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."

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?"

She found it weird since she was just there alone with Gabriel. So, to find out what was happening, she opened the door.

In front of the designer was a weird flying creature, but he didn't seem impressed by it. Instead, he looked annoyed as if he'd heard that too many times and, with all honesty, he had. He looked at Emilie´s picture knowing there was nothing he wouldn't do for his family meaning her and Adrien. To presumably silent the creature, he transformed, and Lila could barely hold in a gasp. The man she already took as her future as father-in-law was Hawkmoth ? It was almost too good to be true.

Meanwhile, Adrien enjoyed a nice day out with his friends at the park. This was just more proof that his father really was changing. The blond almost felt like his father was pushing him out of the house, which was an improvement over keeping him locked in.

"And that is why Ladybug and Chat Noir both owe me 234 interviews each," Alya explained... bringing the blond back to that moment. Previously when Alya brought up the subject of the superheroes, he and Marinette were scared, but now they were just amused and shared knowing looks. "Or, they could just tell me their identities so that I can forgive him them. I wouldn't post it on the Ladyblog and would keep their secrets. They can trust me." Alya looked at Marinette and Adrien to see if they would break.

Marinette's face turned serious because she never played with secret identities. "You know they have to keep their identities a secret in order to save Paris. The less people know about them the better!"

Before Alya had a chance to say anything, Nino argued, "I get it, but it would be fun to hang out and share an ice cream with them... or just chill in the park with them."

Adrien pointed out, "You can all of that with us. We are not superheroes but we're your friends." Alya almost wanted to smack her friend in the head for his words. Were they seriously not getting the not so subtle hints she was throwing their way? Not only did they not tell her, but acted like it wasn't any of her business? This was really getting under her nerves.

Marinette noticed Alya seemed quite annoyed, probably by the fact that the heroes couldn't reveal themselves. So, the bluenette once again tried to explain, "Alya, I know it's annoying not to know, but they are doing it for yours and everyone else's good. It's not that they don't trust you or worry that you will tell anyone. They don't want you to be in danger. It's their job to keep everyone safe, especially the ones closest to them even if sometimes it hurts them or forces them to lie. That's a burden they accepted when they put on the suit and that it never ends."

Alya understood what Marinette meant. when she was given the fox miraculous, she also didn't tell Marinette in order to protect her. she felt bad at the time, although maybe now, knowing it was actually Marinette giving her the miraculous, she felt a little better but still it was painful not being able to share or talk to anyone about it. It was a huge responsibility and having no one to share it made it even worse.

She could only imagine how many times Marinette and Adrien felt that way. How did they even deal with the pressure? She and Nino always used them as guides, but they themselves had no one to tell them what to do during battles. It was literally the fate of Paris in their hands every day.

Immediately feeling guilty for the pressure she was putting on her friends along with all the pressure they already dealt on a daily basis, she pulled Marinette into the tightest of hugs. "You're right. I can't imagine how hard it must be for them, but I hope that they understand that if they ever need me, I'm here for them... both me and Nino are."

Marinette was surprised and smiled. "They know."

Adrien looked confused at his girlfriend, feeling there was something he wasn't getting. Seeing his expression was when she remembered that she still hadn't told him the identities of Rena Rouge or Carapace. She would tell him later.

It was during the extremely long hug that André showed up with his ice cream cart. With his singing and with the sun shining brightly over them, this was the best thing that could have happened. "They say his ice cream is magical!" Alya mentioned, while finally letting go of her friend.

With a smile, Marinette admitted, "I'm not sure about that, but it means a lot to my family. My father actually asked my mother to marry him with ice cream from André and it was so romantic." And with that, she got a little emotional. She just loved her parents' engagement story so much. It was simple but sweet, just like them.

Adrien and Nino didn't need any more encouragement than that to get up and go buy ice cream for their girlfriends.

On his way there, Adrien couldn't get Marinette's words off his mind. That's how her father proposed and she loved it. It was simple yet heartwarming... and a nice story to tell Kitten later. So, he immediately found himself looking for the ring and cursed when he realized he had forgotten it in his house. Maybe it was better that he did... because they hadn't discussed marriage. Last time he proposed, she had turned him down. Granted it was different this time, but he didn't want to risk their relationship.

Nino faced his own dilemma, not knowing if he should talk about Lila or not. Eventually, he decided it was time to talk with his buddy about it. "Dude, did Marinette ever tell you about what happened with her and Lila?"

Adrien's happy thoughts were broken at the mention of Lila and Marinette in the same sentence. "No. She didn't tell me a thing. What happened?"

Seeing Adrien's worried and almost angry expression, the DJ almost regretted bringing it up. "It's probably nothing. It's just I saw them a few weeks ago talking and got strange vibes. I know Lila would never do anything bad... but still, Marinette seemed pretty shaken up about it and, to this day, she still avoids Lila at all costs."

Adrien had noticed Marinette seemed more careful and worried, but he guessed it was about Hawkmoth. Lila was also dangerous in her own way, so it was safe to assume Marinette was just being more cautious in general. Speaking of the devil, it was at this moment he saw Lila was hiding on the other side of the park and looking at them.

He didn't like it one bit, especially if she had been around Marinette before. He wasn't a fool and he knew the kind of liar she didn't even need to know what happened for his protective instincts kicked in, He was very good at being calm and giving people a chance, but not when it put the people he loved in danger. His eyes drifted to his lady knowing there was nothing he wouldn't do for his family meaning her and , after giving a lame excuse, he went straight to Lila.

The moment he reached her... he didn't wait for her to talk as he immediately warned, "Lila you have to stay away from Marinette."

"Whatever she told you is clearly a lie."

"She isn't like you."

"Isn't she? Tell me, weren't you the last to know about her pregnancy? Are you sure it's even yours? It could be Luka's. They are really close... or maybe it's Chat Noir's."

His eyes fumed with anger and his voice ordered her, "I'm not playing games. You stay away."

Lila was enraged. Marinette had Adrien in the palm of her hand, and it was all because of that brat she had in her belly. Feeling the very strong and dark emotions around, Gabriel did what he had done for years in this situation and released an akuma... knowing full well this would be one of the most powerful.

Chat Blanc 2.0 or will Lila be the akumatized this time ? Is there a reason why Gabriel decided to create a particularly powerful Akuma?

All that and more will be answered in the next chapter with an awesome fight!