Trent pushed the button and the computer screen started to play the video. Brianna watched in horror as Marco Bresi’s image appeared on the screen. When her daughter was placed into his hands, she covered her face and began to cry.
Trent clenched his teeth together to keep from roaring in rage. He would kill the man with his bare hands if he caught him before the authorities did.
“Sir, do you know who that man is?”
Trent nodded, unable to speak for the rage pulsing through his veins. He had wondered how Marco would eventually get his revenge; well, now he knew. Marco had stolen his child. Trent felt Brianna grab his hand and squeeze it.
Looking at the nurse and security personnel, Trent answered, “His name’s Marco Bresi, from Italy. He has a personal vendetta against me.” Staring them down, he commanded, “Find him before I do, or I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
Chapter 3
Shawn and Seth pushed through the hospital doors just as a flurry of security activity had several men running for the elevators. Shawn stopped and watched as the front doors of the hospital were closed and the locks engaged. Something was not right with this picture.
He and his business partner, Seth Jacobsen, had been returning from a meeting with a client when his wife Janet had called with the news of Trent and Brianna’s trip to the delivery room. Shawn had promised to detour by the hospital and wish the happy couple the best of luck. He had also promised to snap a picture of the baby and send it to his wife.
Seth had noticed the abnormal activity as well and his senses were on high alert. Ten years in the military, the last seven working in Special Forces had taught him to listen carefully to his inner radar, and right now it was going crazy.
“What do you think is going on?”
“I don’t know, but let’s find out before we head upstairs. Trent probably hasn’t a clue that anything is amiss.”
Seth nodded and approached the last remaining security guard still present in the entrance, “Sir, what’s going on?”
The security guard looked Seth up and down, looking like he was going to refuse to answer until Seth pulled his military ID from his pocket and showed it. The security guard relaxed slightly and responded, “We have a Code Pink.”
“Code Pink?” that was a new one for Seth. The military had all sorts of code, but the color pink didn’t factor into any of them. The private sector was evidently scraping the bottom of the barrel for colors that weren’t already in use.
“We have a missing infant. Code Pink, baby?” the security guard informed him.
Seth nodded, “Whose baby?”
The guard shook his head, “Don’t know yet. But from what my supervisor was saying, it must be someone pretty important. I’ve been instructed to keep all media out of the hospital, no matter what.”
Seth had a bad feeling about this as he headed back to where Shawn was still surveying the activity around him. “Call Trent.”
“Why? We’re going to see him in just a few minutes.”
“Just call him. Now, please. The hospital is under a Code Pink.” Seth waited to see if Shawn would know what that was.
“Code Pink?”
Smiling, he nodded, “Pink.” Sobering he informed him of the meaning, “They use that when an infant goes missing. The guard over there seems to think the baby might belong to someone important.”
“Oh man. Let’s go, I’ll call him while we climb.” Shawn grabbed his phone and tried to call Trent as he and Seth began the climb to the fourth floor. “Trent man pick up and tell me that what I think has just happened is wrong,” he said to himself as he rounded the second floor stairwell.
Seth was silent and already planning their next course of action. He wondered briefly how much time had elapsed between the taking of the child and it being found out. Hopefully, not much. He liked Trent and Brianna. He couldn’t imagine the fear that she must be dealing with right now. Then again, maybe he was jumping the gun and it was someone else’s child that had been taken.
Shawn and Seth pushed through the fourth floor doorway and were immediately surrounded by a flurry of activity, security personnel and the desperate sound of a woman crying. Heading towards the center of the activity, a stern looking nurse named Mrs. Belkins stopped them, “Can I help you?”
“We’re looking for the Coldwell’s?”
The nurse swallowed and looked back at the room where the noise was emanating before saying, “I don’t believe now is a good time for visitors. Could I take your names down and let them know you stopped by?”
Shawn shook his head and pushed past the indignant nurse, letting Seth placate her, “You can’t….”
“Ma’am. We’re friends of the Coldwell’s. I assume the Code Pink is in regards to their newborn?”
“How did you...?”
“That doesn’t matter right now. My partner and I run a private security firm, MJI, and I believe our services will most definitely be needed. Excuse me,” Seth said, turning back towards the room Shawn had just entered. After a few steps, he turned back towards the nurse and stated, “If you could please contact your head of security and ask him to come up here. I will be needing access to all video feeds for the entire hospital and parking areas.”
Mrs. Belkins nodded in compliance; somehow, she felt better knowing that there were private security personnel looking into the missing child. She felt very confident that the hospital’s security personnel could handle normal events, but had her doubts as to how well equipped they were for handling this situation. Heading towards the nurses station, she made the call down to security and was relieved when they readily complied and promised to come right up.
*****
Pushing into the room, Seth saw a frustrated Trent trying to console his sobbing wife. He felt his anger at whomever had taken their child grow. Coming up next to Shawn, he quietly asked, “Anything?”
Shawn nodded and then gestured for him to follow him back into the hallway, “They identified the man who took the baby from the nursery as none other than Marco Bresi.”
