Found Love

by Red Rose Publishing

  For now, though, she’d just enjoy the blessings.

  Sebastian had everything simmering. He set the table and had reached the point where he could push the anger that had ignited within him at the look in Andréa’s eyes when Marlena had revealed what Curtis had done to her. It had taken everything in him not to go and find the bastard and beat him to death. But in doing that he would hurt Andréa, and that he never intended to do. She was everything he wanted and needed in a woman, and she belonged to him. He planned on keeping her with him and building a life with her and Nico.

  He pulled out the candle holders his mother had given him as a gift at the time he’d purchased the house, stating that he would need them for that special woman. Sebastian smiled, realizing his mother had been right.

  “God, it smells good in here,” Andréa exclaimed upon entering the kitchen. She looked delicious in the top of his blue silk pajamas and nothing else. He almost burned his finger having forgotten he held a lit match.

  “You look so damn good,” he said, fighting the urge to race to her and take her back up to his bed. “I’m going to stand here while you sit down because if I come near you I’ll not be able to keep from taking you upstairs and loving you for the remainder of the night,” Sebastian warned.

  Andréa smiled.

  “We’re going to eat the meal I cooked first before I feast upon you.”

  After he’d eaten his fill, Sebastian stood and tossed his napkin onto the table and made his way to where she sat. He lifted her out of her chair and into his arms. “Now, it’s time for my dessert.”

  Up in his bedroom, he sat her on the edge of his bed with her legs dangling over the side. Kneeling, he lifted her legs onto his shoulders. “I’m so ready for my pie,” he declared and delved his talented tongue between the moist folds of her pussy.

  Andréa screamed as he feasted on her clit like a starving man. He sensed she tried to hold back, not wanting to come and bring an end to the pleasure he delivered to her, but Sebastian wouldn’t be denied. He captured her clit and sucked. She exploded, calling his name.

  Sebastian stood, keeping her legs braced against his shoulders, and plunged into her, driving his throbbing cock deep within her. He worked her over and over until she came for him once again. He continued his onslaught until his body demanded release and Andréa arched her hips taking him deeper. His hold on his control slipped, and he came hard with a loud roar.

  They lay spooned together, their breathing still choppy and their hearts just beginning to slow down.

  “Thank you for a wonderful dinner and dessert,” Andréa whispered.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed. I went by the house today, and everything is coming along fast. Mack has a small crew finishing things up. I think the other guys are starting on Safe Haven.”

  “Once the inspection is done, which should be sometime next week, I’ll go in and start installing Nico’s virtual imager.”

  “I know he’s so excited; I don’t know how much longer he’s going to be able to contain himself. He’s been asking how much longer before the house is completed. I think he even called Mack to hound him,” Sebastian said, burying his face in her hair.

  He loved the way she fit next to him in his bed and in his arms. From the moment she’d left Marlena’s office, he’d thought he’d lost her and prayed he’d been wrong. In his room at his parents’ house, the fear had still been there and didn’t leave until after they’d talked. She had confessed her love for him and had accepted his. Now he had to work up the nerve to convince her that they belonged together as a family.

  “What has your mind working so hard?” Andréa asked, her voice revealing her exhaustion.

  “Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow. Now go to sleep because I’m sure that I’ll wake you in the middle of the night for a midnight snack,” he promised, giving her a quick kiss.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Serena sat at her cubicle. A cold chill slid down her spine. She had a bad feeling about the reason several FBI types roamed around interviewing everyone.

  “Do you know what’s going on?”

  Serena looked up to see one of the other techs standing by her cube.

  “No, I just got here. Do you know what’s going on?” Serena asked, knowing the woman had the scoop.

  “I heard that some of the experimental drugs went missing and they believe the drug may have been given to someone without their knowledge. The brass called in the FBI to try and find out how the drugs got out of the facility,” she informed her.

  Serena tensed but didn’t let her fear show. She wouldn’t panic just yet. Everyone slipped drugs out of the facility at one time or another, but what worried her had to be the fact that this time the FBI had been called in.

  “Have they said what drugs are missing?” Serena asked.

  “No, that info they are keeping hush-hush, but it has to be something big since they called in the FBI. Girl, have you seen some of those FBI guys? They are fine as hell.”

  Serena smiled up at the woman, who patted down her blonde hair. Serena’s cell phone vibrated in her pocket, and she jumped. Slipping it out, she read the display. Curtis. She hit the ignore button, not wanting to take a chance that someone might overhear her side of the conversation.

  “Well, I’d better get back to work before it’s my time to be interviewed,” the woman said and walked off.

  Serena slipped down the hall and out to the outer office to answer Curtis’ call. “Curtis, now isn’t a good time,” she snapped.

  “I need for you to get me another vial of the MA425 drug as soon as possible—and I don’t care how you do it, I just need it done,” he demanded.

  “Curtis, it isn’t safe for me to get anything out of here right now—”

  “I don’t give a shit! You just get me what I need or you’ll have to find someone else to take care of that cunt of yours,” he warned, using his standard threat to keep her in line.

