“Are you joking?” Carter asked in disbelief.
Aria wiped away a stray tear. Tori could’ve gone into foster care after her adoptive parents had been killed. Thank goodness, Seven discovered her and placed her in the care of another MI6 operative.
Understanding her emotions, Seven squeezed her hand in comfort. Their story could’ve been so much worse and heartbreaking, but everything had worked for them, which was all the more reason to help Byte.
“No. It’s taken me years to find her. She was buried deep. The government had done a great job of disguising her,” Aaron answered.
“Why?” Voodoo asked. “Why the cover-up?”
“We don’t know,” Byte finally said. “Aaron told me about her a few days ago.”
“I didn’t tell you because at the time, I wanted to do more investigating. It wasn’t until you told me about Rosemary searching for you that I had no choice but to tell you everything.”
“You should’ve told me about my mother when you found out!” Byte practically yelled.
Needing to redirect the meeting and stay on track, Ghost interrupted their sidebar conversation.
“I’m sure there’s a lot for you two to talk about, but let’s stay on topic. I’m assuming this Rosemary is your mother.”
“Yes, but I knew her as Rosalyn. Rosalyn Copeland. She was a bookkeeper, although I was too young to know what that meant at the time.”
“Alright. And Rosemary is under investigation.” Carter wasn’t asking; he was assuming… assuming correctly.
“Since,” Byte said in an irritated tone, “I didn’t know it was my mother who was looking for me, I created falsified documents about her laundering money for the Feds to discover. At the time, I only knew an ATF agent was digging around into my background. I needed to slow her down until I knew why she was searching for Danielle Copeland. I now know why.”
“Let me see if I am understanding everything correctly,” Ivy said. “Your father died in prison. Your mother was working under an alias for the ATF, and you inadvertently set her up to take the fall for a crime she hadn’t committed.”
“And you have a sister,” Voodoo added.
“Yes.”
“What was your father arrested for?” Falcon asked.
“Drug trafficking,” Aaron answered. “Apparently, he was part of a rather large operation that was ran out of Galveston. It’s believed he was killed in prison so he couldn’t snitch.”
“When was this?” Aria asked.
“When I was nine. That’s how old I was when I was put into foster care,” Byte answered.
“Let’s get back to your mother,” Ghost said. “If you know where she is, what she does, and how to reach her, what do you need us to do? Pick her up?”
“Dani put a large target on her back. She’s in hiding, and I know the last place she was living, but with both the ATF and a street gang looking for her, I’m afraid she’ll go underground again,” Aaron admitted.
“So let’s say we find her… what then?” Ivy asked. She had known where her father was for years and never attempted to contact him. Of course, later that was a decision she regretted, but reunions weren’t always sunshine and rainbows.
“Then we protect her and my little sister.”
“And clear her name with ATF,” Ghost added.
“And we take out the gang looking for her,” Ivy stated.
“Is it just me, or does it always seem like Ghost works on clearing obstacles and Ivy works on killing said obstacles?” Carter asked.
“Nope,” the group said in unison.
CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE
The group meeting had ended, but Byte needed to talk to Aaron before he left.