Brotherly Hate

Kit Manley, the eldest son and heir apparent to the Manley dynasty, sits at a table at the annual family barbecue, watching his younger, free-spirited brother, Russell, happily getting drunk on beer. Following a warning from his father that Russell is his responsibility, Kit's years of resentment, including playing second fiddle to the golden boy, Russell, and being overlooked for the vacant Head of Finance position at the company, overflow into a seething rant to his wife, Jasmine. Later, and calmer, Kit tries to involve Russell in light conversation, but Russell soon finds a way to torment his elder brother further. Russell goes into the house to get a jumper, and Kit decides to follow him and give him a piece of his mind. He finds Russell stumbling around in a drunken stupor, trying to get his head into the jumper sleeve. Far from amusing Kit, this scene angers him further. He realises that a slight nudge on the top of the stairs would have Russell tumbling down, hopefully injuring himself. He concludes this is rough but fair justice, and just as Russell manages to find the correct hole, his head pushing through the garment, he smiles and gives him that little push. Russell tumbles down the ornate stairway and lands on the marble-floored hallway where guests gather around his lifeless body. He is dead. Blood is seeping from a head wound. Kit looks on in horror from above. He didn't mean to kill him, but that is what he did. He takes the side stairs down and out to the garden, where he joins the back of the gathered throng of guests. No one is the wiser. A week later, at his brother's funeral, Kit's heartbroken father takes him aside and confesses to him. He knew that Russell would never amount to much, but he wanted to protect him from the big, cruel world, which is why they were so harsh on Kit. They needed to prepare him, toughen him for life, being the head of a massive corporation – Manley Corporation. Kit is crestfallen. Then, the bombshell – Charles intended to announce at the barbecue that he would step down as CEO of his company and promote Kit to the position, but due to Russell's death, he feels he needs to sell the business. As they walk back, sombrely to the funeral car, it is Kit who regrets that decision more than anyone.