lila's revenge

Chapter 32

Lila's POV:

Sure, I missed the family dinner. Was it worth it? 100%.

If you told me that by the end of the day I'd have both Marinette AND Adrien in here, I think I'd cry from happiness. And now they've decided to declare their love for each other; just making my plan even more satisfying.

You see, Emma and I are well aware of how quickly Adrien's disappearance will become breaking news, so we don't intend to keep him for very long. In fact, his stay will be extremely brief.

"Well, well lovebirds." I say, walking up the stairs to where they're standing together.

Marinette squints against the light radiating from my torch, which is currently pointed straight in her eyes.

"Let him go Lila." She mutters, teeth grit angrily.

Adrien stands silently beside her, alert for what my move will be.

"Okay." I shrug, wandering back down the stairs and gesturing for Marinette to follow me.

She looks confused.

"Well I'm not letting you both go." I laugh at their hesitancy. 

That switches Marinette into action, with her walking quickly down the stairs to my side and back to where she was previously chained.

I swiftly re-attatch the chain, observing the damage caused from her previous attempt of escape. It reminded me of Chat Noir's cataclysm... how bizarre.

When she was securely fastened back to the wall I chuckled.

"You didn't seriously think I'd let him just leave did you? I mean he'd just go tell everyone."

Marinette looks angry, and I can't see Adrien but I assume he's probably trying to open the door.

"Adrikins." I call, using Chloe's nickname that I know irritates him to pieces.

"Don't call me that." he grumbles from the top of the stairs.

"Say goodbye to your girlfriend." I respond, ignoring his request.

"G-girlfriend?" Marinette whispers from behind me. I roll my eyes; she's so annoying, I mean they literally just said they loved each other of course they're dating.

"Shut up Marinette, you're so dumb." I groan, walking away from her so I don't have to hear her babbling.

I make my way over to the currently turned off smoke machine and switch the setting quietly. The smoke was fake before, but it sure made that scaredy-cat run. I'm afraid this stuff really says what it does though, much to Marinette's likely dismay.

"You never tried that drink at my party Adrien." I call over my shoulder, busy with the machine but trying to distract them.

"I'm fine thanks." He responds quietly, almost angrily.

"Oh it's okay, I'm not going to make you another one." I chuckle, finally switching the machine on, and pulling up my face mask. I walk back to Marinette and pull the gag over her mouth. She looks at me angrily but her attention is immediately caught on the sound of the smoke machine filling the room.

"Surprise, I made it into a gas!" I call happily, scanning the room for Adrien. He looks terrified and rushes back up the stairs to fight with the door.

I cast a glance of Marinette and she looks devastated. I almost feel sorry for her, actually not really.

"On the bright side, you can almost go." I say to her and she looks at me.

"What? No thank you?" I ask. She rolls her eyes in frustration.

"Oh wait that's so true, you can't talk!" I tease, laughing before walking away and heading to Adrien.

By this point he's almost in contact with the gas. It's almost happening.

"Your cousin is here." Emma says quietly in my ear. I groan outwardly. What is she doing here? How did she find this place so quickly.

"Hold her off." I reply, touching the earpiece to record my message. It stays quiet so I assume Emma got the message. It's quite useful having security, it means you only have welcome visitors.

"Do you have anything to say to Marinette?" I ask Adrien happily, as he starts to cough. He looks at me with disgust before choking out a few words.

"....Love.......... you...... M'lady."

I hear Marinette whimper from the basement but watch as Adrien falls to the floor out of exhaustion. He'll be fine in about 30 seconds, just with a bit more.. memory capacity, you could say.

Just as expected his eyes open just as I switch off the smoke machine and it clears.

"Adrien, good to see you're back." I smile, coming over to rest my arm around his shoulder.

"Lila, hey, where am I?" He asks, smiling back in confusion.

"You took a fall I'm afraid, but you're okay now." I respond, speaking loudly so he can't hear Marinette's pained cries.

The best thing about this memory stuff is it erases any memories even slightly related to Marinette. So anything Marinette ever said that made him dislike me, is all gone.

So the only people who could potentially mess with his memory of Marinette, are my stupid cousin and her friends. Now that Chloe's on my side, and Lucy's friends hate her, no one would believe a single British girl whose only been here for a few days.

The plan is flawless, it's not long until I can let Marinette go. No one remembers her anymore, so she can move countries with no one even questioning her whereabouts.

Adrien and I walk out of the basement together, shutting the door firmly behind. With my cousin around, I can't risk her spotting Marinette.

"Lila?" Lucy's voice calls, and three sets of footsteps make their way towards us.

"Lucy? Is that you?" I reply, letting her know where I am.

She makes her way closer until she spots me and Adrien.

"What are you both doing here?" she asks nervously, and Emma and Elizabeth step into the light behind her.

"Adrien fell and I was helping him out." I smile and Adrien nods in agreement.

Elizabeth watches and shrugs before turning back to the entrance of the house. Lucy looks unconvinced but follows her, leaving Emma to join us at the rear.

We part ways in the street, with Emma and Adrien heading one way, and the rest of us the other.

"Bye Adrien, bye Emma!" i call and they wave back cheerily.

I turn to spot the other two watching me in confusion. They look at each other before deciding to say nothing and continuing to walk in silence. A minute or so later, Elizabeth waves goodbye to us both, I'm assuming mainly Lucy, and then it's just the two of us.

"Are they mad I missed the dinner?" I ask, trying to make conversation.

She nods but doesn't speak, still focused on the pavement in front of her.

"Was Uncle Rob there?" I ask again. Her Dad was still in England this morning for business but I heard he was planning to be there.

She nods again, still not replying.

"Hello? Why are you not speaking to me?" I say, grabbing her shoulders as we reach the front door of the house.

She jumps at the action, clearly on edge for some reason.

"I know you did something to him. It won't work, whatever you're planning." She says angrily, her hands balled into fists. She looks at me in the eye for a split second before pulling away from my touch and walking into the house.