No Refunds No Exchanges: A Hudson Family Series- Book 4- Matt and Ali

by Chontelle Brison

  Not that some of the changes in me were bad. For the first time since my accident, I felt like a whole person. No one here saw me as broken or less than. I loved the fact that the Hudsons had accepted me and hadn’t tried to coddle my injury. Still, I knew Matt was going to want to finish the conversation we had started last night.

  I snorted as I gathered up my bags and made my way to the front door. I wasn’t sure if last night was a conversation or a devilish persuasion tactic. Matt was definitely willing to go to any lengths needed to get my agreement to marry him. The odd thing was, I wasn’t entirely sure why I was resisting. I wanted Matt, I loved Matt, and I knew he accepted me for who I was and I accepted him. Yet, something made me hold back from giving the man I loved, the words he so desperately wanted to hear. Yeah, you know what it is! You loved, adored and worshiped Richard Taggart like he was a God! Look how that turned out, how sure are you that your asshole meter is working?

  There it was, you could count on your inner voices to set you straight. I couldn’t deny that I was afraid that I would lose myself again. I knew it was unfair to put Matt and Richard in the same category, but a part of me was still holding on to the fear that I would be so blinded by love that I would miss the warning signs. After hearing Amber’s theories yesterday, I was far too aware that those warning signs I had ignored could have cost my parents their lives.

  Unloading my bags onto the sofa, I took the two smaller grocery bags into the kitchen and began to unload everything into the large, stainless steel refrigerator. It wasn’t until I was finished and was looking around to see if I had missed anything that a thick manila folder sitting on the counter with a sticky note on it, caught my eye.

  As soon as I read the note stating that it had been delivered last night, and it was from Amber, my hands started shaking. At first, I placed the thick, envelope back on the counter and backed away as if it were a snake.

  “I’m not going to read it without Matthew,” I whispered. Steeling myself against the pull of that envelope, I decided to put away the clothing I had gotten in town and then wake up Matt with a good morning blowjob. Smiling, I grabbed the bags and headed for the stairs. Really, you’re not even going to look? Don’t you want to get a handle on what you’re dealing with before you get Matt involved or do you need him to come save you again? Geez, what kind of life partner are you when he’s constantly saving you.

  Okay, that stopped me before I got one foot on the staircase. Ever since I had met Matthew Hudson, I had been backing away, bolting, hiding and generally doing anything I could to make myself smaller so I wouldn’t draw his attention. It seemed the only time I fought for anything was when it came to the treatment of animals. Did I seriously put more time and effort into protecting animals than people? I didn’t need my inner voice to answer that one. Animals had been my escape since I had been a child, I’d thought I had found my soulmate in Richard Taggart. I had been young, stupid and so narrow-minded, instead of fighting for my parents, I had just followed Richard blindly and had run off and married him. I couldn’t have imagined how badly it must have hurt them to have their seventeen-year-old daughter wake up one morning and come home married by supper.

  I had been the only person in my graduating class that had been married. Even my parents couldn’t stop the disaster that I had started since in the state of Nevada I was at the legal age of consent, and Richard had made sure to consummate our vows as soon the marriage license was signed.

  I didn’t want Matt to feel like he had to save me from my own disasters. If that envelope held what I feared it did, It was up to me to handle it. I owed my parents that much and I wasn’t about to start a life with Matt lugging this kind of baggage behind me. No! I was an adult, and I had taken care of myself when no one cared to even ask if I was okay, including my sister, Lela. Not once had she visited me in the hospital and least not when I had finally become conscious. She’d left me alone, scared and hurting because her life was far too important to put on hold. I had always told myself that it was grief that kept Lela away, but now I knew it was selfishness. It was the same selfishness that made Pepper get bounced all over the place with no security, no home and only a string of Step Daddies trailing in out of her life.