  Serena shuddered. She wasn’t sure if she feared Curtis or his threat of cutting her off if she didn’t deliver what he demanded. While she debated, she remembered what her coworker had said about someone being given some of the drugs.

  “Curtis have you given the stuff I gave you to anyone?” Serena asked.

  “That is none of your damn business. All you need to worry about is getting me what I want or else,” Curtis yelled before he ended the call.

  Serena turned to go back inside her department and froze. Four men stood in front of the door leading back into her department.

  One stepped forward. “Ms. Powers, I’m Agent Hogan, and I believe that we need to talk.”

  The agent motioned for her to precede him down the hall. They took her to one of the executive conference rooms and instructed her to have a seat at the table. She wondered how many people stared at her through the two-way mirror used by her superiors to monitor meetings.

  “Ms. Powers, we are here because it has come to the attention of the owners of this facility that some of the experimental drugs have been removed from the lab and taken outside of the building. It has also been determined that the drugs were given to a Curtis Monroe, who we believe has given the drug to a woman without her knowledge.”

  Serena dropped her head to the table in shame. What should I do now? Because of her insecurities, she’d lose her job and no longer have access to the things that Curtis wanted. He would cut her off, and that scared her the most.

  The agent interrupted her internal pity party. “Ms. Powers, how long have you been seeing Mr. Monroe?”

  “We met about three years ago. I walked out of here heading for lunch and he and I bumped into each other,” she answered, her voice shaking along with her limbs.

  “How long after that meeting did he ask you to get him what this lab refers to as the MA425 drug?” the second agent asked.

  “I think about almost a month after I met him,” she confessed.

  “Did he give you any reason for wanting the drug?” the second agent sna
pped, slapping his hand on to the table.

  Serena flinched and answered, “He didn’t give a reason, just demanded that I get it for him.” She stared as one man placed a recorder on the table and she listened to the conversation that she’d just had with Curtis.

  “Did he use the same threat as the one we’ve just heard on the tape?” the first man asked, his voice filled with scorn. He continued before she could answer. “Did you know that each time he got MA425 from you he used it on the woman that he professed to love, all because he didn’t want her to give birth to his child? Do you know what it’s like for a woman to have her child maliciously taken away from her, not once or twice, but three different times? The man that claimed to have loved her is to blame, but so are you. He slipped her the drug without her knowledge but made her think she had a problem that caused her to miscarry. So, in essence, you’re a party to murder, because you gave him the tool to murder three babies.”

  On the other side of the two-way mirror, Basil stood looking at the woman who had delivered the drug to the bastard who’d used it on his future sister-in-law. The woman appeared to be in her late thirties and just a little overweight. And what he’d heard from Andréa concerning her ex, he had a talent for using a person’s insecurities against them. Just from the phone call they’d picked up between Ms. Powers and Curtis he’d done the same thing to her.

  Basil was almost sorry for the woman but remembered the look on Andréa’s face the day she’d found out what Curtis had done to her. All sympathy for Ms. Powers dissipated. Basil checked his watch. He wanted to get this over with so he wouldn’t be late for his date with Teresa.

  “Go ahead and give her the plan. I’m ready to wrap this up,” he said into Agent Hogan’s earpiece.

  “Ms. Powers,” Hogan said, “we’re sure that you can see the trouble you’re in, and as you can guess, your job here is over. You’re looking at serious jail time, but we’re willing to talk on your behalf for a reduced sentence if you’ll help us to get Mr. Monroe.”

  She didn’t have a choice.

  “What happened to his ex-fiancé?” she asked.

  “After the third miscarriage, along with the fact that she had to drive herself to the hospital, she realized that Curtis wasn’t the man for her. Mr. Monroe wasn’t happy with her decision and has been trying to get her back. He planned on using the MA425 drug to do it.”

  “What do you need me to do?” she asked.

  They gave her the particulars of their plan. She would call and set up a meet for her to hand to him the drug. They moved her to a secluded safe house, being sure to take her phone until they had everything ready for her to make the call. Basil had warned his team to keep a close eye on Serena. His gut told him that if she got a chance she’d call and warn the bastard about their plans. In his office downtown, he once again went over the file before him, wanting to make sure all angles were covered. He didn’t want Curtis getting off on a technicality. He’d promised his brother that he’d get the man who had caused the woman he loved so much pain.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Andréa and Nico drove up to Basil’s house at the exact same time as Teresa and the boys. The kids were excited to see each other, and after giving hugs to the adults, they dashed upstairs to put their things away.

  “So the boys’ mother just dropped the kids off without even calling Basil to let him know she’d dropped them off at his house?” Andréa stated once the kids had disappeared.

  “Yes, she said some shit about needing alone time, so she just dropped them off without a backwards glance. I’ve been trying to hold back my anger since Basil got the call from BJ. I didn’t want to show my anger in front of the kids.”

