Dark Desire

Sibling Rivalry

James Holland is in a dilemma with his brother Damian Holland, a greedy dilemma.

The forty-two year old CEO of Holland Enterprises is one whom every lady would kill to be with. His height perfectly suits him as it compliment his mild muscularity, heavenly-shaped short ebony-dark hair, accompanied with his blue eyes.

One will wonder how a young dude like James managed to hold a big company like Hollands enterprise. The forty-two year old handsome man had been on charge of the company for seventeen years and counting. It takes an unhealthy amount of hard work, determination and resilience to build a company of this calibre from scratch.

However, he was assisted with a little financial support from his dad. And that was when the enmity between both brothers began.

James’s father in his kind heart after observing how intentional and hardworking his son was, had agreed to lend him some money. The money was gotten from a shared inheritance of he and his brother, Damien. With a promise to pay back when he was strong on his feet.

Eventually, his hard-work paid off so much that he even forgot to pay back the money he borrowed from his dad.

Damien Holland, popularly known as Draco was James younger brother in his thirties. He was a 6 ft 8 inches, with brown hairs and eyes, and a muscular and dominating figure.

Damien, was given the name Drack from his gang. Unlike his brother James, he was known to be dangerous, callous and anything one could define as the opposite of everything good.

His group of friends known as his gang were known to always perform underground bad business. And they were only made to attack people who had gone against Damien in anyway as he was their boss.

Damien had actually formed a gang against his elder brother without remorse due to the long-stayed hatred he had for him. He hated James because he felt like his father was giving his brother preference treatment and that he cherishes James than he cherished him.

His hatred for James became more intensified because of the money lent from their inheritance and how successful the company turned out in the end. Call it greed and jealousy, or whatever you want. But, clearly, Damien didn't give two f***s about it.

Even when James forgot to pay the money borrowed he intentionally didn’t remind just because of his motive to use it as a leverage to kill him.

“James, my boy” Mr. Holland said the moment he walked in to see his son, seated on one of the couch, waiting for him. His smile contained pride. Just how proud he was of his son.

Damien stood outside the door; fists clenched at his sides as he listened to his father praise his older brother as usual.

"Father," James smiled as he bowed to greet his father who patted his shoulder.

"I know you have a busy schedule. But I'm glad to see you." Mr Holland said, maintaining his smile.

They began to discuss, going on and on about the great feats that James’ company was reaching. It hadn’t been so long that his company had been listed amongst the most successful start ups in their time. The blogs and different business channels had paraded his name around town, so much so that he was almost a local celebrity because of it.

Listening to praises being showered on his brother by not only his father, but also strangers and other business owners did nothing but fan the flames of hatred that were already burning brightly in Damien’s heart. He didn’t see what was so special about his brother that he was treated so differently.

From the moment he was born, he had been living under the limelight of his brother’s achievements which had led to him being in a silent competition with him. What irked him even further was the sanctimonious way James lived his life. He acted like he was better than him behind closed doors by giving him advice on what he should and shouldn’t do with his life but in front of others, he was the perfect brother who looked out for his younger one. It made the hairs on the back of Damien’s neck rise up in anger. If he had known that James was going to be coming around, he would have just stayed away. He despised him so much that being in the same room with him and taking In the same air as he did made him want to puke.

“f**k!” Damien cursed.

He needed to see his father. That was the reason why he had come back earlier from his journey but James being inside put a wrench in his plans. He also didn’t have the luxury of postponing his meeting with his father. He had no other choice than to go in and act like he didn’t want to wring his brother’s neck in front of his father. He schooled his features into a mask of indifference even though he knew that his eyes were betraying his true feelings on the situation that he had found himself in before turning the doorknob and introducing himself by walking into the house.

When he got in, he was not surprised to see that his presence was left unnoticed. What was he thinking, expecting his father to notice him, the black sheep when the goose that kept laying the golden egg was with him? And he was lapping up everything he said like it came straight out from the mouth of a god.

“Damien” he heard soon enough.

Of course, the perfect human was the one who finally turned his head to the side and saw him standing at the entry way. Then, his father followed suite and Damien watched as the smile left his father’s face.

