Love by Design - Adrienette

Property Rights and Wrongs

A/n - I researched a little bit about French law to make this chapter as accurate as possible. Some of the information I got from my German class, but my professor said it applied to Europe in general. Enjoy!

In true European fashion, Marinette's parents didn't actually own their home. Most middle-class people didn't; there was no sense of shame in renting a house. They paid a monthly fee to a landlord, and considered the property their own. Renters often stayed in one place for years; in fact it was not unheard of for generations of the same family to rent the same home - so imagine the shock Tom and Sabine received when they learned their home was to be sold.

By French law they had priority right to buy the bakery, but one look at the figures told them that was not an option. Possibly, they would have been able to pull together the money had it been priced at its actual value, but someone had already offered the current owner an exorbitant amount. Who could that have been?

Sadly, they had no choice but to say they would pass on the offer - it was beyond their means. Again, intervention of the law allowed them a grace period of six months to remain in their home before it would come under new ownership, that of Gabriel Agreste.

"You know what I want," Gabriel told Tom on the phone. "The bakery is nothing more than a playing card to me, but it's your livelihood. You have six months to comply. Do this, and the property is yours. My gift to you.  You'll never have to worry about paying rent again. Ignore me, and you'll have to find another way to support your family. Your time is up in October, so you can't expect to get a day of extra time from winter truce. Without the bakery, you have no proof of income. Good luck finding a property owner who will take you when you're destitute. You would be wise to follow my suggestions." A/n - Winter truce is a period from November through March when it is illegal in France to evict a renter from his home, even if bills are not paid. Now, who said fanfiction wasn't educational?

Tom sucked in a sharp breath as he put down the receiver. He'd consider going to the police, but with what charge? There was no law against outbidding someone on a home purchase. Blackmail? There might be a technical case there, but he doubted the police would be able to pursue it. He thought of the career day when he had gone in to talk to Marinette's classmates. Roger Raincomprix, the cop, wanted to uphold the law - but was powerless to do so when Mayor Bourgeois terminated him over a minor dispute about a bracelet. He knew that Andre Bourgeois was a neighbor of Gabriel Agreste, and figured the wealthy men were each used to scratching the other's back.

Few things were more important to Tom than his bakery, and he'd do almost anything to keep it - but his daughter was not for sale! He would gladly hand over the bakery if it meant keeping Marinette safe, but a question tugged at his heart... would he be able to? On one hand, he would be sacrificing his daughter's freedom in exchange for her financial security, as well as that of his wife, and himself. On the other hand, he could give up the bakery to give her a chance at freedom - but if luck was against him, he could be risking not only his own life on the street, but also the lives of both his wife and of the very daughter he wanted to protect. Was it worth it?

His heart was indignant at the idea of giving in to Gabriel Agreste, but his head was beginning to wonder if it wasn't better than the alternative. 'Be positive,' he told himself. 'You don't have only six months left. You have six whole months to find a way out. Right now, you just need to hold him off.'

A/n - Okay, I've been updating twice a week for a while now, but I'm going to quit my Monday updates. I have a good reason: I'm a college student now! It seems so surreal, but I'm there... almost a legal adult too. I promice I'll still continue my Friday updates; one of my classes is a typing class, so I'll pass it off as practice for that 😛.