~}i{ 10/31, 10:15. With Gabriel Agreste Before "The Call" }i{~

Vincent stormed into Gabriel's office. The photographer had one goal in mind, confronting the boss about his so-called muse's disgusting behaviour last photoshoot. What he, the other photographers, and models witnessed was ABSOLUTELY NOT ACCEPTABLE, and certainly not acceptable of a staff member of the Gabriel brand.

"Vincent? What are you doing here?" Gabriel asked, looking up from his desk and whatever he was looking at. It was one of the few times the big boss was actually in the office, but he did expect his employees to keep up their workflow even if he was there.

Vincent glared at the boss when he said, "Making sure you got all of our messages since you or Nathalie haven't seemed to acknowledge them. The ones concerning your son during the last photoshoot." The photographer was not leaving until Gabriel understood what happened during that photoshoot and made sure that he heard that the Rossi girl was fired.

Gabriel didn't look all that concerned at what he just heard, which did make Vincent worry. The fashion mogul turned his attention back on what he was looking at before the photographer burst in when he said, "I was already informed about that, and I had a talk with my son about his poor behaviour towards Ms Rossi."

Alarm bells were going off in the photographer's mind when he heard that. Vincent took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then asked his boss in a serious tone, "Mr Agreste, could you repeat that last part? Because I think I heard that you scolded YOUR SON for HIS behaviour TOWARDS Rossi, and I know that can not be right." He was hoping he was just misinterpreting what the boss said. Honestly, Vincent was hoping he was just hearing it wrong.

"No, you heard right," Gabriel stated calmly as he wrote something on a sheet before adding equally as calmly, "Ms Rossi has already informed me about Adrien's dramatic outburst over her casual touches. I have scolded him for it, despite his fibs. My son, actually telling me lies, perhaps Ms Rossi was right about those children in Adrien's class being poor influences to him."

Vincent's heart stopped beating at these words.

This man... The boss of the company... Believed that Brat of a person over the words of concern from his own son?!

Now that was not mama's spaghetti!

Vincent practically exploded with Italian swears before he snapped at Gabriel, "Now you listen here Agreste! That Rossi brat is lying! I don't know or want to know how you found her and why you made her your "Muse", but she has been nothing but unprofessional and has been invading YOUR SON'S personal space WITHOUT his consent! And considering her behaviour last photoshoot, she HAS to be FIRED and kept away from Adrien!" Right now, the photographer could care less about his career at the Gabriel brand, he was more concerned with the mental health and well being of one of his favourite models.

Gabriel glanced up at the photographer with a raised brow when he asked, "What are you implying Vincent?"

Vincent growled at the response. The implication was obvious! But if it had to be spelt out, he'll do it to make the point perfectly clear. The photographer finally hissed out, "That brat, your "Muse", MOLESTED YOUR SON during the last photoshoot, MULTIPLE TIMES and in front of the staff! And before you ask, Yes, everyone told "Gabriel's Muse" to stop and that she was being inappropriate, including YOUR SON! We told her Multiple times Agreste, and she didn't listen to any of us! I'm honestly not surprised Adrien stormed off the set, I would do the same if I were in his shoes."

Gabriel's eyes widened and his mouth was slightly a gasp when he said, "What are you-! She wouldn't do such a thing! She was just being casual with her touches!"

Vincent practically slammed the photos he took during that photoshoot onto Gabriel's desk, making the mogul jump in shock. The photographer glared at his boss when he growled out, "Do these look like "Casual Touches" to you, Agreste?!" He then took a step back as he folded his arms in front of his chest and watched the boss' reaction.

Gabriel looked over the photographs like he would a business document before finally saying, "Vincent, I'm surprised you of all people would photoshop pictures, especially to humour my son."

Normally, this would have pissed Vincent off but he was prepared for this. "Check your emails. Those same pictures are in MY complaint, WITH the original Metadata proving that those pictures are authentic," the photographer seethed out between his teeth. Vincent was wondering WHAT that brat told the boss that would make him think that a professional photographer would ever manipulate pictures of such a claim, especially one who works extensively with his company for years.

Gabriel raised a brow at the photographer when he heard this, but seeing that he wasn't going to leave until he checks his emails. So the fashion mogul turned to his tablet and opened his emails. Gabriel's eyes widened and his brows shot up when he saw just how many new emails he had. 386 new emails, all received between after the last photoshoot and today. Gabriel scrolled through the emails, looking for the one from Vincent, but as he scrolled he was looking at the titles given to the emails.

