ᴄʜᴀᴘɪᴛʀᴇ ᴛʀᴏɪꜱ - ʀéᴠéʟᴇʀ
Chapter Three - Reveal

Note: I do not own the following characters
Rey Lopez/Snow Drift, Lucky Touch, her lasso as a weapon, Gilla, the transformation phrase, Gilla eating chocolate-covered strawberries - Sci-Briana14

Bernadette "Betty" Fontaine aka the masked girl, Celestia Lesbianne (mentioned) and Professor (Poppy) Bourgeois - GeekyCookie1

Language checkpoint
"Je t'ai maintenant." - "I got you now."

Trigger Warnings
Implied display of physical abuse (low to medium)

This chapter will also address an affair between two adult characters, who are both involved in a married relationship [for those that know this, no it is not Jolene Monroe and André Bourgeois].

As such, if this particular topic makes you uncomfortable, please feel free to skip this chapter. Thank you so much in advance.

~~~~

Not a soul was in sight as a masked girl silently crept through the shadows, eagerly looking for her next target. As of late, she hasn't had much luck finding one and quite frankly, the girl was both bored and in need of a target.

She was going to give up and call it another night of disappointment when the girl saw a glimpse of the famous Lance Abbott appeared to look in a suspicious but almost cocky manner before he had entered a bar.

Although the girl had the cop on her radar, the masked girl couldn't find much on Lance Abbott (which annoyed her to no end because he was singlehandedly keeping her from doing her work of establishing peace in Paris).

So, the girl resorted to gathering intel on him and as she quietly made her way to the entrance of the bar, she began to watch as the cop began to approach a blonde-haired woman who strangely resembled one of her classmates from school — or accurately — Chloé Bourgeois.

"Were you followed?"

"Babe, relax. No one knows I'm here," she heard Lance cockily said as he waved down the bartender, who had squealed at the sight of him, earning a deadpan look from the woman keeping him company.

"I'll pay you double to keep your mouth shut," Lance sharply stated to the bartender as he slid a handful of euros to which the girl quickly snapped a picture before smirking at what she saw. "So, that's how you've been getting under the radar. Interesting," the girl lightly mused to herself before she had went back to listening.

"So, Aud, I love you but I'm offended you haven't left that sorry husband of yours for me," Lance began as Audrey chuckled at his response, swirling her straw as she took a shot.

"Well, the feeling is greatly mutual. I'm just here buying my time with my worthless daughter and her weak, submissive father of hers until you end things with that hag wife of yours," Audrey followed up as Lance chuckled.

"Well, honeycomb, Jolene has a kid. I can't exactly—"

"Clemency is her name, right? That girl of yours has been a real pain in my thorn as of lately. My sister-in-law is always inviting your daughter to the hotel like she's some sort of angel and it's exhausting. Worse, she actually bonded with Casserole and I'm afraid to think what will happen when she meets that other daughter of mine."

"Wait, Poppy has been inviting my daughter over? My daughter who can't go anywhere except for work and school? Interesting," Lance began, now chuckling underneath his breath as a smirk formed over his face. "How long has these interactions been taking place?" he continued as Audrey shrugged.

"I don't know. Some time now, I guess," Audrey merely answered. "But, yes. She's a real nuisance, that one," she continued as Lance laughed. "Well, that sister of yours isn't any better," he shot back as Audrey stared before laughing.

"Finally! I've been looking for someone who despises Poppy as much as I do," Audrey insisted, to which the two had chuckled while the girl merely rolled her eyes. "Right? Just yesterday, she punched my nose for no reason," Lance insisted as Audrey merely slipped her drink.

"Yeah, well, she's quite the aggressive type."

"Now you tell me."

"Look, I really like you, Lance-a-lot, but either we're going to fully commit ourselves to this or we need to go our separate ways because I can't keep wearing these horrendous clothes," Audrey insisted, referring to her torn beige dress with various holes while her hair was surprisingly left untouched.

"You know, I was really hoping to keep this going —"

As Lance felt the cold coconut cocktail splashed his face, he briefly coughed as Audrey stared at the cop with disgust. "Look, you're cute, but that mouth of yours will get you killed some day," Audrey sharply said. "So, it's either going to be Jolene or me. I will not settle for being your second choice, so you better choose wisely or quit seeing me altogether," she continued before lightly slapping the captain with her hair and left in the style she arrived.

