GLIDED DECEPTION

CHAPTER 3: KAYDEN'S POV

The ding of the elevator was like a sound of doom, if resonated through me and made me half wish I hadn't left the office at all. Jaws locked and eye sharp, I rolled up my sleeves and loosened my tie, glad to be home although not particularly happy to be in my mum's flat.

My secretary, Bambi has called earlier to say my mum had called the office thrice and was asking to see me home immediately, well, that wasn't possible, I was in a meeting and I knew my mother could be a drama queen.

As for Bambi, I was sure I needed a new secretary, after the night we had at the office two weeks ago, she was beginning to act a little off, coming late for work and never submitting files on my desk on time. Her time was up, but then to be fair I'd clearly told her she'd have to leave Steele Inc. if we spent that night, she picked me over her job and as cute as that was, it was also very stupid, but then, who was I to judge that, I'd paid her a job amount that night to keep her afloat until she found the next job, she wasn't my problem and I had something bigger to worry about, like my mum.

Hilary Steele, she sat there on the expensive Turkish leather with a scowl and a glass of wine in hand.

"You called the office mum," I said as I came into the living room, a large room with glass windows on every side, a wine bar at the left that would make a club envious, three Turkish sofas and a bearskin rug in the centre, my mum had taste when it came to furnishing, that was for sure.

"Kayden dear, you weren't picking up your phone, I had to call the office." She replied and got to her feet, wobbled a little and sat back on the sofa, slightly tipsy.

"Why are you doing this again, mum, remember what the doctor said?" I scolded and went to take the glass from her, "Oh please, one glass of red wine won't kill me," she retorted with a wave of her hands and then snatched the glass from my grip, I let her have it, I wasn't ready for her drama.

"Is this about Benard again?" I asked, in fact I did not have to, I knew only my younger brother was capable of making a mess of my mum like that. Some mother-child bond I could never wrap my head around, she worried over him like he was some teen and not a man past 30, I couldn't stand the silliness of the whole thing sometimes, it was frustrating but then she was my mother and I couldn't refuse her call, not when they said she sounded bothered like that.

"It is Benard, he got into another fight at the Mavis and the man is hospitalized, he's threatening to sue and if the media gets a hold of this, it's not going to be pretty for the company." She said, evidently worried. I hissed, this wasn't the first time Benard was making a mess and I had to get dragged into it to cover up and not destroy the family name because of Steele Inc.

It was a thing, almost a norm and I was getting pretty sick of it. "Mum, the problem is that you won't let me handle Benard, you won't let me deal with him, he can't keep doing this and putting us at jeopardy." I said through clenched teeth.

"He's your brother and he'll change," she replied with a thin voice, " When!" I thundered, furious at hearing the same thing for years.

"He will change, he's still your younger brother, you grew up fast and he was__," I didn't let her finish, I'd heard the excuse over a million times, of how I was the older one and he was a little wild because he was younger, just two years younger, two!

"Mum, it's high time you see Ben for who he is, a selfish prick that doesn't care about you or anyone else, he doesn't care about the company, all he cared about is his allowance and enough cash to spend as he desires, this can't keep happening and you keep making excuses for him." I stated plainly, I was not going to play along anymore.

"Kayden, your brother needs time to get used to all of this, he's still grieving," she said and got up from the sofa to touch me. I breathed in, trying to reign in my anger and not snap at her.

"Father has been dead for over a year, you grieved, everyone did and then moved on, Ben isn't grieving, no, he's always been an inconsiderate piece of s**t and is using this as a ruse to continue with his teenage boy life," I replied and stood up, unable to stand her again. "I have a meeting in thirty minutes mum, I can't miss it." I said and made to walk out, "I called the directors today," she said and I turned to her, it was a dread everytime they spoke with us.

"They say we may have to sell off some shares again, taxes are piling up and investors are scarce." She said, " We can't keep selling, we have barely 30% left, if we keep selling then sooner or later we won't be controlling the board anymore." I said, how hard was it for her to see that these men were messing with us, they wanted us to sell off all the shares so we would be vulnerable and then relinquish control to someone else with higher shares, that way, Steele Inc. would cease to be ours.

"But we don't have a choice, and it's going to be worse if the news gets wave of what your brother did, Kayden, you need to do something," she said and turned to face her.

"We always have a choice mum, I'm not handing over Steele Inc. to anyone, dad worked all his life for this and I'm not giving it up, as for Ben, I'll speak with my lawyer and the man he injured, we should be able to come to a negotiation before the media gets whiff of this, don't worry," I said and left before I could hear anymore of what she had to say. I was getting sick and tired of her and everyone else telling me to let go of our remaining shared and hand over to the board, that was never going to happen, Steele Inc belonged to us and it was going to take more than a crash in market for me to sell off my shares, it would take much more than that.

"Mr. Steele, the office called, you have a call concerning your 2:00,pm meeting," my driver said as I got into the car. "Cancel that meeting, I have somewhere else I need to be." I said and knotted my tie.

"Sir, I mean the Gufax holding, it's their meeting that___," I looked at him through the rearview mirror and scolded, " I don't like to repeat myself, you heard me." "Yes sir" he said and texted back the office immediately.

"And put my brother on the phone." I said and he did that at once, "He's not picking up," the man said, "Try again, I'm sure the bastard just wants some attention" Yes, Ben was like that and I disliked him for it.

"He's on." the driver said as he picked up. "I see mum got to you huh? Golden boy," he said teasingly, I was not in the mood for his jokes, "Listen Ben, I need you to shut up wherever you are, my men are coming in to meet and negotiate, don't do anything foolish." I warned, "Really? So I'm a kid now? I can't negotiate a small case? I got this Kayden, I can handle my own s**t, stay out of this!" He spat.

"Yeah right, I'm sure you were handling it so well and that is why mum called me, listen, this is not time for your stupid games, the media might be in this soon enough and I don't have to tell you how that will turn out, sit still and don't do anything silly until I get there, as for being a kid, you'll have to act like you're not." I added and ended the call.

The whole power play was getting old and most importantly it was affecting the company. I had to do something and I knew exactly what, Ben did not like me, in fact he out right hated me and I knew it, what I also knew was his little secret and that was going to be my weapon to silence him, permanently this time.