"Unprofessional Muse has to go!"

"Muse? More like Molester."

"Why the hell would you put your SON with that Rossi girl?!"

"List of offences Rossi has committed towards Adrien, your son."

"Either you fire Rossi or I'm bringing my concerns to the press! You're "Muse" is a Rapist in progress."

All these are from Gabriel's employees, all the ones who were working on the last photoshoot. Even the security guards have filed complains on Lila, even if they didn't know her name, they seemed to have attached a video to their emails. 'This... Couldn't be true...' Gabriel thought before finally finding the email from Vincent. He opened it and looked at the photos attached, then checked the metadata of the photos. When he saw that the metadata was unaltered, Gabriel sank into his chair in disbelief.

"You haven't answered the question Agreste," Vincent stated, getting the other man's attention.

"Question?" Gabriel asked in a bit of a confused daze.

"Do these look like "Casual Touches" to you? Especially now that you know that the photos are not fake," Vincent stated in a stern tone.

Gabriel looked over the photos again. He could see the look of discomfort on his son's face in each picture that was slowly turning into annoyance and then anger in that final semi-blurry picture. Gabriel looked through the pictures again, this time focusing on Lila. He looked at just how close she was to his obviously uncomfortable son, how she practically draped herself into his personal space.

How did Gabriel miss all these worrying signs? Okay, granted he was using Lila to cause Akumatizations and to keep an eye on his son in school, but he figured that she wouldn't try this sort of thing with his son, that she just wanted to be in the spotlight. Well, there's an irony in that...

Vincent was watching his boss looking at the burry photo when he said, "If you're not satisfied with the photos there's a security video that you should watch, the security staff emailed you a copy when they made a file on Rossi."

Gabriel immediately searched for the email from the security staff. When he found it, he quickly opened the video file and watched it.

The photographer could easily guess the fashion mogul's reaction to watching the video, it was one of the few times Vincent has ever seen Gabriel show emotion on that normally stern face.

Which mean that the video was showing the boss of the Gabriel Brand what he needed to see, whether he likes it or not.

"Her hand-! Touched-! How did-!" stammered a very distraught Gabriel. How did he miss all these signs? Wait... Adrien told him that he was uncomfortable being around Lila, that he didn't want to work with her anymore... But... Gabriel just brushed it off as his son acting out... The fashion mogul glanced up at the photographer when he asked, "Why wasn't I informed about Rossi's behaviour sooner? Her actions towards my son are inexcusable! This is a reason for termination, whether the victim was my son or not!"

Vincent frowned when he stated sourly, "You're kidding, right? We've been sending you more than enough proof of Rossi's unprofessionalism, especially her behaviour towards Adrien, all anonymously from within the company. You do read those right? Since you're the boss and your suppose to make sure all your employees are heard, even the ones who wish to remain anonymous."

Gabriel was strangely silent at this.

Vincent wasn't liking that at all when he growled out, "Agreste! Please tell me that you at least hired SOMEONE to look through the internal anonymous emails and tell you about the important one?"

"Of course I did! Jerry N'Mar," Gabriel retorted sternly before stating, "But I had to transfer him to another department because of an inappropriate interest towards one of our female models."

Vincent raised a brow when he asked, "You transferred Jerry because of an inappropriate interest to a female model?" Gabriel nods firmly at that. Vincent ran a hand through his hair in aggravation when he stated, "The same Jerry who used to have a couple of friendly flirty conversation with me until you told him to stop because it was unprofessional?" Gabriel froze at this as Vincent continued, "The same Jerry who's Boyfriend dropped by a few time when he forgot to bring his lunch or to pick him up for a date-night after work?" Gabriel wrang his wrist when Vincent practically snapped, "The same Jerry who is 100% gay with no interest in women and has said a couple of times, and I quote, "The only women I will ever love are my mama and sister"? THAT Jerry?"

Gabriel glanced at the wall when he said, "Yes... That Jerry..."

