Maid For Beckett Catching The Baseball Legend’s Heart novel Chapter 29

Chapter 29

-Beckett-

The mansion hadn’t changed. It still stood, commanding and proud, on 1,500 acres of land in Brighton City.

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It rose out of the hillside like a photograph from a real estate magazine. The stone walls glowed gold beneath the estate lights, ivy crawling up pillars, and the wide terrace still held the iron lanterns I used to jump up and slap as a kid. Even the fountain in the driveway spanned the same way, like it holds secrets only a Maldini knew.

Coming home always felt like stepping back into a memory I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep.

I stayed where it was quiet–on the balcony overlooking the courtyard. Below, the massive garden hummed with life. Voices. Laughter. Clinking glasses. Nana’s birthday always pulled the entire clan home. And with the Maldini family, “clan” was never just a word.

I moved through the foyer, inhaling the familiar scent of polished wood, old books, and family history. Underneath that… something darker. Something I’d spent most of my adult life running from.

“Beckett.”

Her voice never aged. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have set foot in this mansion again.

“Nana.” I crossed to meet her as she approached the balcony. She was alone, of course. She hated people hovering near her, waiting for her to trip on her feet and make a mistake.

At sixty–eight, Nana Lucy looked exactly the same as she had at fifty–silver hair in soft waves, sharp green eyes that missed nothing, posture straighter than half the soldiers in her youth. There was softness in her smile, but steel everywhere else.

A Maldini never ages, she used to tell me. We sharpen.

She slapped my shoulder–hard enough to sting. For her age, she shouldn’t have been able to hurt me. I was a wall of muscle, but apparently, the Maldini bloodline didn’t care about physics.

“What kind of question is that?” she scolded. “This is my house. Of course I’m here, ragazzo sciocco.”

I chuckled, guiding her to the balcony rail. “Happy birthday, Nana.”

She held me at arm’s length, inspecting my face like she could read stress in my bones. “You look old. Or stressed. Which is it?”

If people didn’t know her, they’d take offense. But that was Nana’s version of I missed you, why don’t you visit me more

often?

“Neither, Nana.”

She scoffed. “Lying to me is pointless, caro.”

Caro. A word only my mother’s side ever used. The Maldini side.

Her gaze softened. “Still throwing balls for your job? I told you that silly game would get you nowhere”

In her language, that meant: I watch all your games, but I’ll die before I admit it in public.

“Yes, Nana. I still play baseball,” I said. “You should come watch me sometime.”

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2:19 pm

Chapter 29

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“And what? Get hit by a ball? Or worse–a bat?” She clutched her chest. “Mio Dio. I’d rather watch your cousin Alberto play poker.”

Her way of saying she watched every game at home so no one could hear her curse the opposing team.

I pulled a small box from my suit jacket. “I got you a present.”

“You didn’t have to. You earn so little throwing balls.”

“I bought it from a thrift shop,” I deadpanned as I opened the box.

I had it custom–made because everything on the market is within her grasp. The emerald hair brooch glowed faintly. It matched her eyes–something she didn’t already own in a vault.

She let me slide it into her hair. The emerald complemented her eyes. “Thank you, caro.”

Then her expression shifted to a determined one. “But you know what I really want for my birthday…”

I groaned. “Nana, not this again.”

“A great granddaughter!” she exclaimed dramatically. “Why can’t you give me one? I am sixty–eight and still have no great- grandchild in this family. You are my last hope.” She even turned toward the courtyard as if she were mourning her own

extinction.

I’d heard this speech every year since I turned twenty–one. I wasn’t built to be a father. I can’t see myself as one.

“Lila can give you one. She and Houston are probably getting married next year,” I offered.

Her eyes snapped to mine–sharp, lethal. “Don’t you ever say that again. Lila will not marry that bastard Playboy magazine owner. Over my dead body.”

Houston didn’t own Playboy Magazine. He was a real estate broker. Nana knew that. I didn’t understand why she didn’t like him. Maybe old women sensed things.

She leaned closer. “Beckett… I heard a rumor.” Her tone shifted to that of an investigative journalist, and that’s never a good sign. “That you’re seeing someone. I want to meet her.”

I knew this was going to happen. “No, Nana. I’m not seeing Andi. She is my maid.”

She made a dismissive pff sound. “Maid. We’ll see. I have a good feeling about her, and I haven’t even met her yet.”

My shoulders tightened. “Please don’t turn Andi into another one of your matchmaking projects. She’s… she’s not from this kind of life.”

“Shhh!” She lifted a pair of binoculars. Where the hell did she get that? “Tonight’s guest of honor just arrived.”

“Who?” I asked stupidly, following her line of sight.

Andi stepped out of the limousine with Lila and Siobhan, looking small and unsure.. yet she still managed to shine at this glamorous celebration.

“Your future wife,” Nana announced proudly.

Before I could respond, a voice chimed behind us.

“Well, well. If it isn’t my favorite American cousin.”

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2:19 pm

Chapter 29

I turned.

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Cole Maldini stood proud and commanding in his overpriced suit. His Italian charm was paired with a quiet danger that never left the Maldini bloodline. I grew up with him. We were inseparable until I found out what business the Maldini’s truly ran–and I walked away.

But Cole still grinned at me like no time had passed.

“Still throwing balls for a living?” he teased, pulling me into a brief, surprisingly warm hug.

“Still breaking laws for a living?” I shot back.

He laughed. “Touché.”

Cole wasn’t like the rest of them. He admired my baseball career. Said it was the one thing in the family that wasn’t soaked in blood or politics.

He glanced toward the courtyard, vision tunneling.

He was looking at where Nana was pointing her stupid binoculars. Like a predator spotting something new, his gaze honed.

My jaw clenched hard as Cole tilted his head. “Who is that lovely lady, Nana?”

Nana looked at me meaningfully. I see a dangerous scheme brewing in her head. “That’s Lila and Bonnie’s friend, Andi.”

What the hell are you planning, Nana?‘ I thought, tasting blood in my mouth. My blood went cold and hot, because Cole Maldini wasn’t allowed to look at Andi like that. Not my Andi.

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