The Marine's Virgin Lover (4 page)

Seth had returned to the office to grab his travel kit and get Maria started on
a full scale property search.
He had also spent several minutes calming her down until Tristan arrived. He had been relieved to see her husband walk through the front office doors.

Leaving the offices of MJI, he took out his phone, calling Shawn, “Marco left the hospital by way of a helicopter. I have Maria running a property search and we’ll start there. I’m heading to the airport to make sure his jet doesn’t leave…”

“Don’t bother. Brianna spoke with Marco over an hour ago and he informed her that he was on his way to Italy. He also told her that the baby wasn’t accompanying him, but was in the best of
hands. There’s only one property listed that can be tied back to Marco, about two hours from here up in the mountains. I’m looking at a schematic right now, and it does have a helipad.”

“I’m on it. Send that info to my phone after.” Seth tossed his bag into the back of the big black SUV. He would need to stop and fill up the tank, but then he was good to go for the next week if need be.

“Maria is pulling a list of agencies that provide skilled nursing care. She is going to try and narrow the list down to those agencies that could provide care for a newborn. I’ll have her send it over once she’s got it completed.”

“Thanks. How’s Brianna holding up?”

“They just gave her another sedative. Seth…she didn’t even get to hold her daughter before this monster took her.”

Seth took a deep breath, controlling his anger and channeling it into something that might actually help the situation, “Shawn, I’ll find her. Is the house listed under Marco’s name?”

“No. In fact, if Trent hadn’t been able to provide us with a list of his shell companies, we probably wouldn’t have found it.”

“Okay. Look, I’m headed that direction now. I’ll call Maria and see if she’s had any luck on my way. I’ll call you when I get there.”

“Great.”

Seth hung up the phone and rubbed his neck with a hand. He couldn’t imagine what Trent and Brianna must be going through. They had such a close relationship, but he knew this was going to be tough for them. His mind started to drift back several years and thoughts of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty filled his mental vision. Amanda Parker had been his fiancée at one time. But then the military had needed him, and she hadn’t been willing to put her life on hold to wait any longer.

He had gotten over her in due time and looking back now, realized that what he had thought was love had in fact only been infatuation. He tried to put himself in Trent’s place and found that his mind couldn’t get past the thought of having his own child. At the age of thirty-one, he still had plenty of time to settle down and start a family, but finding someone to do that with seemed to be problematic. It didn’t help that he spent much of his time undercover and working in other parts of the world.

Shawn and he had served together in the Special Forces, and once their tours were up, they had left the employment of Uncle Sam, to freelance and work for the government on their own terms. They decided what jobs they were comfortable with, and the government paid them very well for their service.

When Shawn had married Janet, Seth had taken over the majority of the field work, and they had hired several other ex-military men to help out including his brother, Chance. At this point in time, Seth could easily step away from the field and takeover more of the office work, but he hadn’t found the right motivation yet. Maybe after this case was solved, he would take a vacation and figure out what to do with the rest of his life – aside from work that is.

Bringing his attention back to the highway, he once again glanced at the GPS screen sitting on the dashboard. Maria had uploaded the coordinates for Marco’s mountain get-away, but Seth had his doubts that he would be able to gain access to the site without being detected.

He had never met Marco Bresi in person, but had heard Shawn speak about him enough to know that the man could be ruthless when pushed. With the safety of Trent’s little one on the line, Seth was determined to handle everything slow and easy. His sole focus right now was to identify the location of the child and contact Shawn. According to the GPS, his target was twenty miles away. There were still several hours before the sun would drop behind the mountains, with any luck, he would have the location of the baby before then.

      
      
      
      
      
*****

“Mrs. Panturo?” Chelsea held the tiny infant against her shoulder, rubbing her back in an attempt to soothe her. Marco had returned with the small infant no more than two hours prior, and after a brief time spent watching Chelsea interact with the baby, had announced that he was flying to Italy and would return within three weeks. In his absence, Mrs. Panturo and Bruno were at her disposal should she need anything. Chelsea had been floored. The man had delivered what appeared to be a newborn baby to her and then left.

Chelsea had inspected the child from head to toe
after his departure and was firmly convinced that this child was less than twenty-four hours old. Her umbilical cord was still soft, and there was only evidence of two heel stabs present. The first would have happened within moments of birth, the second most likely had been performed in the nursery to establish a blood sugar baseline level.

Those facts coupled with the babies confusion when presented with a bottle had more questions running around in Chelsea’s brain. After convincing the infant to eat, she was now on a mission to gain some answers.

Spying the elusive Mrs. Panturo in the kitchen, she headed that direction, “Mrs. Panturo?”

Turning, Mrs. Panturo smiled at the sight of the infant in Chelsea’s arms. This little one would bring happiness and joy back into the Bresi household. Maybe now, Marco wouldn’t be so depressed. “Yes, Chelsea, did you need something? Or did you just bring this little one to see me?”

Chelsea smiled at the housekeeper, “I was actually wondering if you could answer a few questions for me. I didn’t have a chance to ask Mr. Bresi before he left.”

“What type of questions do you have, dear?”

Chelsea swallowed, “Well, do you happen to know when the baby was born? I realize that with the death of her mother and all it might be a difficult subject…..”

“Oh, no, you must have misunderstood Mr. Bresi. The little ones mama isn’t dead, just not able to be here at this time.”

Chelsea was thoroughly confused, “But I thought…I don’t understand. This baby can’t be more than a day old…why can’t the mother be here with her?”

Mrs. Panturo made a noise, “Now, don’t you worry about those details. Your job is to care for this precious little one. Was there something that Bruno forgot to get for her?”

Chelsea shook her head, “No. It looks like he thought of everything.”

