Chapter 21

Paul took a walk inside his office and noticed that it was free of dirt and dust.

No doubt this place was always cleaned along with other offices regardless of the fact that it was not in use, he thought to himself.

He plugged the wire of the computer on the table into a socket not far away from the table before he sat down. He put on the computer and while he waited for it to boot up, he rotated the revolving chair he was sitting on.

He wasn’t quite sure what to do next. He thought about going to his dad’s office, but he decided against it. Later, he thought to himself, let him know I’m back but didn’t come to see him. Don’t want to seem too eager to be back.

A knock on his glass door jerked him out of his thoughts. He looked to see who it was and almost did not recognise her immediately. It was Diane and of course she looked different as she was not dressed for a party. He waved her in as he sat down properly with both hands locked together.

Her hair was braided and black. They were also quite long. She had on her, a short sleeved black sheath dress that reached to the middle of her legs. The dress was also parted at the extreme left such that some parts of her thighs were revealed whenever she walked.

Even this would make an impression at a party, Paul thought to himself.

“Welcome back,” Diane said as she extended her hand toward Paul.

They both shook hands before she sat down.

“Would you like something to drink?” Paul asked not knowing what to say.

“I’m fine,” she replied smiling.

“It’s nice to have you back,” she continued. “I sent some files for you to go through so you can have an idea of what’s going on.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Did Fred send you?”

“Fred isn’t with us anymore, he resigned,” Diane said.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, and I’m filling the position temporarily,” Diane said.

“So, I’ll be dealing directly with you,” Paul said. “That’s great.”

Diane said nothing, she only nodded her head.

“I guess we have a couple of things to talk about then,” Paul said.

“When you’re ready, let me know,” Diane said.

“Sure,” Paul replied.

Diane stood up and walked out of Paul’s office with Paul looking at her the whole time.

“Shouldn’t be too hard to get her on my side. My dad won’t see this coming,” Paul said with a smirk.

He knew that if he was to take over his father's company, He would need all the help he could get, including that of his brother.

Paul knew that the main reason why their dad didn’t put Pete in his position when he left was because he found out something about the company, something that their dad thought all loose ends had been tied but he, Paul, was so good at his job that he figured it out.

He had found out that there was a huge discrepancy in the company’s books and when he dug deeper, it didn’t take him too long to find out that his dad had been laundering money through the company. When he brought it to his dad, his dad only tapped him on the back and told him, “Good work.” That it had been a test to see how good he was. But the inconsistencies persisted.

It was when he confronted his dad again that his dad told him the truth, well, a part of the truth, which was that he really had been laundering money for some people through the company. He told Paul not to worry, that it was going to be over very soon and was able to convince Paul to be a part of the operation. Paul thought against it at first but decided it might be interesting. He had seen a lot of such things in movies and was about to be a part of it. It wasn’t until when he decided to really poke around that he found out who the company was laundering money for. Drug dealers and weapons contractors stood out amongst all others and that was when he decided to quit.

His dad disrupting his last job was a message that there was nothing Paul could do about it since he also was a party to the crime. He wanted him back at the company since he was good at what he does and could also trust him.

“That’s your mistake, Dad,” Paul said to himself. “Trust no one.”

Paul thought it was a shame that Pete had to doubt himself every time. He thought he was also good at what he did, maybe even as good as he was.

They both read the same course, accounting, at the same university, graduated at the same time and both have the same certificates. In fact, people thought Pete was more intelligent since he was younger and had achieved as much as Paul. They could only guess but they never did know how that came about.

Paul began to behave erratically when he got back to his dad’s place after his mom’s death. It affected his performance at school, and he had to repeat a class. Things only got a little bit better after that. Paul knew Pete of all people would not be able to boast confidently that he was better than his brother. Even though they were mostly not on good terms, Pete brought assignments and problems he didn’t understand to Paul because he knew how good he was.

Paul knew he needed his brother since they were both shareholders in the company.

As a way to profess his love to their mom, their dad had given her twenty percent of the company shares. When they got divorced, their mom had just as soon transferred those shares to her sons as she didn’t want to have anything to tie her together with their dad. Both Pete and he got ten percent.

“Why didn’t he give my mom fifty percent,” Paul said smiling. “That could have made things easier.”

Since then, shareholders had bought into the company and their dad only owned thirty seven percent of the company. It was still the largest single share and the only way he would not be able to run the company anymore was if his children joined forces with other shareholders against him. It was something he never dreamed about, something he never thought could happen.

He’ll get what’s coming to him, Paul thought.