. "About you being the bait?"
A vague shrug. "He... doesn't exactly know about the plan yet."
And Gabriel didn't respond, clearly displeased.
"He'll never agree to it," Marinette continued in explanation.
"You shouldn't lie to your husband. No matter what the reason."
"Yeah, I know. He's just already stressed out about the whole situation. And I don't want to upset him even more."
"You need to tell him."
"I will. As soon as there's a good time, I promise that I'll explain the whole plan."
"Excellent," Gabriel said, his expression softening. "Now go home. I'm going to get Nathalie working on the feather and the pilot's uniform." He walked over to the door but then stopped and looked back at her. "And don't worry about Adrien. Once he hears that it's your idea, he'll go along with it. You know that he'd do anything for you."
There was a deafening silence as he left, allowing his words to echo in her head. And with a sudden feeling of trepidation, Marinette's eyes slowly wandered over to the focal point of the room.
The oversized painting of Emilie Agreste was an ever-constant presence in Gabriel's study, always watching over everything. And Marinette stared up at it. "Yeah," she whispered to the emptiness. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of."