Three Hearts Left Intact

Chapter 2: Heir

"Where is she?" Kaila nervously asked looking at the taller and tanner girl in front of her timidly. Lauren simply smirked glaring at Kaila.

"I swear that's the hundredth time you've asked me. And for the hundredth time I'm not telling you. I'm trying to be nice here Kay, don't push your luck. You know with all that commotion you caused earlier, I could get you thrown into phase four already. You'd better be thankful we're even having this nice conversation."

Suddenly Kaila's face blanked, 'stage four', she pondered the thought to herself. She didn't know what to expect but hearing something as intimidating as a strange stage made her heart skip a beat. The blissful silence satisfied Lauren's ears, finally getting a break from being questioned about Lain and her whereabouts.

The smirk on her cocky face grew when Kaila scooter further away from her, "here why don't you sit here while I finish sending out an email and then, just maybe, if your good I'll take you to look at the rest of the facility." Lauren stood up walking towards the white rug near her desk waiting for Kaila.

The small girl stayed hurdled into her own legs terrified to move, shrugging her shoulders Lauren was about to walk away from her spot before seeing movement from the corner of her eye. Kaila was very slowly scooting her way over to her. 'This is going to be way easier than I thought.' Is what was said inside her brain, but what was sent to her mouth was, "alright, now you can read whatever you want but stay quiet for like ten minutes." She took a seat back down on her office chair.

Lauren watched from her seat Kaila settle herself down on the rug and grab the lightest book she had on her bookshelf right next to the rug. Reaching into a slide out drawer her desk had, a computer emerged from within it. Lauren pretended to type an email out on her computer, while side glancing at Kaila the entire time whose nose was stuck in her book not catching on to anything at all.

Instead of working like she had said, Lauren was sitting looking up different articles regarding the little girl. She had gotten so invested in her research she hadn't even noticed she'd been writing her 'email' for the past two hours. Checking Kaila, she saw the poor thing had put the book down laying on the soft rug turned away from her. She shut her laptop and closed the drawer containing it.

She walked over to Kaila about to speak when she realized not only had Kaila laid down, but she had fallen asleep. Apparently being locked away in padded cells, chained against walls, and left in the cold took its toll on the small girls sleep.

Deciding to leave her alone Lauren stepped out of her office locking the door behind her. She wasn't going to let Kaila slip away again, not under her watch. Her parents a would kill her. This was her chance to prove herself to them. To prove she was a worthy heir to the family name. She walked through the long corridors to a set of silver double doors. Using a keycard attached to her pants, she got in.

Inside had many offices, the lot of them belonged to individuals in loyalty programs. Locked in the room until they've met their quota for the day before the doors unlocked, granting them their free time. Continuing down past hundreds of offices with people looking tiredly at the computer monitors in front of them, Lauren reached the end of the hall where a large set of doors stood.

She pushed through the doors easily coming into a large open courtyard, surrounded by tall buildings. The tall buildings around all looked to be in similar fashion to the one Lauren had stepped out of. Hundreds of loyalty employees on their breaking period were walking around the gated area. Some of them on their lunch break, while others finished their daily requirements just taking in some fresh air. In a sectioned off area of the courtyard, Lauren took a seat at a bench pulling her phone out of her back pocket.

She dialed a number down on her phone before putting it up to her ear listening as the chimes of rings passed through.

M: Hello?

L: Mom it's me, guess who tried escaping this evening.

M: Don't tell me it was the Michael's kid.

L: Yup, but I've dealt with her already. She's in my office.

M: What happened to her room?! We had to spend weeks arranging for the patient in there to be moved elsewhere so she could be in your ward.

L: I thought it'd be good to keep her in close range.

M: What's she doing now?

L: Sleeping, I was doing things and she fell asleep before I could ask her anything. She kept asking me about Lain. How is she?

M: Who? Oh that's right...the Colden woman. She's retaliating as expected, but your father made some progress. We've got some more intel from some connections. Looks like the husband ain't holding up well without his wife.

L: Mallix, mom, his names Mallix.

M: Who cares...same person. Just focus on your task. You know how much faith I'm putting in you for this task. Don't fail me now Lauren. She'd better be in the proper condition when I need her.

L: Don't worry about it, I've got Kaila covered. She'll be a piece of cake to handle.

M: Alright, now return to your station. You still have other work that needs to be done.

L: Ok mom, I'll talk to you later for an update.

M: I'll talk to you then...

From the distance a man's voice could be heard, "Myra, who's on the phone?"

"It's Lauren!" She shouted back away from the phone. After a few inaudible mumbles she put the phone back up to her mouth.

M: Dad says hi and good luck upholding our family name. He's counting on you.

L: He did...uh ok...well tell him hi for me and that I won't let you guys down, bye mom.

Lauren hung up putting the phone down into her lap, 'no pressure or anything'. She sighed running a hand through her long wavy blond hair, putting her elbows to her knees. Laying her head into her hands in frustration. She spent the next fifteen minutes taking in the sweet smell of fresh air before a pager in her pocket began buzzing. 'Great my meeting!' She sprinted from her spot outside and rushed back inside her small part to the rather large facility.

In her hurry back to her office, Lauren grabbed her stack of paperwork before rushing out the door. Blinded by her eagerness to be on time, Lauren slammed the door behind her, forgetting Kaila's presence in the room. It wasn't long before the small girl short up from her place on the floor.
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off