One Night With Mr Braxton

Jason was in a room with some of the best hackers and tech experts in the industry. The room held lots of wires and computers, coding and decoding all kinds of things which were all foreign to Jason.

The previous day, Jason received a new assignment which was to find out the source of the bold message that was sent to Asher’s mobile.

With his little wit, it was easy to decode the message being communicated but it wasn’t easy to pinpoint the exact location and other substantial information that could aid the cause.

Ever since the kidnapping of the Steele’s lady, they had employed every single means to be able to neutralize the enemy but to no avail. Jason was close to shutting the place up when the latest development came up.

” I hope you liked the surprise.”

Jason pondered over the one line sentence which said a lot about the kidnap issue. The one line statement they were yet still unable to decode. As he stood on standby, monitoring the situation, he couldn’t help but think about the ongoing meeting with the top heads. A meeting he was supposed to partake in but ended up being excused with the reason of having pressing matters to attend to.

He knew that it was going to be a tough meeting as its goal was to resolve the tensions and conflict in the internal affairs. Which translated to resolving the issues with Asher.

The Braxton Empire was a big one which unfortunately housed both the wolves and the sheeps. In other words, it was certain that there would be a fierce battle and a very strong opposition to the supreme leadership of Asher.

With the situation of things, they weren’t planning on letting go of the one thing they had finally been able to use in faulting Asher and that fact only spurred him into doing more in order to aid the general situation of things.

At that moment, his phone rang and when he saw the ID, he swiftly answered, eager to know what was going on.

” Any news for me? What’s happening on that end?” Asher said, his tone was unusually calm.

” Nothing’s changed, those bastards definitely know how to cover their tracks.” Jason said while suppressing his irritation at his lack of progression so far.

” As expected.” Asher replied to the surprise of Jason. ” Tell them to continue with the case. Starting from Ms. Steele kidnap, down to how she got to my front door, let’s see just how thorough they were during the whole operation.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

” Don’t hang up! ” Jason said immediately, knowing Asher was close to ending the call having said all he wanted. ” How did the meeting go? What’s happening over there?” He asked, genuinely worried but hopeful nonetheless.

” I have one week to resolve everything or my empire is gone.” He said and hung up the call. Asher wasn’t keen on going into the gory details.

This time around, Jason was seething. One week?! How was that even possible? How could everything be cleared up? They were barely making headway with the investigation and the Steele’s lady in question was comatose.

Venting his anger, he turned to the people working on the investigation, ” you all have five days at most to come up with something reasonable! Else, everything will be lost. And don’t get me wrong, I mean everything will be lost including your pay!” He bellowed and left the place in need of a workout session.

His frustration was pent up and he needed an outlet or he might be up doing something too drastic. Maybe that was what the situation called for; drastic measures.

The workers, a little bit stunned by the sudden change, went even harder in their jobs, each and everyone working tirelessly while having the deadline in mind.

*****

After dropping the call, Asher gulped down a glass of water situated on a glass table by the side of the office. He had a timeline of one week and so far, nothing was coming together.

His mind was driving him mad when he thought of what it meant if he should once again not deliver on the job as expected. His stress levels were going out of hand and with his little to no control over them, his anger was fast gaining momentum.

He struggled to remain calm and keep the beast locked in but as the seconds trickled by, it got even harder to achieve. His anger was destructive, boisterous and especially hard to overcome during situations of such and that alone made the idea of giving in to it more dangerous.

He needed to think with his head. He needed to remain calm. Everything in his home office called at him; the glass table which held the glass cup, the flower vase, Tv set, cabinet, lamp stand, and even the files carefully placed on his desk.

Everything called at him to destroy and cause its utter peril. A choice that felt way too easy and natural. It felt like his kind of choice and in the next second, he headed straight towards the door and walked out of it.

Not today.

He refused to fall into that abyss at such a critical time. A lot was at stake. In order to thoroughly emphasize to his consciousness his need to be in control, he headed straight for the room that held a comatose Emma.

*****

Emma was dressed in white and placed underneath pristine white sheets. Her face had a glow to it unlike the first day she was brought into the room.

Mrs Adams has been in charge of attending to her body since she was placed under an induced coma. Due to the apt care and attention, the bruises she got from the morbid experience were beginning to fade out and without scar.

Mrs Adams, who was a learned nurse had made sure she got the best after care services while she rested from all that had befallen her. For the first time ever, since the last time she was brought into the room for recovery, Asher walked into the room and sat beside her watching her breathe through the machine as she slept quietly.

At that moment, she looked even more beautiful than the first time he saw her. Her peace was so real he could almost touch it. He envied how peaceful she seemed and wished with all his might that she’d wake up and end his nightmare.

That was the least she could do, seeing she was the cause of the situation in the first place. While looking at her, he remembered the words of the doctor and his countenance tightened.

The doctor had warned of the possibility of amnesia and memory haze. To his understanding, she had to be strictly on watch and properly administered in order to lessen the impact.

As a result of that very counsel, Asher had made it a point of concern and only allowed the expert and caring hands of Mrs Adams to attend to her, that way, he was more assured of her safety.

After some minutes of staring into the open, Asher got up with a strong feeling of frustration. He couldn’t do anything but wait. While everything continued like there was nothing at stake, he couldn’t do anything but watch it all happen.

The knife and cabbage was in the hands of others. All he could do was hope that everything fell into place and in due time. A position that he wasn’t quite fond of.

Asher got up with the urge to dull his senses. His mind was running on overdrive and with swift steps, he located the winery, pulled out a bottle and drank straight from it, dousing his frustrations till he became inebriated.

*****

Meanwhile, Talia was seated directly opposite her mother. Both of them wore matching frowns. Their relationship has been strained ever since their last exchange and as a result, Mrs Steele decided to summon her for an intervention.

” What? Are you not going to say anything?” Talia said after much silence from her mother’s end. ” You invited me here, if you don’t feel like talking to me, I better get on my way out.” She said, getting up on her feet.

” Sit down, Talia. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” Mrs. Steele said with a stern outlook.

Talia took her seat, not without mumbling some words underneath her breath.

Ignoring her, Mrs Steele continued, ” We are a team. Everything I do, I do for the good of us all. If I say you don’t need to know something, then believe me, you don’t need to know that.” She said, breaking through.

Her words didn’t go down well with Talia who immediately lashed out.

” No! You don’t get to use that against me! It’s getting old already ma, I don’t want to be babied! If you don’t feel like carrying me along, that’s fine. Just please, don’t use the gaslight trick. I’m well over that.” She said defiantly, ready to get well on her way out.

Mrs Steele maintained silence. Observing her daughter, she could tell she was hurting as much as she was upset and contemplated telling her exactly what was going on. After some moments, she resumed with a more motherly touch to her voice.

” Listen, a house divided against itself cannot stand, we need to stand together and with what I’m seeing, in order for us to stand strong, I’m going to have to explain certain things to you. Things that you can’t pretend ignorance of, and believe me when I say they aren’t pretty.” She said, taking in the reaction of her daughter.

Talia was unmoved. ” If you are going to tell me, then you might as well go ahead and stop beating around the bush. I’m old enough to handle myself and whatever that comes out of it. I am the sole heir of the Steele Shoes, I need to know everything in case anything goes wrong. I need to carry a share of responsibility.”

” Easy, my child. One would think you want something to go wrong.” Mrs. Steele said with raised eyebrows. ” I’m not going anywhere for ages but I’m going to let you in. Like you said, you will be the heir anyways, that is, after we do the needful.” She added, much to the confusion of Talia.

” What do you mean by that?”

” I mean, our dearly beloved might still be alive.”