"Babe, wait —"

As Lance ran out to catch Audrey, he had frowned at the sight of seeing her vanish out of sight all while his two worlds seemed to be crumbling around him. "Great. Now how am I supposed to keep dating Audrey while staying married to Jolene?" he had sulked to himself, unaware that his conversation with Audrey was recorded or that his last few statements were being in the process of recording.

"Oh, you are so screwed."

The next morning, the girl promptly found herself across from her hall to a front door with newfound cracks as she began to knock. When the door didn't open at once, the girl was briefly confused but mostly concerned as she knocked again.

"Cleo?"

This time, the door had opened and the girl was briefly alarmed to see Cleo with bruises across her shoulders as she was in her light beige, torn dress with a white apron attach to her outfit with a white rag for a bandana. She could physically see the hollowness in the girl's eyes as she softened her eyes.

From her look, it was enough for Cleo to register her look as she began to regret coming out without any cover-ups. "Cleo, what did—" she began as Cleo merely shook her head, sharply cutting the girl off as she leaned against the door.

"Spider, why are you here?"

"Not until you tell me what happened to you. I thought you were staying at Celestia's place," she insisted as Cleo raised an eyebrow. "You know what, I would ask how you know, but Lance did end up coming home drunk last night and he tends to be louder than usual," she said before sighing.

"Anyways, I did stay at her house but I panicked and left a few hours after I saw she was asleep. I left her a note, made the mistake of coming back home and well, endured just about every mistake I ranked up in the past few days," Cleo admitted at last, now trying to avoid making eye contact with her.

"Cleo..."

"It's whatever. I just need to do better, then maybe he'll stop," she said before shaking her head. "Anyways, what brings you here?" she followed up, now grinning as the girl frowned at Cleo's grin.

"You know, it doesn't hurt to smile," Cleo pointed out as Bernadette had wanted to say something, but chose not to rebuke that claim for the girl's sake. "I came here because I need your help," Bernadette admitted as Cleo chuckled.

"What kind of help?"

"Hmm, hacking. I figured it would be in your skill set of expertise," Bernadette told her as Cleo looked at her amused. "What about your cousin? I heard Max is pretty good at this stuff too," she pointed out as Bernadette shook her head.

"He has a gaming contest with Marinette again. Ever since that Gamer incident, Max has been nonstop trying to beat her," Bernadette dully stated before shaking her head upon looking at Cleo.

"Anyhow, we never get to hang out and I thought we could work on some things while chilling in the café across the street," she had followed up as Cleo glanced back at her apartment before looking back at her.

"Yeah, you see, today is game day and my parents are pretty particular about how they want the apartment to look for their friends, so I should probably—"

"Come on, Cleo. You can't keep living your life like this," Bernadette began, to which Cleo merely rolled her eyes. "Besides, what if I told you that you could get payback on Lance for leaving you to nearly die at the hands of those ice monsters yesterday?" she continued as this caught the girl's attention.

"He didn't leave me and I didn't die," Cleo mumbled, but her ears did perk up at the sound of payback. "Let's just assume that I chose to accept and I did help you... this 'payback' of yours won't be too much of a risk for me, right? I mean, what were you thinking? Just finding the guy's stupid secrets to make him look like a fool?" she had continued, much to Bernadette's delight.

"Something like that...."

"I'm going to regret this, but... I'm in. Let me just go cover up," Cleo answered at last as Bernadette grinned.

"Yes!"

A few minutes later, Bernadette looked up to see Cleo switching out her maid-like attire to a light tan long-sleeve T-shirt with a etched black raven in the center along with torn-up, blue denim jeans and black combat boots.

She also had her laptop, a notepad, some pencils, a handful of euros on hand and a list which held some of the things she needed to get as Bernadette quietly sighed at Cleo, but silently applauded her for stepping out.

"I might have to cut my time short, so I can get a head start on my errands and come back before—"

"Cleo, breathe. I'll get you back here in no time."

As the two made their way to the café across the street from their apartment complex, the girls slid into a nearby table as Cleo and Bernadette placed their stuff down. Well, it was really Cleo who placed her stuff down as Bernadette didn't bring anything since it was easier to pin things onto her neighbor...

