MAUDE DUVAL WAS BORN ON THE TWENTIETH 0F MARCH TO TWO WEALTHY ENTREPENUERS, GASPARD AND ELODIE. THE TWO WERE WEDDED SHORTLY AFTER COLLEGE AND HAD CONCEIVED A SON, WHOM THEY WOULD GO ON TO NAME RÉMY. FOUR YEARS LATER, THE COUPLE DECIDED THEY WANTED ANOTHER CHILD AND CROSSED THEIR FINGERS FOR A DAUGHTER THAT WOULD HELP TAME THE CRAZINESS IN THE HOUSEHOLD. WHEN MAUDE WAS BORN, GASPARD AND ELODIE WERE THRILLED TO SHOW RÉMY HIS NEW BABY SISTER, BUT WHILE THE DUVAL’S WERE ECSTATIC OVER HAVING A GIRL, THEY WERE QUICKLY OVERWHELMED AND TAKEN ABACK FROM MAUDE’S PRESENCE. AS IT TURNED OUT, UNFORTUNATELY FOR THEM, MAUDE WAS WILDER THAN HER BROTHER.

MAUDE WAS A WHIRLWIND OF MISCHIEF AND DRAMA, BUT DESPITE THE REBELLION THAT INFESTED IN HER FROM HER EARLY ADOLESCENCE, MAUDE WAS JUST ANOTHER ORDINARY GIRL. IT WAS, PERHAPS, ONE OF THE REASONS WHY SO MANY PEOPLE LIKED HER. UNLIKE HER OLDER BROTHER, MAUDE WAS EASILY APPROACHABLE AND COULD BEFRIEND ANYONE WITHOUT A MOMENT’S NOTICE. OF COURSE, BEING THE YOUNGER SIBLING HAD ITS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES AS WELL. RÉMY EVENTUALLY MELLOWED OUT AND BECAME THE QUIET ONE, WHEREAS MAUDE ONLY CONTINUED TO GROW MORE BRASH AND OUTGOING. DESPITE THEIR DIFFERENCES, THE TWO SIBLINGS GOT ALONG SPLENDIDLY. HOWEVER, AS THE YEARS WENT ON AND SHE GREW INTO A TEENAGER, THERE WAS A VERY DRASTIC CHANGE IN THEIR DYNAMICS. RÉMY BECAME MORE OVERPROTECTIVE AND OVERBEARING AS HE WATCHED HIS SISTER’S POPULARITY BLOSSOM. NOT OBLIVIOUS TO HIS DEMEANOR, MAUDE QUICKLY MADE THE CONNECTION TO HER BROTHER’S BEHAVIOR AND HER OWN DEVELOPING, FEMININE APPEARANCE. IT WAS ENOUGH TO CAUSE A DRIFT BETWEEN THEM, WHICH WOULD INEVITABLY LEAD RÉMY DOWN A VERY DARK AND DESTRUCTIVE PATH.

MAUDE WAS ALREADY SOMEWHAT OF A CELEBRITY AMONGST HER PEERS BY THE TIME SHE ENTERED HER FRESHMEN YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL, PARTLY DUE TO HER PARENTS’ WEALTH AND SUCCESS. AND WHILE SHE HAD NO PROBLEMS DISCUSSING HER FAMILY LIFE AND BOASTING ABOUT HER LAVISH LIFESTYLE, RÉMY TOOK A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT APPROACH AND AVOIDED ANY CONVERSATIONS THAT FOCUSED ON THE TOPIC OF RELATIONSHIPS AND FINANCES — SOMETHING HIS SISTER WOULD NEVER UNDERSTAND; AT LEAST NOT UNTIL SHE WAS MUCH OLDER AND BECAME THE HEIR TO THEIR PARENTS’ FORTUNE AND LEGACY. IT WAS ALSO SOMETHING THAT LANDED RÉMY WITH A REPUTATION OF BEING COLD AND PRETENTIOUS, WHICH WASN’T HALF FALSE. WITH GASPARD AND ELODIE CONSTANTLY WORKING, THE TWO SIBLINGS WERE LEFT TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES. THE LACK OF AFFECTION FROM THEIR PARENTS DIDN’T BOTHER MAUDE SO MUCH, CONSIDERING SHE WAS COMPENSATED BY LARGE SUMS OF CASH TO DO WITH AS SHE PLEASED. THE ABSENCE OF THEIR PRESENCE DID SEEM TO BOTHER RÉMY MORE THAN HE’D CARE TO ADMIT, HOWEVER; THAT COUPLED WITH THE FACT THAT HE HAD TO ASSUME THE ROLE OF A PARENT HIMSELF AND JUGGLE HIS PERSONAL LIFE WITH HIS SCHOOL LIFE. TO DEAL WITH ALL THE PRESSURE, RÉMY TOOK TO A LIFE OF DRUGS THAT HE HID WELL FROM HIS PARENTS SINCE THEY WERE HARDLY AROUND ANYWAYS.

