Maid For Beckett Catching The Baseball Legend’s Heart novel Chapter 144

To say I was lost for words would be an understatement.

The man on the bunk bed looked up, and for a moment, it felt like I was in some kind of trance. I recognize the man, but not at the same time. He was my father, at least how I remember him from the photo album I saw when I was little. Mom burned all the pictures of him after he got arrested.

Much like the entire basement, the room had white walls, a pristine marble floor, white sheets and pillows on the bunk bed, and even my father’s clothes were all blinding white. The overhead light was too bright, the kind that leaves no place to hide

I stood in the doorway, feet glued to the floor, while I studied my father like a math problem I’m trying to solve for the fifth time.

He looks a tad younger, with his clean–shaven face and hair brushed back to perfection, still damp like he had just gotten out of the shower. His jawline, my god, how much we looked alike. It’s like he’s the male version of me, only twenty years older. There were lines under his eyes, and his pale skin was a telltale that he hadn’t been out in the sun for some time now.

I had to swallow hard to dampen my parched throat. “What what is going on?” I don’t particularly throw that question to Cole. It’s just the thought that first came to my mind as I stared at father, afraid that if I blinked, he’d simply vanish.

“He is the development in your case,” Cole answered me. He sounded so calm and connected, while I was a rigid mess “What?” I turned to Cole with a frown. “Development? What are you talking about?” I pressed. Cole needs to give me answers now, or I will lose my mind.

How did Cole know about my father, and why does he have him here in his underground basement like he’s some kind of prisoner?

“Andi-” My father rasped from inside the room, murmuring my name with so much care, I think it came from another person’s mouth. He was about to stand up, but he paused when Cole slid a sharp gaze in his direction. And man, that was a look that I never thought I would see on my father’s face. His eyes were blown wide, petrified, and his lips slightly trembled as he sank back down on the bunk bed.

“Why do you have him here?” I asked, my voice hitching, revealing the horror that had struck my spine.

“He’s a threat to you,” Cole grumbled, a small smile playing on his lips as he recalled a memory. “Beckett made sure he couldn’t hurt you anymore.”

I thought they had never found him. I asked Luna and Jack for help, but I never got an answer from either of them. The kidnapping happened, and now here I am, facing my father again.

“He’s the reason we found out about Lucas, Miguel, whatever you want to call him, Cole narrated coolly “Which led Beckett to knowing about Sloane, to finding out where you were. He was the key to your rescue, you know”

My face turned sour. That information made my stomach turn. “I doubt he did that voluntarily

I had an inkling that someone had helped my father out of prison, but I never thought it would lead us to Sloane. I already gathered that Lucas was working with Sloane, and I had almost forgotten about my father’s hand in all of this

“Nah, he needed a little persuasion,” Cole murmured, the pinch of glee in his tone had me bristle Looking more closely as my father’s situation, I noticed that his fingernails were painted purple and hus body was leaning forward, as though his

torso was tender.

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Chapter 144

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“Why are you showing this to me?” I clenched my fist as images of my father begging for help while Cole carried out the said ‘persuasion‘ to get him to speak crossed my mind. The little girl inside me wondered if he ever begged for mercy, asked them to stop, or crawled on the floor as he ran away from the ‘persuasion’s‘ pain.

Just hearing that brought so many cruel memories from the past. And as inhumane as it may sound, I hoped I saw how he beseeched for the pain to stop.

‘Because you get to decide what’s gonna happen to him, Andi.” Cole laid out, crossing his arms in the middle as he studied my father. There was wonder in his piercing blue eyes, challenging my father to dare speak his mind.

clenched my fist, nibbled my lips, and bit back the excitement that erupted in my chest from Cole’s statement. What I feel s so wrong. Who was I to decide another person’s fate?

‘What do you mean, I get to decide? Like, if I want him dead?” I said that last sentence with sarcasm. Sure, I had imagined killing my father since I was little. I would be a liar if I said I didn’t, but I never actually thought I would have that option in my hands.

‘Yes, if you want,” Cole hummed, his voice low and steady, not even a hitch of nerves from our topic. We were talking about aking someone else’s life here. Why does he speak as if we were only talking about the weather?

“That’s not funny,” I glare at Cole. How can he make fun of something like this?

Then he laughed; it crackled through the hallway and my father’s room. “I’m kidding. Andi. You look so serious. Matias here has volunteered to out Miguel, but only if you agree with it.”

My father simply stared at us from inside the room. If I hadn’t known him before this day. I would think he was just another old man trapped in Cole’s strange basement room under his club, nothing more.

‘Right, Matias?” Cole’s grin towards my father was menacing. This was the side of Cole that I hadn’t seen before. From all my encounters with him, he’d been kind, playful, and friendly. But that look he has on says he’s far from friendly, and I think my father knows that too.

He nodded at Cole, relief washing over his face. That was surprising. My father was someone who didn’t listen to anyone, and he nodded at Cole like a dog.

“Why?” My voice comes out quieter than I intended. I clear my throat. “Why would you do that?”

He looks at Cole, his jaw flexing. That was the first sign of resistance I saw in him. He doesn’t say a word, though, terror glowing in his eyes.

“Don’t look at him. Look at me. They need me here to decide your fate,” I gathered that or Cole wouldn’t bother bringing me here and just hand my father over to the police. “Answer my question. Why should I trust that you would out Lucas‘ That would mean you’re admitting to being his accomplice.”

“Because going back to prison is better than being out here with your hounds, little pest.” There it was, the anger that I grew up seeing in his eyes. That’s the real version of my father.

“What? Why?” I pressed. I need to know why, but my father slowly climbed up his bunk bed and lay on his back, languidly, completely ignoring me.

“I’ll tell the police everything, just leave me be,” he murmured, folding his arms beneath his head. He doesn’t say those words to me; they were meant for Cole.

“What does he mean by that, Cole?” I pressed as Cole started to close the metal door,

“What he said, Andi, Cole grumbled, locking the door.

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