Secret Kitten

Chapter 23

After three weeks of patiently waiting for this, Lila found herself in Gabriel Agreste's office. With her rehearsed lines, and before even giving him the chance to speak, she began, "I was so glad you arranged this meeting because I seriously fear for Adrien. This Marinette girl has been after him and I'm afraid he will fall for her traps. She might even be out for the money. I had to warn you before it was too late."

Gabriel was not pleased with Lila being the first to intervene. But his ego aside, this was good. She wanted Marinette far away from Adrien as much as he did. "I assure you that I'm aware of my son's courtship with Miss Dupain-Cheng. That was the reason I scheduled this meeting in the first place. I need to know, what can you tell me about her?"

Faking concern, she continued, "She collects boys like trophies. I'm scared Adrien will just be another for her. She has dated almost every guy in class and a few not in class. The best thing is to send her far away from your son." With a grin, she followed up by showing pictures of Marinette and Luka close. She also showed pictures of Marinette with Nino, Nathaniel, Marc, and even some of Chat Noir sitting with the bluenette.

Gabriel stared at the pictures and then at all the information he had about Marinette, including her medical files. He had paid a lot to his investigators for it. In the end, he couldn't let all of his plan to depend on Lila's abilities. What the documents told him didn't match what she was telling him. They described the bluenette as friendly and social, smart, overachieving, and hardworking... nothing indicating she was a gold digger. Although he wished otherwise, the truth was that the bluenette was most likely not lying about the paternity of the child.

Additionally, he was also quite familiar with the personal feud between Marinette and Lila. Still, despite everything, he didn't particularly care about it or the lies he was clearly being feed. Nothing he knew would change the plan he had. "You know what happens when a man loses the woman he loves?"

"No." Lila failed to see how that related to breaking up Marinette and Adrien and sending away the bluenette on a one-way trip.

Staring at Emilie's painting he confessed, "He loses himself and is only able to live in the memories of her. He exists and his heart still beats, but he is as dead as she is. He can never love again. He doesn't know how."

"Is this about Adrien's mom?"

Refusing to answer, he abruptly turned his attention back to her and explained, "My point is that it won't work. Eliminating her or forcing them apart wouldn't help. It would only hurt Adrien and make his adoration for her to grow."

She had surprisingly not considered that. Her anger had, for a moment, clouded her judgment. "What do you suggest then?"

"Find what breaks them. Learn what makes them tick. We have to know what divides them. But for that, we need intel."

Immediately, she understood he was counting on her. It wasn't exactly what she wanted out of this meeting, especially when she spent three weeks just counting on his help, but it was a great start. He was right, and the best part was that if Marinette and Adrien broke up, then he would be heartbroken... making him so much easier to conquer. "You can count on me."

A smile creeped out of Gabriel's mouth "Good. I believe he is at Place des Vosges, likely with her right now. Go get started on your work."

"You can count on me!"

With the meeting over and with both parties happy, Lila left... already prepared to begin her spying. The moment she closed the door though, she heard a squeaking voice talking. "Don't do this to your son! What would he say?"