Vincent rubbed his temples when he practically snapped, "Agreste, mind telling me how in mama's spaghetti would you think that a GAY man would have an inappropriate interest in a FEMALE model? You knew he was gay and you just transferred him because someone told you that shit! Come on Agreste! I thought you were this strict businessman who would hear both sides of a charge before you go through a course of action! One simple conversation with Jerry would've told you that the claim was false! But No! You transferred him without a proper investigation! I'm surprised Jerry didn't sue you over that!" Gabriel was strangely silent at this. Still a little aggravated with this whole thing, Vincent snapped out his next question, "Who the hell would make that kind of claim against Jerry? I mean, doesn't the whole company know he's gay and knows that that claim wouldn't hold any sauce?"

"The model that he was taking the inappropriate interest in! Or... At least that's what I was told..." Gabriel replied sternly for the first part but a little quieter on the second part.

Vincent placed a hand to his chin, a theory already coming to mind after thinking about a few things before he heard that Jerry was transferred. The photographer finally asked, "Agreste, who was the model who made that claim? Because I remember him asking me a few questions about certain behaviours about a staff member that he was looking into." But from his tone, it sounded like he already had an idea on who it was.

After a few seconds of painful silence ticked by before Gabriel finally answered, "Lila Rossi... She was the one who made that claim..."

"The same Rossi that all the complains are towards because of her unprofessionalism?" Vincent stated sternly as he folded his arms and adding, "The same Rossi that molested your son on set? The same Rossi that told you that Adrien was "overreacting" to her "Casual Touches"? The same Rossi that Jerry was probably investigating because of those claims?" Granted, the photographer was a few fuses short of just blowing up at this whole ordeal. He was just supposed to come in here to ensure that that molester was out of the Gabriel Brand and away from Adrien, but now he seems to be tearing into a pool of just how bad that Rossi brat is.

Gabriel was mentally kicking himself for this whole thing. He honestly thought Lila just wanted fame and attention, he never thought she would ever try to ruin that chance. Did she really think he wouldn't find out about the molesting?

"Agreste, I just thought of something," Vincent stated, getting the fashion mogul's attention. "You were also employing Rossi to keep an eye out for any negative influences Adrien might experience in school, right? *Noticing the look in Gabriel's eyes*. Listen, Adrien is already aware of that crap, he utterly hates that you don't seem to trust him as it is and he's more than disgusted that you seem to trust you little spy more than him. You can ask any of the photographers, they'll tell you the same thing I am. To say that all of us are disappointed in you as a father is an understatement, Agreste."

"How did he know? How'd he find out?" Was all Gabriel could ask at the moment, surprised that his son was aware of the whole deal with Lila.

Vincent folded his arms when he stated sternly, "Your little spy dropped a few hints to Adrien like she was threatening him to stay in line with her or else she'd tell you. He didn't want to believe it at first but he decided it would be best to test the theory by telling Rossi about a made-up punk band that he "was showing interest in" and waited to see if it went back to you. Which it apparently did."

Gabriel remembers Lila telling him that. She reported that Dupain-Cheng was the one to introduce Adrien to that music, but if that was just a test from his son then...

Vincent got the fashion mogul's attention again and said, "Agreste, think about it for a bit. If Rossi is willing to discredit the employee who was investigating her for unprofessionalism with lies about him being inappropriate towards her just so you'd make him stop the investigation and actively downplay her molestations towards Adrien as "Casual Touches" so she can continue to stay close to him, how much of what she has reported to you is actually real?"

That actually made Gabriel think. Granted, most of the stuff was ammo for Akumatazion, but taking all the Hawkmoth out of this and thinking about all the reports he was given by Lila... A lot of them DID cast a couple of his classmates in a bad light, especially Marinette Dupain-Cheng... In fact, Lila has reported a lot of the negative influences were because of the aspiring fashion designer and has dropped hints that Kagami might be a bad influence too... But if all that was a lie...

Gabriel slumped in his seat. Actually slumped! He always had this stiff and poised poster, but this news this revelation...

"Have I... Really been that terrible of a parent since Emilie disappeared?" Gabriel asked, still in shock at all this information.

Now Vincent was a little uncomfortable. The boss's wife has been a taboo topic since she vanished, so no one in the Gabriel Brand uttered a word about her. The photographer took a deep breath when he said as calmly as possible, "I'm not going to lie, but I think it might've played a part. To be fair, everyone who has lost a loved one close to their hearts would go through some form of depression... We... We honestly thought you were just going through that, but we never thought it would get to the point where you can't even trust your son with his own decisions... Though... Thinking about it now, it just seems like there was a disconnect between you and Adrien when Emilie vanished..."