  Pepper. I had failed her too. Sure, I had made certain to ask Lela to have Pepper come visit anytime I could, but I knew it wasn’t enough. Yet, had that been Baloo, Nala or some other endangered animal, there would have been nothing keeping me from protecting them and making the sanctuary their home. Jesus, I had been so afraid of losing the love of my half-sister, to whatever small degree it was there, that I had sacrificed Pepper. I had been a coward, and that beautiful, sparkling and animal loving girl had paid for it. When she was little, I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She had looked up at me with those big blue eyes that reminded me so much of Jake and replied, “A wolf, Aunt Ali, because they mate for life and always travel in packs.” At the time I had been impressed that her nine-year-old mind had recalled the details from one of the National Geographic articles that I had read to her on Wolves. I wasn’t much of a fairytale person, so whenever she stayed with me, we read books on animals and watched documentaries about the amazing things animals did.

  Had I just looked a little deeper I would have understood that Pepper didn’t want to be alone anymore. I wasn’t sure if I was angrier at Lela or myself. Even the fact that I had finally stepped up and asked Lela to let Pepper live with me was met with more relief than resistance. Lela didn’t deserve a wonderful kid like Pepper, and if Jake was too busy being mad that he hadn’t been in the loop of Pepper’s existence, then he could screw off. From now on I was going to protect everyone I loved the same way I protected Baloo and the others, with everything I had, with my dying breath. As soon as Pepper came home today from Synclair and Sara’s restaurant I was going to sit down and apologize to her for leaving her alone, I was going to let her know she was going live with me, here in the compound in Carson City. She’d be to keep the job that Synclair had given her and if Jake wanted to be a part of her life then we would all sit down and work that out too, but I was done taking a back seat to my own fears, starting with that damn envelope!

  I dropped my bags and grabbed the envelope off the table before I could change my mind. I ripped it open and perused the well-organized contents once and then read it all again. The men that Amber had hired had been extremely thorough. While there was no picture of Richard actually cutting the brake lines on my dad’s Jeep Wrangler, the assessment from the insurance company clearly stated that the chances of the broken line severing itself in such a clean cut were little to none. Yet, nothing had ever been investigated, and the final report from the police stated that it was ruled an accident. When I saw the officer who signed off on the investigation, my blood ran cold. Nathan Philips was not only the officer of record but I knew he had been one of Richard’s friends. He had come over to the house Richard, and I had shared, and the two spent long hours talking about police cases he was working on and drinking brandy. I had never cared for the stout, pudgy man whose hands had been clammy when he shook mine after we have been introduced. I had hidden from the way his eyes would travel down my young body like he was undressing me with his eyes.

  I remembered telling Richard that the man made me uncomfortable, but Richard had laughed off my concern as being paranoid. Well, I wasn’t paranoid now and although math was not my best subject I could add and everything added up to Richard killing my parents. It was an easy trail to follow once I put all the pieces together. There were copies of Richard’s telephone records, he hadn’t had a cell phone back then. The records had individual numbers highlighted in the months leading up to the accident and then more the day of the crash and still more in the days following. Three numbers came up repeatedly. These numbers were called a lot just before the crash and right after. I grabbed a highlighter out of the container on the counter that held a variety of pens and colored markers and sat back down at the table. I highlighted
the three numbers and then pulled out the document that showed who those numbers had belonged to. The first was to a man named, Ollie Pierce. I knew him too, he was a shady person that would call Richard late at night. The only time I had met him, he didn’t even shake my hand. Instead, when I had answered the door politely, he had pushed past me into the house and demanded to know where Richard was. Richard came rushing out of the kitchen and before I could even ask who this gruff man with the New York accent was, he’d herded him outside and down the front steps into the darkness. Yes, I knew Ollie Pierce. Next to his name was a photo and a police record. What I saw made me sick to my stomach. Ollie was a thug. He’d done time for robbery, assault, rape, attempted murder and was currently wanted for questioning in his wife’s accident. Apparently, Ollie’s wife was divorcing him and just before they were scheduled to appear in court, she lost control of her car and crashed into a tree. The woman had died on impact. The woman’s family had insisted on an investigation, and it was discovered that her brake lines had been severed, just like my father’s.