“What?! The same Marco Bresi whose daughter killed herself several years backs?”
Shawn nodded, “Yeah. What you might not know is that up until a few weeks before her death, she and Trent had been an item. A long-term item. Trent called it off suddenly after making a surprise trip to Milan to see her. He’s never said, and I’ve never asked, but I assumed that something had happened on that trip to sour the relationship.”
“Whatever happened, Marco Bresi blames Trent for her death.” Shawn paused for a moment and then added, “And the death of her unborn child.”
“Shit! She was pregnant? But I thought her death was ruled a suicide?”
“It was. Marco believes that whatever happened between Trent and his daughter forced her to take her own life and that of her unborn child. Trent has stayed away from him for several years hoping the man would come to his senses. He has been spouting verbiage promising revenge since her funeral. It seems like he finally came up with a way to get it.”
“I already asked that nurse to bring the security guy up. I’ll head down and look at the footage and see if I can figure out how he got the child out of the hospital.”
“Great. Are you okay to take the lead on this one?”
Seth nodded, “Yeah. I’ve got this. You hang with Trent and work it from this end. I’ll call Maria and have her start running leads on where Marco might have taken the kid. Chance should be back sometime later today as well.”
“Okay. I don’t need to tell you, but we need to find this baby quickly. I wouldn’t put it past Marco to try and take the baby back to Italy. If he does that, we’re going to have a much harder time getting Trent’s little girl back.”
“I agree. Talk to you soon.”
Seth saw the security personnel get off the elevator and went to meet them. Time was of the essence and the first step was determining how Marco had left the hospital. Marco may think he had outsmarted the hos
pital security, let’s see how he fared when faced with Seth and Shawn’s abilities. Marco may have won the first round, but Seth had no doubt that his side would win the match.
Chapter 4
Marco Bresi wrapped the newborn in his arms tighter in her nursery blanket, making sure her airway was clear and then pushed through the rooftop exit. His private helicopter waited on the helipad ready to spirit him and the child he carried away.
The pilot assisted him into the aircraft and then quickly helped him secure his seatbelt. Marco wanted to be away from the hospital as quickly as possible, but wouldn’t endanger the fragile life he held in his arms for anything.
As the helicopter moved away from downtown Denver, Marco looked at the beautiful baby he held in his arms, feeling a small sliver of peace begin in his soul; the first he’d felt since his daughter had died three years earlier.
Serena Bresi had taken the fashion world by storm at the young age of 16. Several years later, she had fallen madly in love with Trent Coldwell. Marco had been proud of his daughter, and pleased with the man she had chosen to spend the rest of her life with.
That was - until she had driven her car off a cliff; killing herself and her unborn child. After speaking with those closest to Serena, Marco had discovered that Trent had flown to Milan to see her three weeks before her death and then left the same day he had arrived. Serena had become depressed and hard to get along with in the time between Trent’s visit and her apparent suicide.
When the coroner had revealed that she had been several months pregnant, Marco had become enraged, promising to avenge his daughter’s death. Now he had. He had watched over the last year as Trent had met and married the love of his life. Marco didn’t wish Brianna any harm, but in his own defense, she had been warned to be careful whom she spent her time with.
Marco had even tried to save her from a fate similar to his daughter’s by offering Brianna a lucrative position as his own personal administrative assistant. She had adamantly refused and asked him to quit calling her. Seeing that she had firmly aligned herself with Trent had put her in the direct line of fire. Now she would pay the price along with Trent.
Hearing the pilot announce their pending arrival at Marco’s mountain home, he pulled his thoughts away from the past and immediately turned them towards the needs of the newborn he held. Marco had instructed Bruno to locate a newborn nurse, and his first impression of Chelsea was that she possessed the necessary skills to care for this child. Bruno had also been instructed to obtain anything and everything that might be needed to adequately care for a child at his retreat.
Marco’s cell phone rang and he quickly retrieved it, hoping the sound would not disturb the sleeping infant in his arms, “Hello?”
“Marco, I need you to come back to Rome. The negotiations for the new acquisition are in jeopardy. They are insisting that unless they meet with you in person, the sale is off. We have over ten million riding on this deal. We can’t let that happen. When can you be here?”
Marco sighed, his second in command, Petro Scalinni, was normally very adept at handling these types of things. Nevertheless, this entire project had been a fiasco, and Petro was right in that Marco’s company couldn’t afford to lose their investment. “I will have to look at my schedule.”
“Marco, it needs to be either tonight or tomorrow. Things are really bad.”
Hearing the near panic in Petro’s voice, Marco sighed. “Fine. Set up a meeting for tomorrow afternoon. I’ll leave as soon as I tie up some loose ends here.”
“Thank you. Have the pilot send word of your arrival time and I’ll have the limo waiting.”
“Yes, goodbye.” Marco hung up the phone and then stared out the window at nothing. This was a twist he hadn’t expected.
