Chapter Forty-Three

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A D R I E N ' S  P.O.V

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I handed my phone to one of the stylists after I hung up. I told her to come get me if it was ringing. 

I finally let it slip. I had told her that I loved a few days ago after she fell asleep, so I wasn't sure if she heard me. Plus, she didn't even say if she heard me or not. 

I told her that I loved her a while ago on impulse. It just felt right to say it. This time, I was sure she heard it. I knew she probably wasn't ready to say that as yet, but I've kept that inside for at least eight years. Eight fricking years. Unbelievable wasn't it?

"Agreste!" The photographer shouted, his face getting red. Today I was being a bit...how do I say this....lazy? No. I wasn't as attentive as I usually was during photo shoots. That was because I felt uneasy and super worried. 

I didn't want to leave Marinette and Emma in France. Something kept telling me that I should've stayed or at least took them with me.

"I'm coming," I said to him in Japanese, heading over to the set. 

Forty-five minutes consisted of taking countless pictures, different poses with different outfits. I was feeling tired already.

"Break time," The photographer announced and I wasted no time to go get a bottle of water along with my phone. 

Immediately after receiving my phone, it started to vibrate in my hand.

'Princess' came up on the screen along with an off-guard picture of her. I took it on our honeymoon.

I answered quickly, my heart beating rapidly in my chest. "Princess?"

"I can't," Her weak voice met my ears and my smile immediately dropped. Something was wrong. 

"Marinette? What's going on?" I asked, feeling anger and fear cloud my mind. 

"Adr....ien...," She trailed off, her voice getting weaker then I heard a thud. The phone fell. 

Soon, screams met my ears. It sounded like Emma. I froze. What the hell?

Emma's screams got faint until I couldn't hear them anymore. My blood ran cold. 

Beeping sounded and I pulled the phone away from my ear. Someone ended the call. 

I wasted no time before calling the pilot and telling him to get the jet ready. 

I ignored the screaming photographer and the angry stylists before leaving and heading to the airport.

I took that time to call my father. 

"Adrien?" He answered the phone almost immediately. "Why did Akio just called me screaming that you left-"

"Where the hell is Marinette?" I asked him, getting out of the car and heading into airport. 

"What?" He sounded confused. "She left with Emma almost an hour ago. She said something about ice-cream."

I informed him about the call I received from her and he was equally as upset as me. 

"I'll see what I can do," He muttered before hanging up.

After the jet was in the air, I called Nino.

"Dude," He picked up after the third ring.

"Where's Alejandro? I want to talk to him right now," I said quickly.

"What's wrong, dude?" Nino asked, probably sensing something wrong. 

"I'll tell you soon, just get Alejandro on the phone," I told him, my leg bouncing. 

It was silent for a while before I heard chatter in the background.

"Mr Agreste?" He said, timidly as usual. I didn't why he insisted on using my last name. 

"I think someone took them," I said to him, running my hand down my face. I looked at myself and realized that I didn't get changed out of the clothes I was modeling in. 

"What?" He sounded surprised. 

"I knew I shouldn't have left especially after Luka made a threat like that," I spoke, feeling my headache starting up. "This is dumb. I just-"

"Stop," Alejandro cut me off. "This is not the time to blame yourself. You gave her the earrings right?"

"Yes, I did," I didn't even remember those. 

"Then right now, we don't have to worry about finding them, I'll find them," He assured me then I heard some shuffling in the background. "What we actually need to worry about is who the hell took them and what they are planning to do."

I nodded. Leaning forward, my elbows on my thighs. We would have to get the police involved here...

Who on earth would take them?

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M A R I N E T T E ' S  P.O.V

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I could barely open my eyes. After fighting for about three minutes, I was able to push them open. It was pitch black.

"Where am I?" I muttered to myself, trying to move.

"Oh, you're awake?" An unfamiliar voice met my ears. Who the hell?

"Who the hell are you?" I spat despite the fear biting at me. Emma. What did they do to her? "Where is my daughter?"

"She's not your daughter," Someone else joined in. Alya. "She's someone else's child that you adopted. Not your daughter."

"Do you listen to the rubbish that comes out of your mouth?" I growled, feeling restraints around my wrists and legs. Quite familiar.... "Where is Emma?" 

"You wouldn't have much this much mouth if it was Luka who had you, now would you?" Alya spoke once more and the lights in the room switched on. I could clearly see Alya, but the other two people that were also in the room shocked me. Lila Rossi and Chloe Bourgeois. 

The latter looked like death as she lied on the floor, blooded and bruised. My heart stopped. 

Was....Emma...

"Where is Emma?" I asked again, my voice louder than before. "If you touch even a strand on her head, I will kill you both!"

"Can you shut up?" Lila snapped. "That brat is knocked out in a different room. Her crying made me want to put a bullet between her eyes."

I gritted my teeth and wished that I didn't have these restraints so I could break her face. 

I wasn't scared anymore. I didn't want to be scared anymore either. I wanted to be able to fight back, not to sit and cry all the time.

I was tired of that. So sick and tired of it.

"If you hurt her..."

"You're getting quite repetitive with those empty threats now, Princess," Alya scoffed.

"Don't call me that," I glared at her.

She smirked. "Is it only reserved for your darling Adrien?" Her smirk was soon replaced by a frown. "I kinda regret telling your parents to agree to Gabriel's suggestion."

