chapter 1 useless stepson versus confident CEO

Lucas yawned as his technological clock woke him up, he stretched himself as he tapped his tablet on the bedside stand he viewed his schedule for the day he assistant had already sent .

"Lizzy, please can you switch on the light, the room is dark?"

"Am on it Lucas", replied the programmed online assistant he had installed in almost every gadget he uses. As soon as the light in the room came on he got up from the bed and headed towards the direction of the bathroom.

"Lucas do you need music to put you in a good mood this morning? You sound so dull".

"Hey Lizzy relax, am good", he chuckled.

"If you say so", Lizzy replied.

Lucas hummed a few songs as he showered. His abs were in full view as the towel hung low on his waist.

"Lizzy, I need to check the stock market chart this morning"

"How can I refuse?"

Lizzy rattled of the numerical figures in the stock market and by how much percentage it has increased or decreased.

"Thank you Lizzy", he took note of the numerical figures and made a beeline for his walk-in closet.

"You are welcome Lucas, don't stand on ceremony with me"

Lizzy was his first programmed work, he needed a friend to talk to as he was an introvert and a robot came into his mind. SuCh a robot must be emotional, so he created Lizzy at the age of ten. Since then he has been improving her features to a very large extent that they can communicate with each other like close friends.

Lucas hummed a few times and sloppily stepped out of his room as he walked slowly to the dinning table.

The maids glanced at him and did not give him any ounce of respect maybe due to his diminishing status as the useless son or maybe due to Stephanie (his stepmom's) influence on them.

He adjusted his wireless earphones as he settled down to eat. The maids served him after they might have served Stephanie's food. Stephanie felt smug on seeing them being scared of her. You can't compare to me in any way even your defeated mother can't show her face here anymore.

Lucas ate his food quickly because he couldn't bear to breathe the same air with her meanwhile his father descended the stairs from his room. Stephanie drew out his chair for him and they exchanged brief and light kiss. She looked at him from the corner of her eye to see his reaction but when she saw his expressionless face she felt defeated and annoyed. Continue to act all high and mighty, you will soon be back to nothing, very soon, she thought.

She straightened out the imaginary creases on Arnold Jones' suit and served him his breakfast.

After taking the first bite from his food, he cleared his throat and looked at the useless son before him, he has tried to compare him to his brother Kevin but he is a far cry from the later.

"Your brother will be coming back this weekend to complete his highschool here in preparation for his admission into the college. so on that note, we are organizing a welcoming party for him. You had better show up else forget about staying here".

"Honey, he is already twenty years old, he is supposed to have moved out or something. our little Kevin is just nineteen years".

"You are still in your high school but your grades are yet to improve. So tell me are you wasting my money or what?", he slammed his cutleries on the table and faced the son.

"This is not good for your health, so calm down ok", she gave Lucas a glare which seemed to say that it's his fault.

Arnold Jones' heart problem began to act up, the wife grabbed his medication and gave him.

"Fine, you have succeeded in ruining this peaceful breakfast. It's no wonder you can't do anything successfully, you are a jinx", she guided the husband to his room upstairs.

Lucas snorted at their departing figure, what a scheming woman and a naive man.

Arnold Jones have always been a decisive man hence he has acquired so much success in the previous years.

" You need to see a doctor for checkup ok, am so worried about this rare sickness of yours", Stephanie sighed continuously.

" About the will, call your lawyer to come over tomorrow morning. it can no longer be delayed".

In his droggy state, he accepted immediately. Stephanie quickly found his phone and unlocked his finger print lock while proceeding to send a text to his personal attorney.

The breakfast was already not peaceful at the start so he took his school bag and drove his low profile car to school. On the way to school he was held up due to congestion of traffic so he arrived very late to school.

Lucas met the teacher's nonchalant stare at him and he stepped into the class like be had no care in the world.

Of course, for a students like him who is not serious with their academics in addition to having an influential background and rich family, he had to take the seat at the back.