Marco would ensure the nurse was capable of taking care of the little girl in his arms, and then he would leave for Rome. These business negotiations couldn’t be put off any longer. While he was gone, his housekeeper Mrs. Panturo would oversee both the nurse and the infant. Bruno would be entrusted with their security in his absence. He would also be providing him daily updates on Trent’s search for his missing child. Marco looked forward to seeing his nemesis suffer for something he had no control over.
Trent had hurt his daughter so deeply that she had taken not only her own life, but that of his future grandchild. Now, he had returned the favor by taking Trent’s child from him. His revenge was not complete in that Trent could have other children, but just maybe, losing this first child would give him a taste of what Marco had suffered the last three years.
*****
Trent once again looked at the picture of his daughter; the one he had taken only thirty minutes earlier outside the newborn nursery. The urge to hit something was so strong he closed his eyes for a moment, trying desperately to control the rage boiling in his veins. Marco Bresi had walked into the hospital and stolen his child. A child his wife hadn’t even held yet.
Glancing down, he sighed in relief that Brianna was still out. She had been so distraught at the discovery of Marco’s deception that the doctor had given her a sedative. Brianna had begged Trent to keep the doctor from giving her the injection, but she wouldn’t calm down and the medical team was afraid she would rip her stitches in her attempts to get out of bed. Her C-section had been routine, but she was still on bed rest for the next several days.
Slowly getting up from the side of her bed, he watched her carefully to ensure she didn’t awaken, before letting himself out of her room and heading towards the small patio at the end of the hall. The hospital had called a Code Pink, and were still diligently searching for his daughter, but if they hadn’t found her yet, chances were she was no longer in the hospital.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he put a call in to Shawn Marshall. Aside from being his best friend for years, Shawn was also married to Trent’s cousin – Janet, who was also the head of Human Resources for Coldwell Enterprises. Shawn ran a very successful private security firm, and while child abductions were not his specialty, he had no doubt that Shawn’s team of specialists could help.
“Hello?”
“Shawn.”
“Trent, hey how’s Brianna? Janet called and said you were to call if you needed anything. I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Thank her for me. Brianna’s fine given the circumstances. They sedated her a few minutes ago, she wouldn’t calm down.”
“We’re going to find your child, man. Seth looked at the video footage and thinks he might have a lead.”
Trent laughed derisively, “I can’t believe he walked into the hospital and took my daughter before anyone was the wiser.” Trent pushed his fingers through his hair in frustration. He hated being out of control. “Shawn, I don’t care what it costs, but find my daughter.”
“Trent, you know I’ll do everything I can. Maria wants to know if there’s any chance Marco might be planning to take her out of the country?” Maria was married to Trent’s brother Tristan, and currently seven months pregnant. The news that Brianna and Trent’s baby had been abducted had angered her to the point where Shawn had briefly considered sending her home. Knowing that would only add fuel to the fire, he had contacted Tristan and then given her plenty of research to keep her busy.
“Man, I don’t know. According to the head of security at the hospital, even those travelling on private planes have to go through customs and show their papers. I don’t see how even Marco could pull that one off, not this soon.”
“I’ll check with DIA and see if his jet is still there. Has the media been notified?”
“Yeah, but I managed to get the PR woman to withhold most of the information. The only thing the media has been told is that a newborn was stolen from the hospital, the time, and a description of the child. No other details are going to be released at this time.”
“How are you going to keep the media from finding out Brianna is there?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t gotten that far. She’s sup
posed to be here for 48 hours and then I’ll figure it out.” Trent didn’t even want to consider trying to take Brianna home without her baby in her arms. This was all his fault and it tore him up as he remembered the despair on her face when she recognized Marco on the video feed.
“Give me an hour and I’ll head back to the hospital. Anything else you need when I come up?”
“No.” Nothing other than Marco Bresi’s head on a spike. If Marco were smart, he would be planning to return to Italy. If he stayed in the states, either Shawn or Marco would hunt him down and then Trent would exact a bit of his own revenge.
Chapter 4
“Mrs. Panturo, are you sure you have everything you need?” Marco asked once again. He had introduced the nurse to her young charge and was pleased that she seemed competent. He had also once again gone over the details with Mrs. Panturo.
Mrs. Panturo had been Marco’s housekeeper for over thirty-five years. Now widowed, she had travelled with Marco whenever he planned on residing someplace new for more than a few weeks. She had no living children and therefore was free to travel at a moment’s notice.
When Marco had first decided upon his plan of revenge, he had spoken with Mrs. Panturo about it and been pleasantly surprised at her support. Serena had been like a daughter to her, having been raised from birth by the household staff. Marco’s wife had died during childbirth and while he enjoyed the company of women, he had never seen the need to find his daughter a new mother, or himself a new wife.
Mrs. Panturo had informed him that she would do whatever it took to avenge Serena’s death. Marco was confident that between her and Bruno, they would be able to care for the little girl until he returned to the States in a few weeks.
After checking on the child and nurse once more, he summoned his driver and headed for the airport. His private jet was waiting and he would catch some sleep during the flight. It was important to complete his business as quickly as possible so that he could return and get back to exacting his revenge on Trent Coldwell.
CEO's Pregnant Lover Bundle (Books 1-3) Page 10