But, Bernadette didn't want to go down that route because she liked the girl, which she knew would complicate things later on down the road.

"So, what can I get you ladies today?"

"Uh, you know, I'll just stuck with a strawberry hazel eclair and a chai latte. As for my friend here, she'll have—"

"Just a water, thanks," Cleo answered to which the waiter wrote down their order before leaving. When the waiter left, Bernadette stared at her friend, who was beginning to log into her laptop. "A water?" Bernadette repeated, to which Cleo dismissively nodded, not seeing the big deal.

"Cleo—"

"I'll get something before I go," she said, more so just trying to avoid the particular topic from escalating into something else. "Anyways, Betts, what did you want me to log into first?" Cleo followed up as Bernadette raised her eyebrow.

"Come on. Lance has countless apps he's signed up for. So, you literally have endless options at your disposal," Cleo casually said as Bernadette grinned. "In that case, let's start with his Mirac-a-gram account," she said, to which Cleo pulled up the site before she had logged in as her stepfather.

"Alright, I'm in."

"You sound like a dork," Bernadette cheekily said as she giggled, a first for Cleo, who had never heard the girl giggle before. As such, she found her heart skipping a beat, which had nearly startled her as she was used to the feeling being associated by the intense fear.

"Right, well—"

"Minnie?"

As Cleo and Bernadette had looked up, the two saw Rey Lopez with Chloé and Adrien, who had also waved to the duo. "Can we join you?" Rey called out as Cleo opened her mouth, only to get stopped.

"Cleo, you cannot let none of them come over here, especially the blonde pixie stick over there," Bernadette firmly whispered to Cleo, before gesturing to Chloé, who was happily enjoying her company.

"Why not? Besides, we're just looking into his subscriptions and trying to make Lance look like a fool. I'm pretty sure it's fine," Cleo insisted, slightly scoffing at her friend's request, though she was mostly confused.

"Yeah, sure! You can join us!"

So that was how Bernadette found her space with Cleo became invaded by the happy-go-lucky perfectionist, the blonde pixie stick with her would-be mother-based issues and the golden boy with his own personal daddy issues.

Honestly, Bernadette wanted to scowl Cleo but couldn't find it in her heart to do so. She could only hope that Lance didn't do anything too stupid that would indirectly trigger Chloé's emotions.

"So, what are you two up to?" Rey cheekily asked as Bernadette glared at her. "None of your—" she sharply began, only to get stopped by Cleo. "We're actually just trying to get back at my stepdad," Cleo cheekily said as Rey could see the mischievous spirit in her best friend's eyes.

"Oh, yeah? How so?"

"Trying to see what I can see find on him to use as light-hearted fun," Cleo simply said, though her eyes had shifted slightly when she discovered that she was signed onto her stepfather's secret Mirac-a-gram account — a first for her.

"Huh, well this is interesting..." Cleo mumbled to herself, going through her stepfather's account where her eyes began to widen. She nearly scrambled to gain control of herself when Chloé had scoffed.

"Oh, come on, it can't be that—" Chloé stubbornly insisted, enduring a frantic control for Cleo's laptop when she finally got the upper hand. As Chloé looked at the pictures, her face fell as Rey and Adrien empathically look at their best friend.

"Chloé...."

"I... I..."

Chloé couldn't get the words out as she began to run, blinking back the tears as Rey and Adrien glanced at each other. "Chloé, wait!" the two had called out, to which Cleo took a deep breath before closing her laptop.

"I'm going after her, seeing how this is my fault," Cleo insisted, preparing to go just as the waiter came with their food. "Just keep the tip," Bernadette dully stated, paying the waiter before clutching onto her breakfast, grabbing a few napkins along the way as Cleo contributed by giving a few extra euros.

"You don't need to—"

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't."

"Cleo, believe it or not, this might actually be my fault," Bernadette insisted, caught off-guard when Cleo laughed. "Come on, Spider. Don't be so hard on yourself and besides, it's not like you knew my stepdad was having an affair with Chloé's mom," Cleo insisted as Bernadette decided to conceal the truth for now, believing it was for the best.

"Yeah..."

"So, let's go catch up to the others and try to prevent our Saturday from being ruined by Hawkmoth and his annoying akumas," Cleo followed up, double-checking that she had everything with her before dragging Bernadette along.

"Ahh!"