  Andréa picked up on the anger Teresa tried to hide. She pushed her friend down onto one of the straight-back chairs at the kitchen table and began massaging her neck. “You have to let it go. I know you don’t want the boys to see your anger because they’ll think you’re mad at them, but we both know you aren’t. You have to know that everything will work out in the end,” Andréa assured her.

  “I know you’re right, and I think I’ll prepare some pizza dough for the boys. You can prepare steak and potatoes for us grownups to eat for dinner,” Teresa said, smiling.

  “Do you know if Basil’s people located the person who gave the drugs to Curtis?” Andréa asked as she dried her hands and took out the steaks.

  “Yes, I’m sure he’ll tell everything once he gets here, but from what he could tell me so far they by chance picked up a phone call from Curtis to this woman named Serena, where he demanded she get him another vial of the drug Sebastian took from him. They confronted her about the conversation. After that, she agreed to help them get Curtis, and now she’s under watchful eye at a safe house.”

  Andréa frowned. “Why do they have her under watchful eye?”

  Teresa shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I am sure Basil will explain why later.” She used the intercom to call the boys down to the kitchen to build their pizzas and got a real kick out of BJ and Carl showing Nico how to work the dough. She walked over to where they stood and gave them both a kiss.

  The doorbell rang. Andréa went to answer it and found Basil and Sebastian on the other side.

  “Hey, baby,” Sebastian said, pulling her into his arms for a kiss.

  “Uh, bro, do you think you could hold it together long enough for me to enter?” Basil admonished and pushed his little brother aside.

  Sebastian closed the door and followed his brother with Andréa at his side. He paused in the kitchen entryway and looked on as Basil walked over to Teresa and laid a kiss on her that seemingly curled her toes.

  “I thought we had it bad,” he commented to Andréa, earning a glare from his brother.

  “I figured the boys could build their own pizzas and we’d have steak and potatoes,” Teresa said. “You should have seen BJ and Carl, honey, they remembered how to work the dough and showed Nico how to do it.”

  Basil pulled her to him and hugged her tight.

  Once the pizzas had been placed in the huge oven, the kids ran off to the game room to play.

  Basil brought the adults up-to-date on the case. “We lucked out, and the surveillance guys caught a call from Curtis to one of the employees by the name of Serena Powers. She’s the classic older woman, insecure about her appeal, and the old boy uses that for the utmost effect. He told her either she got him what he needed or she’d have to find someone else to take care of her physical needs. My guys confronted her. They asked her how the two of them met, and she stated they’d bumped into each other one day as she left the office.

  “My guess is he’d been watching her and could tell by the way she carried herself that she had some self-esteem issues. The bastard confirmed them and pounced, using them against her.”

  “Did she say why he needed the drug?” Sebastian asked, slipping his arm around Andréa.

  “He never gave a reason, just demanded that she got it for him using the same threat of cutting her off.”

  “Did you tell her the real reason he wanted the drug and what he did with it?” Teresa asked, evidently trying to keep her anger under control.

  “I didn’t because I couldn’t be in the same room with her, but my guys told her what he did with it and asked her how she would like it if the man who professed to love her had done the unthinkable by slipping her the drug without her knowledge, causing her to lose her baby, not once or twice, but three different times. I think that struck a sore spot, but I still don’t trust her not to weaken and tell Curtis what’s going on. That’s why she’s in a secluded safe house without a phone or any other way to contact him. Whatever he’s planning, I think he intends to do it soon, because he demanded she get the drug for him as soon as possible.”

  A shiver ran through Andréa, and Sebastian tightened his hold on her.

  “Don’t worry, little sis. He won’t get a chance to do anything. Since this is my last case, I intend to get the bastard, not giving him a
chance in hell to get off.”

  His words startled Teresa. She turned in his arms to look him in the face. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do, baby?” she asked.

  “Yes, it is. The reason I never pursued custody of the boys is because of the long hours I work, but now I know I want to be able to spend more time with them and you. Besides, I think something is going on with Amanda, and I’m not too sure how safe the boys are with her now. She’s doing more and more erratic things like the shit she pulled today.”

  “What has she done?” Sebastian asked.

  Basil told him about the last couple of incidents and the latest incident today.

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “I talked to Jordan, and he’s starting the paperwork for me to sue for custody,” Basil said, watching Teresa.

  “I think it’s great that you’re going to get custody. I know they’ll be ecstatic about it,” Teresa said.

  “You know that this means very few one-on-one dates,” Basil warned.

  “Honey, I am well aware of what this means and I’m okay with it. I enjoy spending time with you and the boys. Now, let’s get them in here so they can slice their pizzas and we can all sit down and eat,” she instructed, giving him a deep kiss before calling the children.

  Curtis tried calling Serena again but received her voice mail. “What’s wrong, son?” his mother asked.

  “I’m trying to reach someone and she isn’t picking up. I need for you to see if you can get entrance into Andréa’s building,” he said, turning to her. “Her security is tight, and they have a picture of me and will not allow me entrance.”