I was confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought you would have figured it out by now," She rolled her eyes. "Everything was planned. Your parents expected Gabriel to come to them with a marriage idea, so, with my help, we saw that it was a way to get you off our hands for good. We knew that your memories would come back sooner or later and we didn't want to be around when that happened, too much on our hands. With Adrien in the picture, we had someone to dump you on. He would be the one to deal with all the crying, the suicide attempts and the panic attacks. 

Your memories decided to come back earlier than expected though. You weren't married when they came back and so we tried to get rid of them. That, as you saw, didn't work out either. If you hadn't decided to be such a bitch, we could've still been friends. The best of friends. But that didn't work out. You left me. Rose, Juleka, Alix, Mylene, they all left me because of you! Nino left me because of you! I have no one."

I sat there dumbfounded, not knowing what to think nor what to do.

This had to be some type of joke. Right?

"Then I met Luka and Lila at a bar. I wasn't the only one who hated you with a burning passion. We had our different reasons, but that didn't matter," Alya started to make slow steps towards me. Her wedge heels sounded as she walked. 

I didn't feel fear. In fact, I didn't feel anything. What should I feel? What could I feel?

"Luka knew that Adrien would find him, especially since you had Alejandro. That little shit. We'll find him and deal with him after we're done with you. Luka wanted to hurt you in the worst possible ways, but now he's gone and he trusts me and Lila to do his work for him," She grinned at me. "You will look far worst that Lila's plaything over there, Miss My-Daddy-Is-The-Mayor."

"What will you possibly get out of this?" I asked, staring at them blankly. Nothing that they would do now could match up to what Luka did to me years ago. They wanted to see me break? Cry? Beg? It would never happen.

Alya ignored my question. "I told you that you would regret ending our friendship? Didn't I?"

I said nothing.

"After we are finished hurting you to our hearts' content, we're going to do the last thing Luka asked us to do," Lila joined in, coming to stand beside Alya. "We're going to kill you and your little brat."

That made me snap. "You are going to leave Emma out of this!"

My head snapped to the side when Alya's hand met my cheek. I bit down on my lip to hold back a cry of pain. 

"Shut up," She screamed.

"Are you sure I'm the reason Nino left you?" I asked innocently. "Seems to me that he realized he could do way better than you, you insolent bitch."

Another slap across the face, this one didn't faze me. This time it was from Lila.

I knew that I shouldn't be riling them up, but the angrier they are, the faster they'll start and the quicker they'll finish. They would be too tired to do anything drastic. 

Well, that was my reasoning.

"And your reason for being here is?" I asked her, raising a brow. "Still jealous that Adrien's mine?"

That did the trick, because both of them charged at me.

* * *

I ached all over. 

They both packed a punch, not gonna lie. My snide comments didn't help my case at all. They left about five minutes ago. They had gotten tired and just barged out. 

A whimper met my ears and my eyes widened. The only person here with me was...Chloe.

The room was once again dark, so I could see her, but I knew she was right across from me.

"Chloe?" I called out, my cheeks hurting as I moved my busted lips. Lila didn't spare my face at all. She kept saying that Adrien won't want me if I was ugly, that didn't bother me either. Adrien made it clear over and over that he'd want me in any shape or form. 

"Mari...nette?" I heard her say and I winced at the sound of her voice. She sounded raspy and hoarse, like she had been smoking for forty years or more.

"Why do they have you here?" I forced out. It kinda hurt to talk too.

"I-I'm here...because of Lila," She spoke, before starting to cough harshly. "T-That girl lets her j-jealousy get the best of h-her. S-she wants me d-dead."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing though. "Why though?"

"I don't know," She rasped. "W-We're both models, I guess she's jealous b-because of that...?"

"These girls are crazy," I muttered to myself. "How long have they had you here?"

"About a week?" She didn't sound sure.

"What about your father? Isn't he looking for you?"

"I-I'm not supposed to be back in France for about a month. They took me while I was out o-of the country on v-vacation. It's like nothing's wrong," She explained. "Why are you here?"

"It is an awfully long story," I told her. "For short, Alya can't take rejection, she also needs to go into a mental institution and Lila is just jealous."

"Did they b-beat you too?" She asked and I heard slight shuffling.

"Yes," I muttered. The door then suddenly open and something was thrown in before it closed again.

More whimpers met my ears. "I want my mommy."

Emma

"Em?" I called and the whimpers paused. "I'm here, Emma."

I heard shuffling and I assumed she got to her feet. "I-I can't see you."

"Follow my voice, baby," I said and I heard her sneakers scuff on the floor. Soon I felt her little finger brushing my face lightly.

I didn't get to brace myself for her leaping onto me. I winced.

"Take it easy, Em," I told her as she settled on my lap.

"I-Is she your and Adrien's d-daughter?" Chloe asked after some time.

"Yes, she is," I replied. I heard Chloe sigh lightly, but I didn't question it. I focused on Emma as her earring began to light up. There was a blinking green paw print on her earring. Soon after, mine started up.

What the hell?

Were they...Could they be? Maybe, I wasn't quite sure.

"Did they do anything to you, Emma?" I asked her.

"No," She muttered. "The lady in the glasses took us on a big plane and then she sticked me with the needle and I fell asleep."

"Plane..." I muttered to myself. "Chloe, do you know where we are?"

"Australia."

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Word Count: 2244. Not proofread :-(

I wasn't expecting to pass 1500 words, to be honest! My wifi has been acting up all day! This chapter should have been out hours ago! I couldn't write nor could I post anything. 

Anyways, how was the chapter?

What are your thoughts?

Two more chapters to go. All will be posted this week! And then we're done! Are y'all excited?!

I hope you all enjoyed today's chapter! Until Next Time,

Bye bye little butterflies <3