~~~~~~~~~~

On the other side of Paris, a window sill opened as a light purple glow could be seen in the distance. In the dark, shadowy part of the room, a secluded older male resembling an actual moth gripped onto his cane with a smirk.

"A heartbroken daughter brings about all sorts of emotions for my newest akuma yet," the mystery man spoke as he touched a pure, white butterfly which was now corrupted with dark, purple energy as the butterfly mindlessly flapped its wings.

"Go to her, my little akuma and fester her dark heart!"

As the akuma began flapping away from its master toward the direction of the source of the negative energy, Chloé kept running as she heard multiple sets of footsteps trying to reach her.

"Chloé? Chloé! Come on out! We can figure this out."

Refusing to answer, Chloé only gripped onto her mirror as she silently began to cry in an effort to prevent her best friends, Cleo and the other girl from finding her. But at some point, her cries had started to become louder (to her dismay) as the girl heard footsteps closing in on her spot.

"Chloé? Look, I know, it's hard but Rey and Adrien are right. We can figure this out and you can get payback without dealing with Hawkmoth as a easy fix," she heard Cleo tell her and the girl couldn't help but wonder how Cleo was so — so calm about the whole ordeal.

"Chloé, please, we're right here and we all want to help you," she heard Rey and Adrien softly say as the girl decided to just crave in. She had started to open her mouth when she had realized she had left her mirror behind (unaware of the akuma approaching her through the mirror).

As such, Chloé had only managed to pick up her mirror when the akuma entered its way onto her mirror as an akuma symbol appeared on her face.

"Lady Shatter, my name is Hawkmoth and I can grant you the ability to cause everyone the ability to evoke the same pain and suffering you feel. You would be unstoppable, but all I ask in return is that you get me the miraculouses of Miraculous Ladybug, Chat Noir and Snow Drift. Do we have a deal?"

Chloé could hear the muffling pleads of her best friends, Cleo and the other girl trying to talk her out of being Hawkmoth's next victim but she found the villain's offer to be rather tempting.

Her mother was unfaithful and she deserved to be righteously punished— alongside the man she had poorly recommended to watch the students at her high school.

No, she found revenge to be a sweeter alternative than talking things through. Besides, it was time for Audrey and Lance to get dealt a lesson in betrayal the best way she knew how to.... Through payback.

