SIX : Christian

"Do you have any idea of the problem what your irresponsibility have cost the company?". My father's voice thunders throughout the enter house.

After arriving home from the airport, I have been sitting on one of the cushions in the sitting room for the past one hour listening to my father's words as he paces round the place and going on with his lecture as he always does. He and Alex were already present in my house when I returned. I make a mental note to change my passcode as soon as they leave.

I keep my mouth shut because one of the things Mr Gideon hates is excuses. I couldn't even defend myself. What happened was not my fault but saying that now will be adding more fuel to the fire and I will be grateful if someone can ask my father to keep his mouth shut.

"He is just a child, and the load on his shoulders are much for him to handle". I turn to the direction of the voice. I know that voice very well. It belongs to my elder brother, Alex, who has made it his utmost goal to make me appear unfit to run the company before my father Gideon Lance.. I turn just in time to see a mischievous grin on his face. He looks very happy and pleased with the turn of events.

"You've got anything to say for yourself?." My dad voice echoes in my ears for a thousandth time since this evening.

"I'm handling it." is all I could say at that moment before standing up to excuse myself.

"You better take of it otherwise, consider yourself removed from that position" My father's words make me stop in my steps. I turn around and stare at the man that had been a father figure to me ever since I was five.

"What do you mean,sir?" I stammer in my words. I know exactly what he meant but I can't help it.

The disappointment in his eyes when he looks at me scared the shit out of me. I am pretty sure my brother is literally jumping in his brains right now. This is exactly what he wants. An opportunity to push me out but I will not let that happen. I have sacrificed and given a lot to the company that I cannot leave it now. I love the company and had doubled it's profits in just two years of becoming it's CEO.

My father's influence without doubt built the company but my efforts and that of the employees cannot be overlooked. So he cannot snatch my reward away from me just like that.

"This deal will determine if you are still fit to lead Lance Holdings , don't forget that I am the chairman of Lance Holdings, you may be the Company's CEO but you are still answerable to me, he points to my brother, you all are." He says with a note of authority before he storms out of my house.

Alex whose face is now devoid of the smile he had earlier walks up to me. "It's not too late for you to step out of the way. You know that you do not belong here, so you should know your place." He says before he leaves.

I fall back into the cushion I was seating on earlier. I can't believe this was happening to me first it was a laptop model plagiarism, now this. What the hell is going on.

I rise to my feet determined to protect what is mine. I may have been adopted but that does not make my input in the family insignificant.

I retire to my room to have a cool shower. For me, a cool shower and a glass of white wine is my remedy to a messy day.

As I lay down on my bed to sleep, images of the woman I collided with at the airport starts flooding my mind. She looked so innocent and beautiful despite the pain that was plastered all around her face. The way the red dress, she was wearing looked so good on her, the way her brown hair fell like waves over her shoulders. Damm, I was such a jerk to her. She didn't deserve to be treated that way.

I had looked around the airport for her to apologize for my behavior, when the plane landed but I couldn't see her.

Slowly, the gentle hands of sleep grips me in it's blissful hold and I yield myself to it.