Gabriel placed his elbows on the desk, clasped his hands together, and rested his forehead on his knuckles. "Need to make things right. With both Adrien and my company. And if Ms Rossi is causing them that much harm, I will fix this," Gabriel stated, finally making his decision. It was time to put his Hawkmoth persona on the backburner, for now, he has to make things right with his son.

Vincent smiled at this before saying, "It be best to start with firing Rossi and getting a restraining order against her to keep her away from Adrien."

Gabriel nodes when he added, "And I'll also charge her with sexual harassment. I'm not letting her get away with molesting anyone, especially my son." He quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket when he added, "I'll call Nathalie to draw up the papers for Ms Rossi's termination, retraining order, and the charge for sexual assault."

Vincent nodded in agreement when he said, "Agreed, best act now before Rossi does anything worse to Adrien. I'm sure he'll be happier than eating his mama's spaghetti when he hears this good news!" The photographer was happy, not Adrien won't have to worry about Lila, both as work and at school.

But before Gabriel could even dial Nathalie's number, she called him first.

The fashion mogul answered the call, put it on speaker, and said almost immediately, "Nathalie, excellent timing. Listen, I need you to come back to the company to draw up some important papers, tell Adrien's bodyguard to stay with him until you get back."

"Sir, I have some important news that you need to hear," Vincent heard Nathalie's voice coming through the phone. She sounded like the same business-like woman the photographer has always known, but there seemed to be a slight falter in her voice.

Gabriel stared at the phone when he said, "You can tell me when you get here, I need those papers drawn out today."

"But sir, you need to hear this now!" Nathalie stated sterner than normal. She then said, "It has to do with Ms Rossi."

Gabriel then replied in his business-like matter tone, "What a coincidence, the papers I need to be drawn involve Ms Rossi as well. I have just received some troubling information regarding Ms Rossi. This information is certainly grounds for termination of her employment and I want her to be kept away from Adrien. Apparently, she's a very negative influence and I want her out of his class before she can do worse."

Nathalie was a little too quiet for a solid 30 seconds before she finally said, "I'm afraid it's already too late for that sir..."

Gabriel raised a brow in confusion when he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Sir..." Nathalie started before taking a few deep breaths before saying, "Ms Rossi... Has given Adrien's team fake maps that brought them to the real location of Joey Drew Studio... All of them are now trapped in that building..."

Gabriel and Vincent were quiet for a bit before the photographer finally asked, "Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Adrien's class making a replica of that studio and had to do some research on it, with the research bringing up some rather dubious rumours about anyone who has entered it has never been seen again? That was the Joey Drew Studio, right?"

Gabriel's face contorted in shock and fear when he asked in disbelief, "Are you telling me that... That Ms Rossi sent my son and his teammates to a building where they might not be able to escape from?!"

"Yes..." Nathalie choked out solemnly, before adding in a broken voice, "Their class just lost contact with all of them! And... And the rumours about that place... They're real! Chloe and another classmate were able to record their calls with them, and Adrien and his team were chased by an-an Ink Monster! It's not a joke! It was a real monster!"

Vincent brought a hand to his mouth in utter shock as Gabriel felt his body become numb when he asked in a trembling voice, "M-my s-son is trapped... In an old b-building with an-an Ink Monster?! And-and Ms Rossi sent him there?!"

"Granted, she was trying to send just Adrien's teammates there but he trusted them more than her..." Nathalie stated sourly. But she quickly added in an angrier tone, "Either way, Ms Rossi sent them there, knowing full well that Joey Drew Studio was dangerous. Whether she meant to send Adrien there or not, she still sent them there! Even if Adrien wasn't involved in this, that is still a terrible thing to do to her classmates! She has no moral compass at all!"

Gabriel was eerily silent for a bit before finally saying, "Nathalie, call my legal team. I want to make sure that Ms Rossi is not only blacklisted from the fashion industry but also be made very aware that it was her own doing that caused her to become blacklisted! And get in touch with a construction/destruction willing to save Adrien and his teammates, I don't care how much it's going to cost, I want my son and his teammates out of that building!"

"Understood sir," Nathalie stated before ending the call.

Vincent slumped against the closest wall with his hand still covering his mouth in shock. This was NOT how the day was supposed to go. All Vincent wanted for today was getting that Rossi brat fired and be kept away from Adrien, but he never expected that Rossi brat to do something just as heinous as what she did during that photoshoot.

~}i{~

Until Chapter 2.

~}i{~