1998: Braden Lavery came to Pine Valley a hero. Palmer Cortlandt was on the run from Adrian Sword, a secret agent hired to retrieve his collection of Nazi artifacts. Other agents attacked Palmer in the streets of New York. Braden saw the attack and intervened. For saving Palmer’s life, Braden was hired as his right hand man at Cortlandt Electronics.
Braden’s first task was to keep watch over his niece, Dixie Cooney. Dixie had suffered kidney failure. Palmer prohibited her from making contact with her ex-husband. Tad Martin. Dixie reminisced with Braden about the love she and Tad shared. Secretly, Braden gave Dixie a cell phone to contact him.
Palmer brought Braden to his hometown of Pine Valley. Braden’s younger brother, Ryan Lavery, had already set roots in the city.

1999: Braden came to Ryan’s rescue when he was accused of raping Kit Montgomery. Braden revealed that he had consensual sex with Kit the night of the alleged rape. Kit maintained that she was raped. Because of the original misidentification, there was not enough evidence to try Braden.
Dixie was no so convinced on Braden’s innocence. When she confronted him, Braden revealed his violent side. Ryan intervened, and took Braden’s blows. Ryan revealed that as a child, their father, Patrick Curry, had abused them. Braden was the oldest child and took most of the blows for his younger siblings. Ryan always felt indebted to Braden and wanted to protect him. Ryan helped Braden escape before the police could arrest him.

2005: Jonathan Lavery was implicated in a string of crimes in Pine Valley including Greenlee’s poisoning and Edmund Grey’s murder. Jonathan told Ryan that Braden was back in town and that he was responsible for the strange goings-on’s. In reality, Jonathan had killed Braden. Jonathan had become mental unstable. He began to fight with himself, thinking Braden was still alive.
Jonathan kidnapped Greenlee and Lily Montgomery, the sole witness of Edmund’s murder, and took them to an abandoned cave. He was going to kill them both if Ryan and Kendall did not arrive. Ryan distracted Jonathan as the girls escaped. In the cave, Jonathan revealed Braden’s dead body. Ryan needed to stop Jonathan. He shot him. At the same time, Jonathan had set the cave to explode with both of them inside.