  I forced myself to move on to the next dot I was connecting if I stopped and cried now I would never stop.

  The next photo that coincided with the second phone number was Nathan Philips. He was called three times in the week leading up to the accident, twice the day of and fourteen times in the two weeks that had followed. It was my guess that Richard wasn’t calling to get updates into the accident that had almost killed me, he was calling on his buddy to make sure any suspicions stayed out of the final report. The last number was to a development company in New York. The information that Amber’s investigators had found was surprisingly thorough. NY Developers, Inc. was a subsidiary of a larger corporation that was actually based in South Africa. The company had several diamond mines and had been called out on more than one occasion because they hired young children and worked them in the mines for ten hours or more a day for measly wages. There was also a list of the different land and mineral rights they had acquired in the United States. A landowner in North Dakota had been sitting on a reserve of oil, but when approached had refused to sell. Suddenly, the man’s cattle all died from some mystery illness and his wife was killed in a freak accident. The man sold his land to NY Developers for a price well below what his land should have been worth. It seemed accidents and freakish happenings followed the big city corporation wherever one of its surveyors had decided there was mineral or fossil fuel rich land. They were evil, pure evil and they destroyed everything they touched.

  If that was enough, when I looked at the company documents more closely I saw something that literally made my hair stand on end. The man that had overseen the company when my parents died had stepped down a little over a year ago. The same time that his son took over the company, just happened to coincide with the threatening letters I had been getting, the trouble with the homeowners and Richard’s sudden interest in reconciliation. The answer to everything was right there in the company minutes from a meeting that took place the day after the son took over. In a highlighted portion that no one could miss, was the appointment of Richard Taggart to the board, most importantly to the committee of land requisition.

  Was it all enough to convict Richard of my parent’s death ten years ago or to link him to anything he was doing now? My parent’s car and any evidence of a brake line being cut had been destroyed years ago; Richard and his police friend had taken care of that. The fact that Ollie was being hunted for a crime similar to the one that had occurred against my parents, while obviously connected in my mind, was still only circumstantial evidence at best. No, nothing short of Richard confessing his crime would bring him to justice. Even if I reported his assault on me from a few weeks back, where John had shown up just before things had gotten dangerous; I knew it would seem convenient to suddenly accuse him of assault and of murdering my parents.

  The thought stuck me like a cold blade of ice to my heart. If he had been willing to kill my parents, and me what would he do to Pepper? To that extent, Trevor was a sixty-year-old man who would never be a match for Richard’s ruthlessness. Then my thoughts turned to Baloo, Nala, Lady and the other animals who counted on me to protect them. Richard hated those animals, especially Baloo and Baloo hated Richard in return. So many people and animals were in danger because of me. I sat back in the large, oak chair and looked around the warm, inviting kitchen. The refrigerator was covered in school projects that Lucas and Sara’s son, Lucas, had presented them. Magnets held Wyatt’s birth announcement and a sonogram of Sara’s unborn child. Chompers, who had been sitting in his doggy bed in the corner of the kitchen padded over to me and laid his head in my lap.

  The Hudsons had taken him and accepted him as one of their own too. Just like, they had with Pepper, who beamed every time Synclair complimented her. Everywhere I turned were photos of smiling Hudsons, diplomas from college and history. History of a family of brothers, one sister and three newly added sister-in-law’s that loved, laughed and protected one another. I suddenly realized why Amber had become so desperate to be a part of this unique family. Where most families were separated by distance or grudges, these people had chosen to stay near one another. They turned a home into a place where they could all still cohabitate and even when some of them had moved, they had only gone as far as down the back path or the first hill behind the sprawling main house.

