“The sky is falling, Chicken Little, because Rohan Murphy has called my phone,” she answered.
“Hello to you too, Meila.”
“To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“I need a family lawyer,” Rohan told her. He figured there was no point in beating around the bush.
“For?”
“A custody battle.”
Meila paused for a moment. “Is it for Trent?”
“This has nothing to do with my brother. It’s for my girlfriend.”
Rohan was aware of why she was asking if it was Trent he was calling for. She and Trent hadn’t spoken in years, almost a decade if he remembered correctly. Not since she’d helped Alynn’s mother abandon the two of them. Meila had told them she hadn’t known that was what was happening when she’d agreed to help, but Trent hadn’t believed her. He’d just been pissed and hurt. So, the long-standing friendship between the three of them, along with Meila’s sister, had gone out the window or become complicated.
“I rarely deal with custody battles. I’ll have Aiva call you.”
“Meila,” Rohan started. “I know Aiva is a Pitbull in the courtroom. But you deal with taking someone for everything they own to give to their spouse. That sort of ruthlessness, that’s what I need. I need this woman to be annihilated in the courtroom for what she’s trying to do to my girlfriend.”
“You love her, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Rohan responded without missing a beat.
Meila was quiet for a moment before she let out a sigh. “You’ll pay for my flights, my accommodations, and if I see Trent, I’m adding ten percent to my fee.”
Rohan snorted. She was just as hard-assed as ever, and if she ran into Trent, how was that his fault? But he agreed. “Alright, that’s no problem.”
“When is she supposed to go to court?”
“I don’t know. She was so upset, I didn’t want to make it worse by asking her.”
“Okay,” Meila stated. “Usually, it’s between thirty and sixty days. We’ll err on the side of caution and say it’s thirty. Book me a flight next week. I want to talk to her face-to-face.”
“You've got it.”
“And remember, if I see him…” she trailed off.
“I got it. Thanks, Meila.”
Rohan hung up and sent a text to Vega asking him if he could get him whatever he could within a week. Then he contemplated calling Trent. He didn’t want him and Meila running into one another when she came to town. He and Trent had the same relationship that Jalen had with her sisters. They didn’t lie or keep things from one another.
Placing his phone back into his pocket, he decided he would wait until he spoke to Jalen to tell him. She may not want Trent to know her business, and he wouldn’t tell him if that were the case.
Going into the living room, he grabbed his laptop and turned it on. He figured he’d try to find Landon a birthday gift early and do a little research himself.
29
Jalen sat in the passenger seat of Rohan’s car. They were headed to meet Meila, the family lawyer that Rohan had contacted. He’d told Jalen they were old friends and that she was one of the best he knew. So, if he trusted her, then Jalen would put her trust in Meila too.
She hadn’t wanted to have the initial meeting in her apartment because she didn’t want to worry her sisters about what was going on. She’d told Kodi about it, and the teenager had been pissed, to say the least. Jalen wasn’t quite ready to tell the others yet. She didn’t want to worry them. She hadn’t wanted to worry Kodi either, but her little sister had known something was wrong, and Jalen knew she wasn’t going to not tell her.
She had thought they would meet at Rohan’s house; however, Meila hadn’t wanted to meet there. They were going to his office instead. Since it was a Saturday, there would be no one there. She’d asked him to go with her for moral support, and that had been when the location was chosen.
They’d stopped and gotten donuts and juice for the three of them since the meeting was at nine-thirty that morning.
Once they pulled into the parking lot, another car was already there. Jalen figured it was Meila by the rental tags on the car. Rohan pulled into the space beside it, turning to her. He took herhand in his, bringing it up to his lips and placing a chaste kiss on it.
