Chapter 14: Red
It was still early, which meant Brandon wouldn’t be at Town Hall. I was able to find his address on my computer and get Mandy tied up before she finally stirred. She was clearly exhausted from what we had done the previous night. I was torn between the past and the present. I really did like Mandy. I wanted to stay there with her. I was even tempted to leave Blue Ridge with her. The past just wouldn’t let me. I had to know the truth and I had to find out if Brandon had anything to do with my father’s death. I parked my truck near his house and walked up on a hill so that I had a good view. I didn’t want to break down the door if Susan and the kids were inside. I hoped Brandon would leave and I could run him off the road. If I could get him alone, it wouldn’t take long to get the truth.
Come on, Brandon. Your loyal subjects await. Come be their king.
It was still hard to wrap my mind around Susan marrying such a spineless twerp. I thought she was nice to him because they were friends and she didn’t want to break his heart. She never reciprocated his advanced, she always told him his romantic gestures were sweet, but even when she was rejecting me, she never showed any interest in Brandon. It was my fault they were married. The pain of my goodbye must have hurt her a lot worse than I realized if she found comfort in Brandon’s arms. I saw the garage door open and I knelt down to stay out of sight. A black SUV passed and I saw Susan in the driver’s seat. It looked like it was just her and the kids.
I guess breaking down the door isn’t out of the question anymore.
I got back in my truck and drove it close to their house, but not close enough for Brandon to hear me. I grabbed my shotgun and made my way to the back of the house. I didn’t see anyone inside and I started to worry that Brandon had already left for the day. Thankfully, there were no neighbors for miles around, so I walked to the closed garage and confirmed his car was still inside. Breaking in was the only option. I went to the back door again and quickly hit the glass with the butt of my shotgun. The lock opened easily and I was standing in their kitchen a few seconds later. There was still no sound coming from the house, so I walked towards the staircase. When I got to the top, I could hear a light snore coming from one of the bedrooms.
The son of a bitch is still sleeping—perfect.
“It’s judgment day, you fucking prick.” I pulled the covers off and dragged Brandon out of his bed by his ankle.
“What the hell? Susan? Red!?” His eyes opened wide when he saw me.
“Yeah, it’s me.” I slammed the shotgun into the side of his head.
I hit him harder than I intended and his eyes rolled back into his skull. He fell against the floor and was out cold. I wasn’t going to get any answers if he was knocked the fuck out. I pulled a chair over to the center of the room and hoisted him into it. I didn’t need to tie him up. I could keep him subdued with my fist or the butt of my shotgun. I sat down on the edge of the bed and watched a trickle of blood dripped down his face. It was nearly ten minutes before he started to stir. His body jerked and then his eyes opened. He looked around in a panic when his vision finally came into focus on me. He started to stand, but I hopped up and put a hand on his shoulder, keeping him in place.
“You’re not going anywhere.” I towered over him and my eyes flashed with rage. “I think we need to finish the conversation we started yesterday.”
“You’re a psychopath!” He struggled against my grasp, but I held him in place. “You’re going to do hard time for this! You can rot in jail for all I care, so do your worst.”
“Do you really want that?” I raised my fist and prepared to strike.
“Wait! No!” He shook his head back and forth.
“Then you better start talking.” I released my grip and sat down on the edge of the bed with my shotgun leveled at him. “You used your power and influence to fuck over my father and I wanted to know why. You said it wasn’t about money…”
“My family has plenty of money.” His head dropped and he looked at the floor. “More than we could ever spend.”
‘Yeah, apparently it bought you the highest office in Blue Ridge.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “You had everything you wanted, so why the fuck did you need to keep my father from fixing up the resort?”
“Because of you, Red.” He lifted his head and snarled. “As long as that resort stood, you could always come back. There was always hope in my wife’s eyes when someone mentioned it—they might not have seen it, but I did.”
“Did you think I would just ride into town and try to reclaim everything I left behind? I was done with Blue Ridge. I cared about Susan when we were teenagers, but she was in the past. I might be an asshole, but I would never take her away from her family.” I shook my head and sighed. “You had nothing to fear from me.”
“That’s an easy thing to say, isn’t it?” He chuckled and his lip twisted into a smile. “So easy to pretend like she wasn’t your soulmate.”
“She wasn’t.” I shrugged. “Yeah, I loved her once, but if I thought we were going to be together forever, I wouldn’t have left. I won’t deny that those old feelings came back when I saw her, but the instant I found out she had moved on, I knew it was a memory I couldn’t revisit—even when I found out she married you.”
“Yeah, right.” Brandon continued to laugh. “Just like when we were in high school.”
“That’s the difference between us. I did move on. Apparently you couldn’t do the same. I’m tired of talking about the past. I wanted to know what the fuck you did to my father.” I glared at him and pumped my shotgun.
“I didn’t do anything!” Brandon’s eyes reflected panic and he started to sweat. “I swear, Red. I’m not a saint, I’ll admit that. I became mayor and I incorporated Blue Ridge Mountain. I quashed every permit he tried to get, but I didn’t kill him, if that is what you’re insinuating.”
“So your plan was to choke him out, just like you did with the Thatchers? You just wanted the resort to fail?” My anger started to rise again.
“Yes—fuck!” Brandon snarled, but he was still scared. “I wanted the resort gone. I wanted to make sure you never came back to Blue Ridge. I had no idea your old man was going to die. I certainly didn’t do anything to make it happen quicker than God intended.”
“Didn’t you, though?” I tilted my head slowly as I spoke. “He lived for that resort. It was what he devoted his life to. Even if you didn’t put him in the ground, you took away the one thing he loved because of some bullshit feud you carried from high school.”
“I don’t think he’s telling you everything.” Mandy’s voice suddenly broke the tension and I looked up to see her standing in the doorway with a picture frame clutched against her chest.
“Who the fuck are you?” Brandon turned his head towards her voice.