"We have a deal."

~~~~~~~~~~

"I uh actually have to go."

"Wait—"

As Rey and Adrien respectively ran off, the two had hid behind the opposite wall of each other, unaware of the other.

"Plagg/Gilla, it's Chloé," Adrien and Rey said as the cat and snow leopard kwamis rolled their eyes. "Let me guess. She got her hair done the wrong way?" Plagg and Gilla lightly teased, to which Adrien and Rey respectively eyed their kwami.

"Ha, but no. It's actually something else," Adrien and Rey said to their kwamis saw the seriousness in their owner's eyes, causing Plagg to swallow his cheese while Gilla had finished the last of her chocolate-covered strawberries.

"Say no more. Just say the words and you got it," Plagg and Gilla insisted as Adrien and Rey confidently grinned to their kwami. As Adrien held his ring and Rey held onto her necklace, the two took a deep breath. "In that case..." the two trailed off, now smirking.

"Plagg, Claws Out!"

"Gilla, Tails On!"

In that moment, Adrien Agreste and Rey Lopez transformed into the world-renowned heroes Paris has grown to love: Chat Noir and Snow Drift. As the two heroes arrived on site, the duo were joined by their leader, Miraculous Ladybug, who had lightly huffed on site.

"You know, I thought I was early," Ladybug mumbled, only to cut herself off when the trio began to deflect the incoming shards coming in their direction. When the shards had cleared, the three heroes looked to see Lady Shatter wearing a crystal-clear white jumpsuit with a black broken-mirror streak while her eyes were now crimson red from the anger she felt.

"You know, I just checked my clock and it's time for you to have a reflection of your own," Chat Noir cheekily said as Snow Drift (without fail) chuckled at his pun, which always managed to make him grin as his cat ears moved from joy.

"I think that was your dumbest joke yet," Ladybug insisted, though she had cracked a smile at the end. "You're warming up to Chat and his puns," Snow Drift lightly teased, to which Ladybug merely rolled her eyes.

"No thanks."

"So, the cat has jokes. Let's see who has the last laugh when you get shatter-ifized!"

"Kitty, no!"

As Lady Shatter threw her wave of crystallized shatters at Chat Noir, he was prepared to take the hit when he had ended on the ground instead. "Ow," he mumbled, glancing up to see Ladybug was helping him stand.

"Wait, where's Snowflake?" Chat Noir concernedly asked as Ladybug solemnly look at the feline hero. "Chat, Snowy.... She..." she struggled to get the words out and when he saw Snow Drift looking at the two, it wasn't with joy but rather malice.

"She took the hit f... for me," Chat Noir weakly finished, trying to ignore the heavy guilt he felt for not being able to protect his partner. "I... I..." he began, only for Ladybug to grab him just as Snow Drift attempted to pull the feline with her lasso.

"Hey, it's going to be alright, Chat," Ladybug said, trying to assure him but Chat Noir only frowned. "Look, I'm going to distract Lady Shatter. Try to see if you can get Snowy back to our side," she followed up, taking off as Chat Noir had wanted to grieve a few minutes more, but of course — his partner wasn't having it.

"Looks like you're on your own, Kitty."

Glancing at the lasso caught on his arm, Chat Noir stared at the snow leopard heroine and found the energy to renew his affirmation that he and Ladybug could bring their friend back.

"Snowflake, listen to me. I know you're still in there. You can fight it," Chat Noir softly said as the heroine briefly paused before laughing. "No, the old Snow Drift is gone. This one, on the other hand, has every intention to stay," she firmly stated, pulling the lasso back as Chat Noir harshly landed on the ground.

"Now give me your miraculous!"

With a huff, Chat Noir raised his arm. "Cataclysm!" he exclaimed at once, preparing to touch her lasso when Snow Drift promptly smirked. Using the weapon to her benefit, Snow Drift caused the feline hero to touch the ground, which quickly began to decay by his touch.

"Well, that was a waste," Chat Noir mumbled, only to watch as the pavement began to crack open. Eyes widening, he went to save Snow Drift as he pulled her out of the way, just in time for the two to witness the collapsing wreckage.

"Are you okay, Snowflake?" Chat Noir softly asked as Snow Drift cleverly pulled herself closer to him. "I am now," she replied, her hand cautiously making its way to the hero's ring.

"Good, but just in case...."