  The idea that Matthew and the rest of the Hudsons wanted me to be a part of this unique family made my heart beat faster. Just as the warmth of finally feeling a part of something washed over me, it was doused with a cold blast of reality. I could bring Richard near these people. The very thought of him hurting that sweet baby, Wyatt or anyone else in the Hudson family made my fists clench. No, I decided with absolute clarity. I had already decided that I was finished being pushed around in life. First Richard, then Lela and everyone else in between that I had merely let walk all over my feelings.

  Pepper, Matt, and the whole Hudson family didn’t deserve to have danger brought to their doorstep. Neither had my parents. It was my fault that they had died; I was the one that had brought Richard into my parent’s lives. No matter how much my mother warned me that Richard was not everything he seemed, I had still alienated them when they refused to accept him. I had chosen that ratfink over the people who had loved me and cared for me, my entire life. It shouldn’t have taken catching a glimpse of Richard’s cruelty towards Baloo to see the truth. I should have listened to my parents; I should have realized that I needed to protect all the things I loved, both people and animals. I had failed to protect my parents, and it had cost them their lives. Then I had failed them again by simply taking the accident at face value and not wanting to create waves with my questions. I had often wondered why my father’s brakes had failed, and I had wondered why Richard had been so surprised that I was in the car. I had hazy recollections of Trevor talking to him on the phone, and I could hear his yelling, even in my hazy sleep.

  Now, everyone I held dear was in danger because of me. Because of my fixation that animals were more trustworthy than people. A silly belief formed by a young, awkward girl who didn’t know how to fit in with the snobby kids at a private school. I had been foolish, but I refused to let anyone else suffer for my mistakes, for my erroneous beliefs. I wasn’t able to save my parents, but I was damn well going to save everyone else. If a confession was what it took to get Richard Taggart put away for the evil he had done, then that was what I’d get.

  I stopped near the front door, calculating what I needed to bring with me. I had no guns here, but I knew I had several at home. Not that I liked guns, they were only my last resort at the ranch. Home, where I’d left Trevor and my animals. I knew John was helping Trevor where he could, but John could be called away at any moment, leaving Trevor and the animals vulnerable.

  I tried to think rationally. It was hard when the blood that was coursing through my veins was boiling with anger. I wanted to break Richard with my bare hands. I had never considered myself capa
ble of murder, even if someone deserved it; I had always been anti-death penalty. Now, I understood the cries of those people who felt the only justice for a loved one who’s life had been cut short by some asshole was death. This was no longer about right or wrong, this was about justice for my parents and the protection of the people and animals that I held dear. Richard Taggart wouldn’t be taking another thing from me, ever.

  Marching to the counter, I shoved my hand in my purse and grabbed the pills for my leg and one Ibuprofen. It was a long drive back to Mt. Charleston, and I definitely did not want to risk a stiff leg or anything else that could incapacitate me. I took pictures of some of the documents that I had laid out on the table and scratched off a note to Matt. I hated lying to him, it was a terrible way to start a relationship but if I told him, where I was going and why he’d charter a jet or something equally as fast and stop me. I couldn’t afford the risk of Matt stopping me, of anyone stopping me for that matter. This was my mess, my disaster and I was going to clean it up, finally. With trembling hands, I shoved all the papers back in the large, manila envelope and threw it back on the counter.

  Grabbing my purse, Matt’s keys to his rocket of a car, and the bat that I had admitted to Synclair, just yesterday, how powerful it felt in my grip; I walked out the front door and right into Pepper.

  Pepper wasn’t stupid, the kid-sized up the bat, the keys, and my face, which I was sure was beet red with anger and realized something was definitely wrong.

  Not wanting to stop and explain, I pushed past her and grumbled, “Stay here with the Hudsons, Pepper. I have to check on some things at home.”

  I’d hoped my tone would have been enough to keep her from asking questions. After all, why was she even here this time of morning? I could tell by the way she as dressed that she’d just come from the restaurant, and it was barely nine-thirty in the morning.