Between the Heavens and the Embers

Chapter XVI

Lila jumped back, a small yell escaping her lips. Her heart raced, and she struggled to regain control of her breathing, her eyes darting around the room as if seeking an escape.

"A-Adrien," she managed to say with a small, nervous laugh as she put her phone in the back pocket of her jeans. "Gosh, you scared me. I didn't hear... Oh, Alya, Nino, hi! I thought you guys were out. Nino, Reid is looking—"

"Enough of your games, Lila," Adrien interrupted her, his voice edged with frustration.

He took a step closer to her, his eyes locked onto hers. Lila's eyes flickered between the three of them, a shadow of insecurity in them. "My games? What do you mean?"

"We know it's her," Alya explained, walking calmly toward Lila.

"Know it's who? I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

Adrien let out a humourless laugh. "C'mon, Lila. You're a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them."

"I—" she began, her wide eyes scanning the room for an escape, a clever comeback, an explanation—anything to deflect from the impending confrontation. Adrien was right; she wasn't dumb. Lila knew perfectly well what was currently happening. She just needed a good idea, an opportunity to run away. But after a moment, the mask of false concern she wore faded away, replaced by a chilling, calculated smirk. "Okay, fine. What do you want?"

Before Adrien could respond, Alya stepped in. Her voice quivered with a sense of betrayal, and the hurt and anger in her eyes were palpable. "Why? We," she stopped before correcting herself, "I trusted you."

"I got an opportunity I couldn't refuse," Lila responded with a dismissive shrug of her shoulders, an unsettling calmness in her demeanour. She seemed strangely unperturbed by the fact that she was now surrounded by three furious young adults, their anger barely restrained.

"An opportunity?" Adrien repeated, his voice dripping with disbelief. "That's what you'd call this?"

Lila, her head tilted to the side, regarded him with an assessing look, as if trying to decipher how much they truly knew. "Yes," she admitted with a raised eyebrow, "Wouldn't you agree?"

Adrien could feel Nino's hand on his shoulder, a silent reminder to keep his composure, not to do something he might later regret. For now, he was convinced that Lila remained unaware of the secret identities of those standing before her. She had given them no reason to suspect that she—or her accomplices—knew their secret. So, even though Adrien desperately wanted to transform and cataclysm her ass, he had to retain himself. For now.

"You kidnapped my best friend," Alya hissed, gripping Lila's shoulders and forcefully turning her around. "You've abused her for years. You won't get away with this."

Lila let out a cold laugh. "But I already did, didn't I? My best friend wants nothing to do with you. She doesn't trust you. Victoria believes everything I say. She would never believe that I could lie to her."

"Is that why you did this?" Nino demanded incredulously. "Because Marinette never believed you? Seriously?"

"No," Lila snorted. "I told you, I had an opportunity."

"What was that opportunity?" Adrien inquired, his voice dripping with thinly veiled menace.

Lila turned to him, smirking provocatively. "Please, pretty boy, you didn't really think I was gonna tell you, did you?"

Adrien's patience finally snapped. His hand clenched into a tight fist, ready to strike, but Alya beat him to it. Lila gasped in pain as Alya's punch landed squarely in her stomach.