T E N

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Marinette sat behind the counter of Tikki's bakery, a frown plastered on her face. After she received that call from her father the night before, she had been restless.

Her father told her not to return to France and that he would keep her updated about what was going on with her mother. Based on the information she got, Nathaniel did a number on her mother - he broke three ribs, her nose, bruised her cheek bones and damaged her right eye beyond repair. She even got a concussion and has yet to wake up.

She couldn't help but to take blame for what happened. Had she not left Nathaniel, her parents would not be getting hurt and she wouldn't have to be looking over her shoulder every five seconds. Yes, she was afraid when she was with him - enveloped in a bubble of fear, to be specific - but it was ten times scary knowing that there was a possibility of him finding out where she was.

In times like this, she was glad he didn't have his father around him anymore. That man, Nathan Kurtzberg, was terrifying. He was even more terrifying than Nathaniel. It was like Nathaniel was a shell of a man when Nathan was around. Not only that, Nathan had way more links and power than Nathaniel, so he would be able to find her in no time while ruining her parents and Tikki in the process.

'I should go back,' She thought, running a hand over her face. 'I can't let anyone else get hurt because of me. First my mother, next it'll be Dad then Tikki.'

She knew she shouldn't be having thoughts like this, but she couldn't help it. She was scared...so so scared.

"Excuse me, Ma'am?" She heard a tiny, yet cute voice, breaking away from her wandering thoughts. She looked down and saw a little girl standing in front of the counter.

"How can I help you, honey?" Marinette forced a smile to her face.

"Um...I would like a stwawbewwy (strawberry) cupcake, pwease (please)," The little girl spoke cutely, causing Marinette's heart to swell up with joy.

"Coming right up," The blunette quickly packaged the cupcake, throwing in a complimentary cookie because the little girl was too cute. She then took the money and sent the little girl off. She watched with a smile as the girl scurried back to her mother.

Unconsciously, her hand went to her still flat stomach. Remembering that she was pregnant with Nathaniel's baby left a bad taste in her mouth, but she didn't have the strength to abort the baby. She had thought about it, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She could still feel the stiff, cold flesh of her last baby on her fingertips and she couldn't bear the thought of losing another baby - whether it was Nathaniel's baby or not.

Resting her cheek on her right palm, her disguised blue eyes watched as the two waitresses moved around the bakery. They were absent the day before, along with the baker that was currently in the kitchen with Tikki. Why they were all absent on one day? Marinette had no idea.

The bakery was getting busy since it was almost lunch time. She was to be at her other job today, but due to the incident that took place the day before - where she fainted - Tikki and Adrien forced her to take a week off from that job.

Adrien...

The blond had found out her true identity. She wasn't 'Miranda'...she was Marinette. He surprised her. She knew he was curious about why she was all the way in America when the last time he saw her she was in France with her husband, but he hadn't asked any questions. She found that incredibly weird.

Thinking of the blond, she thought her mind was playing tricks on her when he walked into the bakery, a brunette in glasses, Alya, trailing behind him. They took a seat at their usual booth, a waitress quickly making her way towards them.

She realized she was staring for too long when their eyes met. Quickly, she averted her eyes, a blush coating her cheeks soon after. 'This is weird,' She thought, patting her cheeks lightly.

After a while, she stopped thinking about the blond when the bakery got even busier and she had to be dealing with her own customers. The work day ran off quite fast, soon the bakery was empty and the staff was clocking out.

Adrien had left with his assistant earlier in the day, making eye contact with her one last time before they had walked out. She didn't know why, but she expected him to come up to her and say something - like he always did before. She couldn't help but to wonder if something happened overnight...

"Mari!" She heard Tikki call as she shut off the lights and was about to make her way up the stairs. "Come here! You have got to see this."

She couldn't help but to wonder what had gotten Tikki so excited.

Marinette entered Tikki's room and the redhead quickly called her to take a seat beside her. Tikki had her tablet beside her on the bed, but quickly snatched it up and shoved it into the blunette's hands. "Read the headlines."

