Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains (Victoria and Elijah) novel Chapter 135

Chapter 135

Chapter 135

Victoria’s POV

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The paper bags were heavy against my arms as I pushed the front door open with my hip..

I set them down on the kitchen island, pulling out the fresh vegetables, lean chicken breasts, and spices I’d picked up.

Elijah had a double practice session today, and I knew he was going to walk through the door eventually looking like a ghost, entirely drained.

Spending a couple of hours meal-prepping his favorite dinner felt like the easiest way to take something off his plate.

I washed my hands at the sink, drying them on a dish towel, and reached for my phone to set a quick timer for the rice.

A notification banner popped up across the top of my screen.

It was a text from Willow.

Knowing my sister, if I ignored it now, she’d call me three times in a row and interrupt the entire cooking process.

I unlocked the screen and tapped into our chat. Willow hadn’t sent a long message-just a single screenshot. and a short question below it.

‘Have you seen this yet?’

My brows pulled together. I tapped the image to download it, the resolution sharpening as the photo expanded to fill my screen.

It was a screenshot of an Instagram direct message conversation. The handle at the top belonged to someone named April Ford.

The messages were brief, but every single letter felt like a cold, sharp blade pressing against my ribs.

The stranger had asked, ‘Who is this?’

And the reply from the unverified account read: ‘Fine. It’s me, Elijah.’

Above that, the burner account had explicitly asked how Trinity Woods was doing, if she was still in the city, and where she was staying.

I stopped breathing. The air trapped in my lungs turned to ice.

My vision went blurry as a hot, bitter sting filled the back of my eyes. Tears pooled along my lower lashes, making the dark text on the screen bleed together.

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15:46 Fri, Jul 24

Chapter 135

A second message from Willow flashed at the bottom of the screen, breaking the awful stillness.

“Tori, are you okay? Please tell me this is fake

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My fingers were trembling so violently I could barely hit the right keys. I forced myself to type back.

‘Where did you find this?’

Willow’s response came back instantly.

‘It’s everywhere, Victoria. It was posted on a sports blog an hour ago and people are reposting it all over Twitter and Instagram. Everyone is talking about it.

A deep, violent wave of nausea surged straight from my gut to my throat.

I had to grip the edge of the granite counter to keep my legs from folding under me.

I genuinely felt like I was going to throw up all over the fresh groceries.

Elijah wouldn’t do this. He couldn’t. He loved me–he showed me every single day, in every little action, how much I meant to him. He wouldn’t betray me like this.

Except… why else would this exist, then? Reaching out to an ex’s friend might sound like a minor thing on the surface to an outsider, but it wasn’t.

If his intentions weren’t malicious, why go through the elaborate trouble of creating a burner account just to ask about her?

Why hide it? If he was completely over her, why was he hunting down her friends in the dark?

The shock in my blood twisted into a blinding rage.

I didn’t finish unpacking the groceries. I snatched my car keys off the counter, shoved my phone into my pocket, and marched straight out the door.

I tore across town toward the university training complex, the speed enough to press me back into my seat.

I squeezed through yellow lights, changing lanes without signaling, my knuckles white as I gripped the steering wheel of my new car.

At one intersection, a patrol car pulled up behind me, lights flashing, but when the officer walked up to my window and saw the tears streaming down my face and the panic in my eyes, he took one look at me, issued a verbal warning, and let me go.

I didn’t even thank him. I just hit the gas the second he stepped back.

When I slammed the driver’s door shut in the athletics parking lot, the heat of the afternoon hit me, but I was burning too hot from the inside to notice.

I marched toward the high chain-link fences surrounding the baseball facility

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15:46 Fri, Jul 24

Chapter 135

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The moment I pushed through the side gate, I nearly ran headfirst into a tall frame.

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Caleb was walking out from the dugouts, a towel draped over his shoulder. When his eyes landed on me, his face softened into that familiar smile.

“Hey, Victoria-”

I didn’t let him finish. I didn’t even look at his face. I put my hand flat against his chest, shoved him roughly out of my path, and kept walking.

He stumbled slightly on the gravel, calling out my name in confusion, but I completely ignored him.

My eyes swept over the diamond. The field was mostly empty, a few lowerclassmen clearing away the batting tees and balls. Elijah wasn’t out there.

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