The Double Face of the Designer's Son

Chapter 13.

"Sir?" Claire's voice woke Adrien from his nap. He stretched and yawned.

"Yes, Claire?"

"Mr. Lahiffe is on his way. He will arrive in 20 minutes." Adrien blinked the sleep out of his eyes.

"I almost forgot about Nino... guess I should probably get dressed." Claire turned off the intercom as her boss entered his walk-in closet. She sighed. Not sure what to make of the situation, she was a little stressed. She nervously fiddled with the buttons on her blazer sleeve. Nino wasn't the problem.

For the fifth time that day, Claire opened her files. Typing the first letter of the name she was searching for triggered the suggestion mechanic immediately, and within moments Claire was looking into the icy grey eyes of Lila Rossi. Her skin crawled. Something about the woman was truly unnatural... and it wasn't just the lip fillers. Claire squinted. One of the folders in which Lila's file was found was named "Allies." She opened the folder. Inside, she found two sub-folders marked "HM" and "Gabriel."

"HM?" Claire looked pensively at the screen, sitting back in her chair.

 The doorbell gave her a start. She pressed the button for the intercom and announced Nino's arrival, then rushed to the door to greet him. 

"Evening, sir. Mr. Agreste should be downstairs in a moment. Pizza will be here in 10 minutes."

"Awesome..." Nino looked around the huge house, touching marble countertops and silver candelabras.

"I know, right?" Adrien's voice took on a more childish tone to address his high school best friend. "Never really got the time to appreciate this stuff when my father was around."

"No kidding, dude. Your old man was wack."

"I know. That's part of the reason I called you here." Adrien smiled gently. Nino raised an eyebrow. "I could use some advice, old friend." Nino slowly nodded his understanding.

"Gotcha. We can discuss it over pizza," Nino leaned in to whisper to Adrien. "But who's this lady?" Adrien laughed.

"This is my assistant, Claire Sancouer. You can call her Claire. She'll be eating with us tonight." Nino looked at Claire, unsure what to think of the woman.

"How did you come to work for my buddy here?" Claire's eyes went wide with a bit of surprise. The doorbell rang once again, and the assistant, muttering excuses, eagerly slipped away. Nino turned to his friend. "What's with her?"

"I don't know," replied Adrien. "She's never told me how she got to work for me, either. Wonder if it's a personal story," Adrien stroked his chin. Claire quickly returned with pizza.

"Alright, I've got cheese for me and pepperoni for you boys. According to my records, pepperoni is Nino's favorite," Claire grinned. Nino looked surprised.

"Dude. I knew your father kept extensive records, but that's just creepy... oh well. Let's eat!"

-

"So, Claire. You never did answer about how you got to work for me," Adrien carefully introduced the topic. Claire cleared her throat.

"It's a long story. Are you ready?"

"Wait!" Nino raced toward the kitchen. "I'm gonna get popcorn!" A few moments later, the man reappeared holding a bowl of freshly popped snacks. Claire sighed. "Okay, go!"

"When I was a little girl, my mother was hired to work for Gabriel Agreste. Originally, she didn't work as his right-hand gal... she was more of a gofer. That changed when Adrien's mother could no longer work with his father. My mom, Nathalie, who you might remember, began to work longer hours, and one day, my dad got frustrated. They fought for a while, and then he left and I haven't seen him since. Shortly afterward, I got sick. I had a rare illness that required expensive treatment. My mother went to Mr. Agreste to beg for additional hours and advances on her pay. He asked why... one thing led to another, and eventually he's got my mother signing a contract: he would pay for my treatment and for me to go to the best schools of marketing and finance in exchange for my mother being trapped in her contract indefinitely. I was also stuck in a contract: being groomed since age 9 to be Adrien's personal assistant, his father sent me to the best schools and got me into the best programs. I technically am stuck as Adrien's assistant for the next ten years, unless he should die or choose to release me." Claire took a long breath at the end of her tale.

"Is all that even legal?" Nino looked shocked, but Claire only shrugged.

"Guessing there was some money under the table with the lawyers on that one." Adrien was unsure what to say next. It had been quite an interesting story, however long-winded.

"So that's how you get to work with a fashion icon!" As casually charismatic as ever, Nino cut the tension like a hot knife through butter. "You know, there are plenty of girls who'd give up anything to live your life."

"I know. His dad's got him wrapped up in legal matters too. If he doesn't marry somebody in 6 months, the company gets passed to another benefactor. Gonna break tons of hearts when that happens."

"Man, oh man," Nino remarked, grabbing a handful of popcorn. "This just gets better and better! So that's why you were out with Kagami the other day. You know Luka is gonna kill you, right?" Claire grimaced as her boss glared at her.

"Actually, that was my fault. Little to no data on Luka, no relationship data for Kagami in my system. One thing led to another..." Claire shrugged. "Besides, Kagami is hot. I'd date her, so I figured my boss would too." The two boys eyed her suspiciously.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Adrien asked, seeming genuinely confused.

"With all due respect, sir, I thought it was obvious with that remark. I'm a lesbian." Claire rolled her eyes.

"That's cool with me." Nino gave her a thumbs-up, then shoved a fistful of popcorn into his mouth.

"Huh. Didn't see that coming." Adrien shrugged and sipped his drink. Claire took a pen out of her pocket and started tapping it on the table. She bit her thumbnail and scribbled on a napkin.

"Whatcha drawing?" Nino gestures at the napkin.

"What do you guys think HM would stand for?" Adrien peeked at the writing on the napkin.

Human Management

Hunger Manager

Huge Mansion

"I dunno," Nino said. He looked at his watch. "Sorry, dude. It's been real, but I gotta bounce. The wife-ski won't be happy if I get home late. The last time I came home late, I almost missed my kid's first word!" Adrien raised his eyebrows.

"You have a family now?"

"Sure do, dude! I'm guessing you remember Alya?" Adrien nodded. "We got married three years ago. My kid, Angelo, was born about a year ago. Alya's pregnant again now. She will not be happy if I get home late. Like I said, almost missed my kid's first word. She was angry enough at me that time."

"What was Angelo's first word?" Claire asked, looking up from her napkin scribbles."It was 'dude.' What else?" Nino grinned, then dashed out the door, waving. Adrien laughed and shook his head. He wandered around the house for a little while, thinking over the encounter. When he returned to the table, Claire was tapping her pen frantically.

"What's so important about HM anyways?" Adrien peeked over her shoulder at ink lines and many, many question marks doodled on the napkin.

"I was looking at some files. There was a folder called 'Allies' with two sub-folders called 'Gabriel' and 'HM,' so now I have to know or I'll go nuts." Claire pushed a hand up her face, causing her hair to become slightly disheveled. Her smartwatch beeped. She looked down at it. "Oh dear, that's right. Cat Noir has his meeting with Ladybug tonight. I figured you might want to take a shower and maybe nap first." Adrien pursed his lips. He nodded at Claire.

"Thanks. I will."