Was he more disappointed in him now that he had gotten some more tattoos and piercings which made him look even more intimidating than usual? Or the black that covered him from neck to toe? Or was it the muscles that were even more formidable than before thanks to all the late nights he spent stretching his body to the limit?

He couldn’t pinpoint what it was but one thing he could swear by was that the old man was comparing him to his brother like he was sure he had always done in the past and it was obvious who was tipping the scales.

He dragged his eyes to the piece of s**t that was related to him by blood and he just about stopped himself from snarling like a predator.

“Damien, I want to have a word with you” James said and stood up after adjusting the suit that he was still putting on.

"Excuse me father." He said, and started to walk towards their father’s study.

Damien on the other hand didn't say anything. He just kept mute and followed his brother, but not before taking a last look at his father. However, he soon regretted doing that as his father gave him a stern look, indicating his displeasure in him.

While he drew his eyes back to his brother, they soon got to their father's study. It was soundproof and a place that he knew his father was not going to invade.

He had come straight from work to speak to his father about certain things that were happening in his company but after seeing Damien, he decided that the conversation could wait. The door had not fully closed behind him when he heard his brother come in.

“Spit whatever it is you want to talk about out already” Damien spat.

And the manner and tone in which Damien spoke to him at that moment was the same way he had unexplainably started to speak. Something that bothered James a great deal. He couldn't believe his brother was still going to chafe at him because it was obvious that his brother was still behaving like a baby and was not over his childish antics.

Nevertheless, he ignored, and put his hand in his pocket and brought out his cheque book.

“As you may have noticed, the company has been doing well. So, I want to pay you back what I owe you” James said, c*****g his head at his brother who had just snorted.

Was he just being annoying and trying to make things difficult for everyone as he was known to always do?

Damien was soon sprawled out on a couch, the picture undetached as he played with a fat cigar.

Looking at him, he didn’t know that Damien, his brother smoked. When had he taken up smoking? Or could it be one of those pranks that he did to get everyone on their toes around him? Because it was common knowledge that his father detested the smell of cigars.

“Don’t you dare light that up in here. You know dad hates those” James warned.

Damien stared daggers at his brother. If looks could kill, he would have had him 6 feet under already.

However, from the onset, he had no intention of lighting the cigar in the study but because of what James had said, he was tempted to and he would have to do it if only he had come with a lighter. But, unfortunately, he wasn't with one.

“Do you plan on paying me off or something? Is that what this is?” Damien put back the cigar, and asked him.

James simply placed the cheque on the side table beside the couch Damien was seated in. He assumed his brother knew what the cheque was about. But dear Damien feigned ignorance. He was waiting for his brother to explain what the cheque was meant for.

If it was what he thought it was, then he had another thing coming because there was no way he was letting stuff like that slide. He had never been one to kick a gift horse in the mouth and he was definitely not going to start then.

“That’s the amount dad lent me from our shared inheritance to start up my company plus some interest to compensate you for any inconvenience that you may have encountered” James explained.

"Unfortunately, I do not want that." Damien let out, making James freeze at the spot.

What? His subconscious rang.

James didn’t know what his brother had up his sleeve.

The Damien he knew would never pass up an opportunity to take advantage of him so why was he saying that he didn’t want his money?

Perhaps it was true what they said that people started to change the older they got.

"Are you indirectly saying you're letting it slide? If that's the case, then thank you." James foolishly said, and Damien immediately laughed at the appreciation.

He realized at that moment that his brother was a fool for thinking he was letting it slide. He even had the effrontery to add that as brothers, he was glad that Damien was seeing that there was no need to let money come in between them because family came first.

The f**k did he think he was, Mother Theresa? Or, some shitty charity organization like that to let such opportunity pass him by?

He allowed him to finish speaking before he picked up the cheque and started tearing it up into small pieces.

Then, he stood up and got into his brother’s face before speaking. He made sure he enunciated every word slowly so that his brother could see that there was no inflection of humor at all.

“I want you to give me 50% of your company. That is the only thing I would be accepting as a payback payment”