"Hey Lucas", the boy next to him cheered at him.

Lucas rolled his eyes at him and settled himself into his seat.

"There is this party that will hold in my house....", the boy whose name was Ronny chattered on

"You are so noisy"

" As if you are the serious student here", he booed at him.

" Can't the two of you make less noise? It's not as if you can make it up with your grades", few students laughed outrightly while others snickered.

" Now back to what I was saying, your final year exams will be coming up soon but you need to sit up and make the school proud".

" Hey Lucas take your studies seriously, at least that alone will reduce our failure rate. See you in the next class".

The students started chatting animatedly about the upcoming final exams.

Lucas was busy attending to his work issues in class while glancing at his wristwatch from time to time.

Ronny crept up to Lucas who was caught unawares.

"Hey which subject are you reading, the numerical figures look so complicated? Don't tell me you are taking advanced courses online when you don't even understand the ones you are being taught on class?"

minimizing the workspace on his tablet, he gave him a deathly stare which made the later shudder. Was he dreaming? The previous stare Lucas gave him and the aura too.... That was a different Lucas. Maybe that was my imagination too.

"You have to chill ok", patting him on the back he scurried to his seat like a scared rat.

Hanging his school bag on his shoulder he drove his car out of the school premises to his penthouse in the most upscale part of Los Angeles.

Every part of the house was operated base on voice command, he took a shower, changed into his already prepared suit and his driver drove out while a line of cars full of bodyguards trailed behind him.

At his company's headquarters, he stepped out while gazing at a certain distance, he unbuttoned his suit jacket and tossed it to his assistant while the former caught it with practiced ease. He followed behind him respectfully while keeping a distance.

"Welcome Mr Lucas, it's nice to have you here once again", Lizzy's automated voice sounded in the confined space of his private elevator.

"Thank you so much Lizzy".

"You are welcome Mr Lucas"

The elevator took him to his office on the 50th floor, the entire floor belongs to him only.

The proud and gigantic sky scraper stood tall and shone brilliantly as the sun's shinning waves hit it from all sides. The words "Clayton's Group of industries" gave the workers a sense of pride as they moved about their work with a sense of professionalism.

Thirty minutes later a group of directors made their way to the conference room on the 49th floor as the automated door greeted them all by their names.

They were still in awe of their CEO'S manner of doing things when a certain person's long legs made his way into the conference room.

They took their designated seats and the meeting commenced. They kept looking at the young man who seemed not more than 20years of age and had an amazing capability to run a chain of companies under his name. The most shocking thing is that he started it from the scratch and he looks more competent than he seems.

Exuding confidence, he raised his eyebrows as he waited for their opinions on the current marketing strategies laid before him on the large screen. A director cleared his throat and ironed out his opinion

"CEO sir, I reckon that the cosmetics industries in this country doesn't have new methods of operation. Besides, that is just one of the reason they don't grow beyond the shores of the country but if we must succeed in this field we have to do something different".

" Like what can that be Mr Donald?", his cold like voice sounded in the silent atmosphere.

"Let's go into producing what can be accepted by a wide range of people especially women"

"any objection?"

" What are we looking at now?"

" We are looking at the Asian market, we should dominate it and then spread out from there"

Other directors commented on his idea and found it perfect.

"According to my statistics here....Lizzy show me the statistics for our stock market, each person's shares and everything you can find on it"

" Am on it, Mr Lucas. Please be patient".

In less than five minutes, Lizzy has complied all the shareholders shares and the dividend they receive annually including the stock market chart.

" This is a confidential information but I showed you all these to make you understand that we are not working hard like we should or maybe the annual salaries are too much or maybe you take me for granted. Tender your resignation letter to the Human resource department and get your pay if you are tired of your job. Nonchalant attitude shall not be tolerated henceforth, have I made my self clear?", his authoritative voice brought chills into the hearts of the directors who vowed to put their departments in order once they get out of the conference room.

They would be insane to quit this job with tens of millions of dollars as annual salary.