"You're keeping up with Paris drama again, I see," Marinette commented, not yet looking at the tablet.

"Trust me, you'll be happy to see this one," Tikki grinned. "Now, read it."

Shaking her head with a small laugh, Marinette finally looked at the tablet to see what made Tikki so excited.

Her jaw dropped when she saw what was on the screen.

HEAD OF ILLUSTRATORS INCORPORATION, NATHANIEL KURTZBERG, WAS ARRESTED TODAY, BUT FOR WHAT?

* * * * *

Nathaniel kept a neutral face as the police officer that sat across from him listed all the things that were wrong with Marinette's mother and all the things that had been reported by Marinette's father that he had done to Marinette.

The redhead knew he didn't have to do anything because as long as his father was in France, he would make sure he didn't go to prison.

The officer slammed his hands on the table catching Nathaniel's attention. "Are you even listening?" The man asked only to receive a smug look from Nathaniel in return.

"Was I supposed to be?" The young Kurtzberg rolled his eyes as he moved his eyes from the officer's face and stared at the ceiling. "This place is filthy."

The officer huffed, before storming out of the room. Soon after, two officers walked and escorted Nathaniel to one of the cells they had at the station.

Nathaniel cringed as took a seat on the dirty looking bench in the cell; he made a mental note to burn the suit he had on the minute he got back home. The place was filthy, he felt like he could get sick just by breathing in the air at the police station.

He didn't know how long he sat there in the cell, but it felt like hours, before someone came and informed him that he had a visitor. He immediately knew it was his father.

Soon, he was sitting in front of his father, a police officer standing beside his father with several documents in his hands.

"Alright, I'm Officer Crowell and I'll-"

"How much is Thomas Dupain-Cheng willing to take to drop this petty thing?" Nathan asked the officer. Crowell looked at the older Kurtzberg indifferently, wondering how he could ask such a bold question.

"No, he would like to take this matter to court, and even if he wanted to take your bribe, this matter is well out of our hands and Nathaniel would go to court anyways," The officer exclaimed, laying out the papers in the document on the table. Some were pictures while others just had words on it.

"What are these?" Nathaniel spoke for the first time since he entered the room.

Officer Crowell didn't spare him a glance. He lined up for pictures on the table and pointed to them. "This is the state of Mrs. Dupain-Cheng right."

He then picked up a paper and proceeded to read what was on it. "The victim has sustained many fatal injuries and is now in a coma, we are not sure when she will be awake. After testing, doctors found that Mrs. Dupain-Cheng has three broken ribs and a broken nose, an eye injury that will for sure lead to blindness in that eye, bruised cheek bones, and a few bruises are littered all over her body."

The officer then dropped the paper to the table and moved his gaze to Nathaniel. The redhead stared dead into his eyes, not an ounce of regret on his face. It was the same for his father.

"And you're saying that Nathaniel, my son, did this?" Nathan spoke soon after, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Seeing as you just asked if the person who wants your son arrested wanted to take bribe, yes," Crowell replied. "Now, that is not all Nathaniel is here for. Domestic Violence against his wife, the Dupain-Chengs' daughter had also been reported, with evidence as well."

"This is preposterous!" Nathan yelled. "My son did nothing to that girl!"

"Tell them that in Court, Mr. Kurtzberg," Officer Crowell shot the man a dry smile. "Nathaniel will be kept here, or transferred somewhere else for ten to thirty days; the court date should be set by then. I am done here."

Nathaniel avoided his father's gaze a much as possible when two officers came to escort him back to his cell.

He was now in a deeper mess than before.

* * * * *

Hey, guys! Another chapter here! I'm a day late, because I wasn't home for the past few days and I had absolutely no wifi.

Anyways, how was today's chapter? What are your thoughts?

There's a possibility of Nathaniel having an encounter with Marinette soon because of Court *insert smirk face*. I am doing as much research as possible for this. I have to figure out how French court and rules work!

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter (I apologize if you saw a lot of mistakes, time is not my friend)! Until next time,