Perfect Preparation

Chapter 69: Traitor

As the day of their hearing neared both Mallix and Lain feared for what was to come. They were deeply unprepared, they had no attorney, nobody to testify, and not a clue what to expect Kaila's parents to be like.

"Hey babe, breathe. It's ok" Mallix placed his hand on his wife's shoulder. She was hunched down looking at the computer screen in front of her in his office while she hunted for a good attorney for them.

She didn't want just anybody, they had to know what they were doing and be great at it. "How can I breathe, there isn't anyone who can represent us?!" It was clear how stressed she was getting.

Mallix smirked and pressed the power to the computer off. "What the...what was that for?!" She angrily targeted him as bags hung down her eyes.

"Babe it's been two days already of you non stop looking for people. You need to rest. We're not going to do any good for Kaila, or us, if your exhausted and stressing over this." He helped her stand seeing her fatigued body slouch in place.

"How can I not stress over this?! The hearings in a few days babe! We have nothing ready!" She put her hands to her head trying not to let how underprepared they were get to her.

"That isn't true. I put Kaila down for a nap and called some buddies of mines. Remember Alex?"

She nodded her head nearly falling in the process. Mallix caught hold of her helping her sit back down into his office chair.

"Well turns out he's an attorney now. It's perfect! So I gave him a call and he said that as long as nothing else comes up he can help us. Also, I tried looking for testimonies that we could use against her parents. I tried calling Kaila's old landlord, her old boss at the cafe, and even some of her friends."

He smiled seeing his wife's eyes widen like it was Christmas morning. "And?!" She excitedly asked using the rest of her energy to lean forwards in the chair, eagerly awaiting the news.

Finally as he went to speak, Mallix realized just how bad his good news was. "Well, her landlord said something about not wanting to get into more trouble with the law and not wanting to get his business involved, her boss just plain out refused to help us, and the only person out of her friends who could help us is Lauren. Apparently Rose and Alia are out of town doing something, but that leaves us with one. So...that's something." He shrugged wanting to be able to give more to her.

The bright light dimmed slightly realizing out of anyone who could be here to help them was refusing to. But right now all she cared about was her little girl, pushing through the exhaustion Lain said, "then let's get in touch with Lauren and see if we can meet up to discuss what's going to happen for the hearing."

"Already did that, and she said she could meet us right now. Well in a few hours to be exact but still, you and I are going to meet her at a cafe for an early dinner. I've already made arrangements for Nina to stop by for an hour or two to watch Kaila while we talk this through."

Lain gave the biggest sigh of relief letting much of the tension in her body leave. "Babe you are a lifesaver," she got up to kiss his lips before grabbing hold of his hands. "I wish you would've told me sooner. I was starting to think I'd be grey before we even got to the hearing."

Mallix chuckled and smiled loving the genuine relief his wife had. Slowly his vision blurred and all he could see was the radiating smile she emitted from joy. It hadn't even occurred to him he was staring for longer than he would've liked.

"How about after we get this done, you and I can deal with some stress relieving of our own." She winked leaving his office to go shower.

He rolled his eyes playfully, looking forwards to their evening tonight.

Finally after another few hours of preparing themselves for their meeting with Lauren and waving goodbye to a sad Kaila being held by Nina as they drove off, Lain and Mallix had arrived at the cafe.

At first glance it looked to be a modern style cafe with antiques lining the windows of it, filled with pastel colors. Inside they took a seat at an empty table ordering themselves tea.

Looking at the clock Lain realized they had arrived ten minutes earlier than agreed. As they waited the couple were anxiously hoping Lauren would be willing to help them.

It hadn't even occurred to the couple that they didn't know what she looked like until people started walking in and out of the cafe.

Unsure of what to do, they were pleasantly surprised to see a confused looking tan girl who looked around the same age as Kaila scanning the cafe. She looked as if she had just come here from a party. Her clothes were all raggedy and she had a strong smell of alcohol attached to her.

Waving her over to them, Lauren took a seat across from the couple and ordered herself a cup of coffee.

"You must be Lauren?" Mallix tried to begin with small talk.

"Mhm" she nodded grabbing a sugar packet from the edge of the table and tore the packet open before chugging the white powdery substance.

"Ok...so I'm Lain and this is my husband Mallix. We wanted to talk to you about-" she stopped in her track when she realized the girl across from them had red eyes ready to burst out of her skull, and more than a dozen empty sugar packets in front of her.

"I think that's enough sugar for one day," Mallix snatched the packet from her hands and put it down to the side.

"Hey! I was going to eat that." She complained reaching for another when Lain stopped her hands with a small slap.

"You're already on a sugar rush, why don't we wait til the drinks come by before you get anymore. For now we'd like to talk about why we asked you here to meet us." Lain said as Lauren slouched back in her chair irritated.

"Fine, the faster we get this done the faster I can leave anyways." She confessed crossing her arms over her stomach waiting to see what the duo wanted from her.

"So, as you know Kaila has been staying with us and recently we've been charged with some serious allegations. We were hoping you'd be able to be at our hearing to testify on our behalf how terrible Kaila's conditions were with her parents, and why she needs to stay with us." She finished explaining.

"What I'm hearing is, you want me to do something for you. But what's in it for me?" She gave a snarky remark.

"Well give you fifty bucks if you do it."

She scoffed in his face, "listen I'm not dumb. I know you two have money, or so I've heard. So why don't we change it to five thousand and you've got yourselves a deal."

The couples jaws dropped upon hearing the request. "Seriously?! This is for Kaila we're talking about. Aren't you her best friend?!" Mallix defended not wanting to give away five thousand dollars to this sad excuse of a friend.

"Friends a strong word don't you think, more like I was doing my...job. So take it or leave it. Five thousand or I'm out and you two can deal with this on your own." She sat back in her chair with a hideous smirk on her face.

"Whatever, deal. Just be on time and know what your going to say. I'll message you the details about it later." Lain gave in knowing they had no other choice.

Shaking on the deal, Lauren got up and left as the couple sat there baffled. They weren't expecting Kaila to be friends with that type of person. Their little girl was too innocent and she was beyond comparison.

Just as the cafe doors shut, Lauren's coffee arrived along with the couples teas. They annoyingly paid for them all before talking through the rest of their plan as they sipped on their drinks.
——————————————————————————
Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off