Spots Off 🐞 (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction)

20- Playing Coy

Gabriel's POV

One Month Before

Nadia Chamack begins her news story. "There's been a new break in the case against Drew Deville, who was arrested and charged with sexual harassment and resisting arrest just a few hours ago. The former employee of Rock Records, on his way to becoming CEO, has been fired from his job after the president of the company, Tyler Laurent-Monet, came out with this statement."

The screen cuts to a video of a man standing outside a building, reporters surrounding him. "I'm ashamed to have had someone as vile and disgusting as Drew Deville on my team. As of right now, he is no longer an employee and we will be suing him on behalf of Miss Dupain-Cheng's behalf. No further comments at this time." He walks inside.

"Drew Deville's bail has been posted at one million euros as of an hour ago and-" Nadia Chamack stops and looks off screen. "What? Are you kidding me?" Someone hands her a piece of paper. A smile grows on my face. "Uh, we have an update, Paris. As of right now, Drew Deville's bail has been paid off completely anonymously. He'll be released within an hour." She stares at the camera, horrified. "This is Nadia Chamack, Paris."

I turn off the TV. "Just perfect," I whisper, turning to face Nathalie. "It's all going according to plan."

"Are you sure you're doing the right thing, sir?" Nathalie asks. "What he did to Marinette Dupain-Cheng was exactly how Nadia Chamack described him: vile and disgusting. Do you really want to do business with a man like that?"

"I know what I'm doing, Nathalie," I snap, looking away. "Yes, Drew Deville's a horrible man, but right now he's an essential key to my plan."

Present Day

I'd be lying if I weren't shocked when I got a call from Nathalie telling me my son and his classmate were in the hospital. I told Drew Deville to use whoever necessary to spook Marinette Dupain-Cheng, but not to harm her. If I weren't desperate for Cat Noir's miraculous, I'd drop the plan altogether and find someone else. But maybe this can work to my advantage. From what I know, Deville's been sending texts to Marinette's phone to keep her on edge.

Adrien stands beside me, eyes glued to Marinette's room. He's worried about her. "Mari..."

"So, Adrien, what exactly happened to cause Miss Dupain-Cheng to break her leg?" I ask him, arms crossed behind my back.

"Ankle, father," Adrien corrects. "Uh..." He looks up at me. "Marinette tripped on the stairs. She's always been so clumsy."

Hmm... that's not what I was told. Why would Adrien lie to me? When he brought Marinette to stay with us, he told me she had a stalker, so why wouldn't he mention anything that happened at the park? Why lie? "That's terrible," I whisper, shaking my head. "That girl needs to be more careful."

Adrien nods. "Yeah... she does."

The door opens and Marinette comes hopping out of her room, dragging her poor mother behind her. She must have found the note Deville left for her. It won't be long now before Marinette's scared and vulnerable. That's how I need her for my plan to work.

"I can't thank you again for helping us out," Tom, Marinette's father, starts telling me as Adrien sneaks off to talk to Marinette. I keep a careful eye on them. What are they talking about?

"Please, it's no trouble," I tell him, smiling. "Marinette's a dear friend of Adrien's and I feel partly responsible since she was hurt in my home."

Tom laughs. "Oh, don't feel bad, Gabe." I loathe that nickname. "Marinette's a very clumsy girl. She trips over air sometimes! She'll be fine. She's a very brave girl."

"So I see..." I glance behind Tom and watch the two of them. Marinette shows Adrien something on her phone.

Adrien walks back over to me, holding Marinette's hand. "Father, we're ready to go now."

"Alright." I wait for Marinette to say goodbye to her parents before I escort them out of the hospital. I sit in the front while they climb in the back of the car. Natalie starts driving us home. "Are you feeling any better, Miss Dupain-Cheng?"

Marinette nods. "Yes. Thank you, Mr. Agreste."

"Father, Marinette and I need to talk to you about something." I watch them in the mirror as they whisper to each other. "You know that stalker I told you Marinette had?"

"Yes, I remember, Adrien." I nod, adjusting in the passenger seat. I hate being outside of the house. "Has something happened?"

They both nods. "Yes."

Marinette leans forward and hands me her phone. "This was written in the bathroom. Someone snuck in my room while we were sleeping and wrote this."

I take her phone, examining the picture. Good. He used exactly what I told him to say. "Oh my," I gasp, eyes widening. "This is horrible."

"She's also been getting texts," Adrien says, tapping something on her phone to show me. "They keep getting worse and more threatening. Whoever this is even blackmailed the mayor to take pictures of Marinette!"

"The mayor?" I ask, confused. I didn't think Deville would actually use him, but it seemed to work. "Why didn't you bring this to me sooner, Adrien?"

"Marinette kept getting threats, and we were scared." He grabs her hand. "Is there anything you can do? Can you find someone who can track the texts or something? See where they're coming from?"

I hand Marinette her phone back. "You know I will do everything in my power to, Adrien, but those kinds of things take time. A couple weeks, or months, even."

"So, we're just supposed to sit around while this creep harasses Marinette?" Adrien shouts as we pull through the front gates. "No. You can do better. I know it."

"Adrien, I told you the best I could do. I am not a magician. I cannot just snap and fix everything." The two follow me in, standing a good distance away from me. "Let me make some calls and see what I can do. Okay? You're just gonna have to give me time."

Before my son can say anything, Marinette steps forward and grabs his hand. "Thank you, Mr. Agreste."

I nod at her before entering my office. Marinette's almost at her breaking point. I can see it. Drew Deville's going to have to give her a little whiplash.