The hero trailed off as he pulled the heroine closer, who was momentarily caught off-guard by his move. Before she could think to take off his ring in time, Snow Drift was kissed by Chat Noir and as their lips interlocked, she gradually released her grip on his ring, now holding onto his hand.

When the two pulled away, Snow Drift's eyes were back to normal and Chat Noir had no hesitation in aiding his partner stand up. As the two stood up, the feline hero had briefly attempted to explain what happened when Snow Drift laughed.

"Wait, wait. Slow down, Kitty. You're not making any sense," she insisted as he merely blinked. "Y... You don't remember?" he asked, to which Snow Drift tilt her head slightly to the hero. "Remember what?" she puzzlingly asked as Chat Noir quietly chose to keep the fact he had kissed his teammate to himself.

After all, it was probably for the best.

"Never mind. Let's go check on Ladybug. I'm sure she needs our help," Chat Noir stated just as the two heard his miraculous beep. "Kitty, your—" Snow Drift insisted, only to shake his head and activate his baton.

"No time, let's go!"

Then he held onto Snow Drift, who made sure to hold onto Chat Noir close... mostly because if she didn't, then she had a likely chance of falling.

"Lucky Charm!"

As Ladybug held onto her latest item, she was baffled by the latest lucky charm: a jump rope.

"Are we certain your miraculous isn't broken?" Chat Noir and Snow Drift chimed in as the heroine jumped before grinning as she hugged Snow Drift, relieved to know she was alright.

"You did it, Chat!"

"Did what?" Snow Drift puzzlingly asked to which Ladybug and Chat Noir only gave a look to each other as neither chose to elaborate on the matter. While Ladybug was in the process of figuring out how her lucky charm would work in her latest situation, she had forgotten to factor in Lady Shatter.

So as Snow Drift and Chat Noir attempted to protect Ladybug, the two were cast aside by Lady Shatter, who quickly destroyed the lucky charm within seconds. "Well, I guess you're out of luck now," Lady Shatter lightly mocked, now laughing as she reached for the ladybug's earrings.

"Lucky Touch!"

In a blink of an eye, Snow Drift arrived to momentarily distract Lady Shatter, who had tripped as she touched the jump rope, repairing the lucky charm in a matter of mere seconds. Grinning, Ladybug found her grip on the villain's mirror and not long after, she had managed to crack the item.

"No!"

As she did, the akuma flew out, leaving Hawkmoth's latest victim defenseless as Ladybug she caught the butterfly in her yo-yo.

"Gotcha!"

As soon as Ladybug caught the akuma and purified the akuma, she grinned. "Bye, bye little butterfly," she softly said before tossing the jump rope lucky charm directly into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

As the jump rope quickly dissolved into a energy of pure red and white light, any kind of damage caused by Lady Shatter was immediately reversed by the bug's special ability in purifying things. With the damage now reversed and Paris back to normal, the heroes and the others watch as the Lady Shatter reverted back to Chloé Bourgeois.

"Pound it!"

As Ladybug, Snow Drift and Chat Noir fist-bumped, their miraculouses all began to beep with Ladybug's own earrings following a minute after. "Well, this has been fun but..." as the three heroes trailed off, the trio chuckled.

"I gotta bounce!"

———————————

"Oh, Chloé!"

As Chloé happily ran into the arms of her caring and loving aunt back at the hotel, she grinned upon seeing the woman, who was now grinning in turn."Aunt Poppy!" Chloé
exclaimed, the two now rejoicing. Afterwards, she began to embrace her father before looking at Cleo, who reluctantly looked at her as she timidly rubbed her arm.

"Chloé—"

"Thanks for trying to protect me from knowing the truth, but it's okay. At least, now I know, both of our parents are complete idiots," Chloé softly told her, before she pulled the girl into a hug.

"Never took you as much of a hugger," Cleo briefly pointed out as Chloé pulled away from her, now grinning. "Well, there's a lot you don't know about me, Cleo-kins," she said in turn, to which Cleo physically winced at her nickname, to which Bernadette found herself laughing at the girl's response.

"How about no?"

"Aw, come on, Cleo-kins. It's perfect for you!" Chloé protested as Cleo only shook her head at the girl's response.

"I don't know... I mean, I think it suits you, personally."

As Chloé, Bernadette and Cleo looked up, the three saw Rey and Adrien arriving as the blonde girl ran to hug her best friends, who were both ecstatic to know their best friend was alright.

