Chapter 2 - The Boy She Always Saved
Brandon had been charming from the day he learned to speak.
At seven, he could convince teachers that unfinished homework was the result of a family emergency. At sixteen, he persuaded Linda that the dent in her car had happened while it was parked. At twenty-three, he borrowed money for a technology company that existed mostly in a presentation.
Each time, Linda discovered the truth after she had already stepped in to help.
Her husband, Thomas, had seen the pattern.
“You are not saving him,” he once told her. “You are teaching him that consequences belong to other people.”
Linda had accused Thomas of being too hard.
Then Thomas died unexpectedly, leaving Linda with the Pacific Heights house, several investments, and a grief so deep she could barely breathe.
Brandon became attentive during those first months. He brought groceries. He handled paperwork. He sat beside her when silence became unbearable.
Linda mistook his presence for change.
When he asked for money to start a property company, she invested. When the first development stalled, she covered payroll. When the second project ran over budget, she guaranteed a bridge loan.
Brandon always had an explanation. Contractors had failed him. Partners had betrayed him. Markets had shifted.
Never once did he say, “I made a bad decision.”
By the time Jessica appeared, Linda had already rescued him so many times that refusing felt crueler than being used.
May you like
That was the trap.
Love had become a door Brandon expected to remain unlocked.
