Page 189 of Perfect Pitch

Dispassionately, I detail the way I brutalized his daughter. “I did the only thing I could think of, Beckett. Honest as fuck, I didn’t need this crackpot turning loose and hurting Austyn.” I down another shot. “Then we traced her location.”

“Austyn’s?”

“Zandra’s. She was in Seven Virtues.” I reach for the bottle, but Beckett stays my hand.

“She was driving the car, wasn’t she?”

My fist slams down on the bar. “I can’t fucking prove it. I can’t. I’ve searched every traffic cam, every ATM. So has Kane. Neither of us can get a clear enough image of the bitch to prove she intentionally went after your daughter.”

“The eyewitnesses...”

“Told Kane they could only see long dark hair. That’s it. They couldn’t positively identify her face,” I remind him.

“They saw enough,” he mumbles.

“What was that?” I ask sharply.

“Nothing. Why didn’t you try to reach out to her, Mitch?” There’s torment in Beckett’s eyes I didn’t expect to see.

This time, I tip back the bottle. “What makes you think I didn’t? Or did you forget who my uncle is?”

“Charlie. That meddling fool.” He reaches for the bottle and takes his own drink. “He was protecting her.”

“From me. And I have no idea why.”

Fuck me, Beckett Miller’s eyes well up. “You don’t want to know that. Not right now.”

“Why not?”

He clasps my shoulder. “Because you’re just drunk enough and just mean enough to do something about it.”

Confusion laces every word. “I don’t understand.”

He turns his glass over and over. “You have to swear to me, you won’t go off half-cocked.”

“Beckett,” I warn.

“Swear it, Mitch, or I’ll leave you in the dark.”

Begrudgingly, I make the promise. But as he speaks, and the blood drains from my face, I immediately regret it. “A baby?”

Beckett looks even older than I know he is. “You look as destroyed as she is.”

“Where has she been?”

“Therapy. Lots and lots of therapy.”

“Is she...”

“Okay? Not by a long shot. Let me tell you this. Right now, Austyn won’t be able to bear to see your face.”

I can’t quite prevent my wince.

Beckett slugs back one more drink before he stands. “Hopefully you’ll give her what she needs to move past it.”

“I don’t know how to stop loving her.”

A faint smile crosses his lips. “Something to think about? We choose this lifestyle—being in the public eye. It’s got a million and one perks and just as many downsides.”

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