While Chloé was getting caught up with her loved ones, Cleo and Bernadette eyed each other before respectfully heading up to the balcony. As Bernadette helped the girl up, the two were now looking at the night sky. Looking back at Chloé, Cleo softly smiled at the scene.

"You know, it's nice that Chloé has a strong support system to handle major problems like this," Cleo softly said as Bernadette stared at her. "What about you? How do you feel about all this?" Bernadette asked as Cleo gave a small, playful smile.

"Why, Spider, do I detect—"

"Do not push your luck, Monroe," Bernadette bluntly stated as Cleo only grinned before she gradually began to lose her smile. "Well... to answer your question, I can't really say I'm surprised," she began as Bernadette blinked.

"How so?"

"It's not important," Cleo dismissively said before she sighed. "The point is Chloé is fine and that's good enough for me," she continued as Bernadette merely stared at her. "You matter too, you know," Bernadette sincerely said, holding the girl's hand to which Cleo softly smiled.

"Thanks, Spider. You matter too," Cleo softly said as Bernadette merely rolled her eyes, now laughing. "Of course, I matter. Who else is going to drag you along on my crazy adventures?" Bernadette lightly joked as Cleo rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure Max could get me into his virtual reality," she joked, but Bernadette's eyes had widen at the mention of her cousin's name.

"Max!"

"Oh now, it's Max. Where was this five hours ago when I tried to call off the search party to go tackle my errands, which mind you are still incomplete?" Cleo countered back as Bernadette lightly shook her head before she reluctantly sighed at the girl. "Can I trust you'll send me the files I need?" she followed up as Cleo blinked.

"Considering that you got me in this rabbit hole, I might as well commit to the rest," Cleo simply said before she nodded a few moments later.

"Yes."

"Thanks! You're a lifesaver, Monroe!" Bernadette exclaimed, the two awkwardly looking at each other. "Uh, your cousin," Cleo gently pointed out, to which the girl nodded at once, now preparing to exit the hotel.

As soon as Bernadette made her way to her cousin's house, she hand checked her email and saw with relief that Cleo did (in fact) send the required files to her. With the images of Audrey and Lance together from the man's hidden accounts, she proceeded to smirk.

"Je t'ai maintenant, Lance."

—————————

"Breaking news! The world renowned fashion designer and iconic figure, the Audrey Bourgeois, has just been revealed to be in a private, perhaps even steamy, relationship with the prominent and bright police officer, Captain Lance Abbott, who was expected to take over his own department. More details are expected to be released as updates continue to be made. This is Nadja Chamack reporting live from—"

Flinging the television remote directly into the screen, the television glitched at the very sight of his images of him and Audrey being revealed. By now, word was out and he felt the consequences as Audrey has since blocked him and flew out of the area.

"Back to New York, she said. Meanwhile, I'm stuck dealing with who—" Lance angrily began, only to stop as he found a note on his desk in his room.

You reap what you sow. ~ Cleo (and Spider)

As Lance stared at the image of him and Audrey together, he tear through the picture as he began to angrily spin a dagger in his grip, driven into the desire by anger at getting caught and the urge to pin the blame on something — no.

Someone else.

As Lance stared at his wedding picture from three years ago, his eyes remained glue on the petite thirteen-year-old stepdaughter who had since grown to become a major thorn in his side.

"None of this would've happened to me had you not ruined everything," Lance bitterly stated, clenching onto the warm bottle to chase down the disastrous night and incoming days that awaited him.

You reap what you sow.

It was such a simple phrase, but it was enough to get Lance to drunkenly laugh as his eyes remained fixated upon Cleo Monroe — the very name he has grown to despise.

"You reap what you sow, brat," he mumbled, now laughing uncontrollably as his anger and the buzz in his drink got the best of him. "It's time I ended this," Lance continued, smiling insanely as he simply threw the dagger directly into his stepdaughter's face on the framed image.

"Once and for all."