BY THE TIME MAUDE WAS SIXTEEN, RÉMY HAD SPIRALED SO FAR OUT OF CONTROL THAT HE HAD REACHED THE POINT OF NO RETURN. SHE WAS ONLY IN HER SPRING SEMESTER OF HIGH SCHOOL WHEN THE COPS SHOWED UP, ASKING THE DUVALS TO COME DOWN TO THE STATION TO IDENTIFY RÉMY’S BODY. THE CAUSE OF DEATH? AN OVERDOSE. THE DEATH OF HER BROTHER WAS ENOUGH TO SHAMBLE THE VERY FOUNDATION OF THE DUVAL HOUSEHOLD. IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG AFTER THAT FOR GASPARD AND ELODIE TO ‘STEP DOWN’ FROM THEIR BUSINESS, EACH OF THEM BLAMING THE OTHER FOR WHAT HAD BECOME OF THEIR SON AND FOR WHAT THEIR SON COULD’VE BEEN. THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER WAS, THEY WERE ALSO AFRAID … THEY COULDN’T RISK GETTING CAUGHT AND EXPOSING THEIR ‘BUSINESS’ FOR WHAT IT TRULY WAS. ELODIE WAS SO DISTRAUGHT OVER THE LOSS OF HER SON THAT SHE EVENTUALLY BECAME UNINTERESTED IN CONTINUING HER RELATIONSHIP WITH HER DAUGHTER, DECIDING TO DUMP HER ON TO GASPARD INSTEAD. GASPARD, NOW IN A FINANCIALLY INFERIOR STATE, STRUGGLED TO MAINTAIN ORDER WITHIN HIS OWN ‘ORGANIZATION’ AND BECAME SO SLOPPY IN HIS WORK THAT MAUDE INADVERDENTLY STUMBLED ACROSS THE TRUTH BEHIND HER PARENT’S “BUSINESS” ALTOGETHER. FEELING GUILTY FOR EVERYTHING THAT HAD TRANSPIRED AND SEEING AS HOW HER FATHER TRULY DID CARE ABOUT HER, ESPECIALLY WITH HIS RECENT EFFORTS TO SUPPORT AND MAKE A LIVING FOR THEM, MAUDE TOOK IT UPON HERSELF TO ENTER AND JOIN HER PARENTS IN THEIR LIVES OF CRIME RUNNING AN UNDERGROUND CRIME SYNDICATE. ON THE SIDE, SHE LEARNED HOW TO PICKPOCKET UNSUSPECTING VICTIMS WITHOUT THEM KNOWING ABOUT IT. IT WASN’T MUCH, BUT AT THE TIME, EVEN THAT SMALL OF A CONTRIBUTION WAS ENOUGH. EVENTUALLY, MAUDE USED STEALING AS A COPING MECHANISM AND BEGAN TO RACK UP A REPUTATION FOR HERSELF. THIS WOULD EVENTUALLY LEAD HER TO BECOMING THE MOB BOSS, USING HER FAMILY’S BANK AS A STOREFRONT FOR SHADY DEALINGS AND MONEY LAUNDERING AND COUNTERFETING.

BY HER SENIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL, MAUDE FOUND HERSELF SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE WHO HAD ONLY CARED ABOUT HER BECAUSE OF HER STATUS, GENEROSITY AND MATERIALISTIC THINGS. DESPITE EVERYTHING, SHE WAS STILL INVITED TO SOCIAL GATHERINGS HOSTED BY HER PEERS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO SHE CHEERLEADED AND DID GYMNASTICS WITH, AND WOULD OFTEN USE PARTIES AS A DISTRACTION TO THE TRAUMATIC EVENTS THAT HAD OCCURRED TO HER AND HER HOME LIFE. STRUGGLING WITH MILD ALCOHOLISM, MAUDE ENTERED A SEVERE STATE OF DEPRESSION FOR SOME TIME — OFTEN CUTTING HER WRISTS TO GET AN ADRENALINE RUSH. IT WASN’T UNTIL SHE ENTERED BOSTON UNIVERSITY THAT SHE BEGAN TO COPE WITH HER MOOD DISORDER. THERE, SHE COULD START ALL OVER AND NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANYONE KNOWING ABOUT HER TRAGIC PAST. MAUDE DECIDED TO PURSUE A DEGREE IN FINANCE, HOPING TO FOLLOW IN HER PARENTS’ FOOTSTEPS. UPON MEETING NATASZA "TAS" AQUILA, THE DAUGHTER OF HER FAMILY’S LONGTIME RIVALS, MAUDE ONCE AGAIN BEGAN TO SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL; THE TWO HAVE BEEN INSEPERABLE SINCE, SAVING BOTH OF THEIR FAMILIES’ CRIME SYNDICATES BY COMBINING THEM INTO ONE. TOGETHER, THEY ARE A FORCE OF NATURE THAT SHOULD DEFINITELY NOT BE MESSED WITH.