Mrs. Panturo nodded her head, and then turned and headed back into the pantry calling behind her, “Feel free to help yourself to the cookies on the other counter there. I just made them. Dinner won’t be for several more hours.”

Chelsea spied the plate of cookies and absently took one, nibbling on it as she made her way back to the nursery rooms with her young charge. Her gut was telling her that all was not as it seemed. Chelsea always listened to her gut. Maybe a phone call to her agency would help answer some of her questions.

Chelsea closed the door to the nursery and sat down in the rocking chair with the infant who was quickly slipping into sleep. Chelsea started rocking, humming a soft lullaby. As soon as the child was asleep, she would call the office and see what information they might have on her current employer. Something wasn’t quite right, but her focus had to remain on the infant right now.

      
      
      
      
      
*****

“Thanks Maria. Send that over to my phone. Good work.”

“Thanks Seth. I hope you find the baby.”

“Me too. Take it easy,” Seth reminded the very pregnant Maria who was married to one of his best friends. Tristan had served in the same unit as both Shawn and he, but had chosen to stay in for another tour of duty before getting out. He was also Trent’s half-brother, although Trent didn’t recognize any distinction between a full or a half. To him, they were family.

His wife, Maria, had patiently waited at home for him, and was now pregnant with their first child. Seth was happy for them, and if he was being honest, a little jealous. Seth often dreamed of starting his own family, and after having celebrated his thirty birthday the year before, had given serious thought to his future. He wanted kids, but more than that, he wanted someone to share his life with.

Seeing the information load onto his phone, he looked through the personal resume of one Chelsea Andrews. She was a twenty-five year old registered nurse, who had worked in the neo-natal department of a large hospital in New Mexico before moving to Colorado. She was single, and had been working for her current agency for about three months.

She currently resided in the Denver area with her sister. Not finding any other information on her background, he quickly placed a call to Chance.

“Hey bro?” Chance answered on the second ring.

“Chance. Has Shawn filled you in yet?”

“No. I just got home about an hour ago. I figured I would take a shower and then head into the office. What’s up?”

“Does the name Marco Bresi mean anything to you?”

“Bresi? Like, Serena Bresi’s father?”

“Yeah. Trent or Shawn ever talk about either of them?” While Seth and Shawn had served in the same unit overseas, Chance had decided to take a different route, opting to work for the FBI. After only three years, he had jumped at the chance to leave the FBI and join Shawn and Seth in their security business. Both men had been trying to get Chance to come on as a partner, but had been unsuccessful at this point. Chance was a free spirit, and after following the strict protocols of the FBI for those three years, was enjoying the ability to do what he wanted, when he wanted.

“Shawn mentioned that he was in the states and that Trent wasn’t happy. Why?”

“Brianna gave birth earlier today…”

“Well, go figure. Little girl?”

Seth shook his head, “Yeah. But that’s not what I was going to say. Marco took the baby from the hospital.”

“What?! No way!! I thought they had all kinds of security protocols in place to prevent things like that from happening?”

“I did too. Anyway, he used the helipad to arrive and leave. Maria tracked down a mountain retreat registered to one of his shell companies and I’m headed there now.”

“You want back up?” Chance offered.

“Not yet. I’m going to see if I can get a positive ID on the baby and then we’ll figure out the next step. Maria tracked down an agency that contracts out medical personnel. They placed a young nurse with Marco’s company. The job was to care for an infant.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“She lives with her sister. I want you to contact Maria and then go pay the sister a visit. I need to know if there’s any connection between her and Marco before we go much further.”

“You think maybe she’s connected to Marco in some way?”

“Man, I don’t know. Check it out and then get back to me. I’m about forty minutes out. I’ll probably do the last mile on foot.”

“Be safe. I’ll get to the office and then pay the sister a visit.”

“Great. Let me know what you find out.”

“Will do.” Chance hung up the phone and headed for the shower. He had just returned from a ten-day survival trek. Shaking his head at how quickly things could turn to shit, he started formulating a plan on how to get information from the sister.

Switching screens, Seth started the file upload that Maria had sent him on the nurse-for-hire. Maybe he had missed something that would help him determine if she was friend or foe. As the screen loaded, he was immediately shocked at his visceral response to the beautiful woman who looked back at him from his phone. Her honey-blonde hair was styled so that it fell in soft waves around her shoulders. Her eyes were probably the most alluring thing about her, a deep moss green that drew him in. Her smile was warm and inviting and her lips were lush and full. He wondered if they would taste and feel as soft and inviting as they looked.

The picture only showed her from the shoulders up, and Seth couldn’t wait to see the rest of her. According to Maria, Chelsea Andrews had been sent to the same property that had come up as belonging to Marco. She had been hired for a six-month assignment, with a strong possibility of a much longer term of employment if things worked out. She had also been required to bring her passport as travelling outside the US was a given.

Trent and Shawn had called him a few minutes earlier to inform him that Marco’s jet was no longer at DIA, but that Marco had been the only passenger aboard when it departed for Italy. Marco would be in the air for more than twelve hours and Seth intended to take custody of the child before that time.

Looking at the GPS, he realized that the residence lie less than a mile up the road. Pulling over, he tucked the SUV off the road a little ways, grabbed his gear and headed out. He would try to make a positive ID on the child and then return to his vehicle. If the baby was there, he would contact Shawn and together they would formulate the best plan for retrieval.

      
      
      
      
      
*****

Chelsea had just settled the baby in her crib and decided to use the stairway to the ground below. Maybe some fresh air would help calm her nerves. She had attempted to contact her agency only to find out that several people had been calling to inquire about her and the job she had been hired to perform.

That was highly unusual, and the owners of the agency had been less than pleased with the notion that they might be caught up in something illegal. Chelsea wasn’t too thrilled with the idea either, but she had to think about the infant.