Nathalie waited patiently for Adrien at the bottom of the stairs in the foyer. When he appeared from his room and his gaze met hers, he looked shocked.
“Nathalie? What are you doing?”
“Your bodyguard is sick today, Adrien. I’ll be driving you to school,” she explained curtly.
Adrien nodded and walked to the door with her.
Nathalie drove away from the mansion and it didn’t take long for the pair to reach the school. Nathalie got out of the car and opened the door for Adrien to get out. She walked with him to the bottom of the stairs.
“Have a good day at school, Adrien,” she said while he was still in earshot.
“Thank you, Nathalie,” Adrien said, smiling a little and joining Nino to walk up the stairs.
Nathalie watched him go inside. A little pang in her heart felt sympathy for him before she turned to head back to the car.
However, she was quickly stopped by someone standing right behind her.
“Excuse me,” she muttered, but the person grabbed her shoulder. She gasped and tried to flinch away, but a piece of chloroform covered her mouth and nose. Before she could get a clear vision on who her attacker was, she blacked out.
Her attacker carried her in his arms back to the car. He set her in the passenger seat and drove away quickly, smiling to himself.
Nathalie woke up in a dark room, tied painfully to a wooden chair. Her wrists and ankles throbbed.
“Comfortable?” someone asked.
A light flickered on and she blinked tiredly. A dark figure was sitting on a small chair in front of her. He stood and moved the chair to the side of the room.
“Where am I?” she asked sharply. “And who are you?”
“Calm down, my dear. One question at a time please. My name is Dimitri Ruelle. Are you familiar with that name?”
She remained quiet and scowled at him from her position.
“I figured not. You see, I was always second best to the famed Gabriel Agreste. It was his designs that they featured, not mine. No one wants to see the next best designs, do they?”
“Is that all you want? Revenge on Gabriel Agreste?” Nathalie spit. “Then why am I here?”
Dimitri smirked and took her chin in his fingers. She tried to wrench away, but he held fast. “You’re here because you are Gabriel Agreste’s one weakness. With you in my possession, Gabriel will give me anything I want in exchange for your freedom.”
“You’re wrong!” Nathalie argued. “Gabriel won’t come for me. He’ll know that it’s a trap.”
“My dear Nathalie, I’m afraid it’s you that are wrong.”
Nathalie gritted her teeth. She loathed being wrong.
“But perhaps you are right,” Dimitri thought aloud. “Maybe he won’t come. In that case…” He pulled Nathalie’s phone out of his pocket. “Best to give him a little nudge.”
“No!” Nathalie cried, pulling desperately against her restrains.
“Yes, I’m afraid,” Dimitri said, giving her a fake look of pity.
Nathalie remembered what Gabriel had said about fake people. This guy fit the description to a T.
Dimitri, meanwhile, had unlocked her phone and quickly found Gabriel’s contact. With an evil smile on his lips, he hit the call button.
