"They've tried to fool us before. How do we know this intel is legit now?," Johnny asked.
Ben replied, "We don't know but I have a gut feeling about it."
Johnny was referring to an earlier attempt by father and son Drakos to send them on a wild goose chase. A day after meeting with Ben and the other men, Demitrius visited Victor in jail. There, they "accidentally" let it slip that Selene's mother was being held one state over, in Nevada. Knowing full well that the entire conversation was likely being bugged, it was no mistake on their part, however.
When Johnny relayed the news to Ben at the time, they both agreed that they should play along. "I'll deploy Team X then," Johnny had said, and they had done just that, sending them to Nevada to "look" for the missing woman.
Meanwhile, Ben had contacted Lyra and she told him some interesting information. Apparently, one of the butlers in the Drakos household was her nanny's son. They had somewhat grown up together, despite efforts by her father to the contrary. As a result, they'd had to keep their friendship a secret. Even when she was sent abroad, they kept in touch, and he was her eyes and ears in the household. Since coming back, they had rekindled their friendship. Lyra didn't tell Ben the part about her having romantic feelings for him, nor did she mention that she was starting to suspect that the feelings were mutual. She was adamant with Ben, however, that Nikolas was on her side and could be trusted.
Nikolas had seen some paperwork on Demitrius's desk that held a potential clue as to where Ms. Serian might be. Being a micro-manager and miser, the elder Drakos required that all important expenditures be signed off by him. Little did he know that this flaw in his personality would undo his son's efforts at blackmail.
One particular invoice had to do with food and other items being sent to a certain apartment in the state of Texas. Under normal circumstances, such a thing as a paper trail involving necessities in a kidnapping would be unheard of. But given Demitrius's nature, coupled with their money troubles, this provided a rare opportunity for finding the kidnapped mother.
Lyra had given the information to Ben almost as soon as she'd found out. It had taken a little while to do that since she and Nikolas had to be very discreet about their communication. Unfortunately, Nikolas had only had a brief look at the address since he could not linger long. As a result, he only partially remembered the details.
Still, it was enough for Ben's team to lessen the scope of the search from the entire state of Texas, which would have been near impossible.
"Okay, we'll send Delta team with Alpha as back-up as soon as we have an address," Johnny told Ben.
It took a full week for Ben's people to locate Ms. Serian and come up with a plan for rescue, but when they did, the operation went down smoothly.
The family reunion that took place at Ben and Selene's place was filled with tears of happiness and relief. It was decided that Selene's parents would stay with them (Adam had been living there ever since the kidnapping), until their house could be made more secure.
To thank Lyra, Selene invited her over to lunch one day. Lyra showed up with flowers and a hesitant smile.
Selene hugged her half-sister and thanked her for the role she had played in getting her mother back.
"It was the least I could do considering all that the family has put you through," Lyra said with a frown of apology.
"You didn't have to though, and it means a lot to me that I have one member of my supposed family who is on my side," Selene replied. She took her sister's hand and said, "Come on, let me introduce you to my parents.
After introductions, Selene's mother gave the young woman a big hug and thanked her. Lyra blushed trying to minimize her role.
The foursome sat down for lunch and slowly got to know each other. Ben was unable to attend due to work.
"So tell us my dear, what did you study in school?," Ms. Serian asked.
Lyra smiled, "I just finished my degree in architecture and design."
They spent most of the time getting to know her and her interests as Lyra was afraid to ask too many questions. Time flew by for all of them and it was soon time for her to leave. Selene walked her out, thanking her again for everything.
"You don't have to keep thanking me. I just hope this means we can start getting together in the future?," the younger sister asked with hope in her voice.
"Of course," Selene answered with a smile. "I always wanted a sister."
The two women hugged in farewell.
When Selene returned to her parent's side, she saw that her mom's eyes had welled up with tears. She rushed to the woman's side and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Let's clean up these dishes and then let's have a talk," Anie replied.
Selene did as she was told and then found herself sitting in the living room with her parents on either side of her.
"You're both scaring me," Selene started.
"We don't mean too. This isn't a bad thing," Anie told her daughter.
Selene looked at her father than back at her mom and waited.
Anie began, "This is something we've always wanted to tell you but, in truth, we were too afraid. Even now I don't know how to say it." She paused before continuing, "It's about your mother." Another pause and then a deep breath later, Anie decided it was best just to say it quickly, "She was my childhood best friend."
Selene blinked several times trying to process the information. Anie held her hand and continued, "I know this is quite a shock."
"Why didn't you tell me?," Selene asked. She wanted to give her parents the benefit of the doubt, but after all the secrets Ben had kept, Selene was starting to feel as if she'd been betrayed yet again. Then she remembered who her other 'family' members were and she thought of how her mother had died. "Is it because you were afraid of the Drakos family?"
"That's exactly it," her father said. Selene turned to him. "Of course, we wanted to tell you a long time ago, but we were just afraid of even speaking the words out loud. Your mother has barely even said Olivia's name in all these years for fear of them finding out somehow."
Selene nodded absentmindedly, her brain working overtime. "But I don't understand how it's possible for you to have adopted me. I mean, this can't be just a coincidence. How did you even know to look for me let alone find me in the foster care system?"
Anie sighed, "It wasn't easy and that's why it took us so long to find you. I knew Olivia's situation. After she met your father, she became withdrawn, and we didn't have a lot of contact as a result. I tried reaching out but I think she was just embarrassed to be with a married man. When she became pregnant, I was the first to know, but then she wouldn't answer any of my calls. I'm assuming she never mentioned me to your biological father because they never found us in all these years, thank God. It was your father who found you."
Selene looked at her father and then realization lit her eyes, "Is that why you became a children's social worker?"
He only nodded, unable to speak from becoming choked up.
Anie spoke for him, "We were prepared to work in every foster care system in all 50 states if we had to. We just got lucky that you were still in California. Of course, we didn't know for sure that you were in foster care, but it was a start."
Swallowing back tears, Adam said, "When Olivia passed, we hired a private investigator. He wasn't able to find out anything and we couldn't really afford him for long. Then several years passed and we saved up enough money to hire another one. It took a long time, but we were finally able to get a lead that your adoption out of the country had failed and you were brought back. We just didn't know what happened after you were brought back. Our best bet was the system because we couldn't afford the investigator anymore."
Selene shook her head, trying to understand everything as it was a lot of information. "But, but, that family…I mean, they have such tight security. How could a regular PI find out even that much information?"
Anie looked at Adam, who answered, "We knew it couldn't be just any PI since the first one didn't find much…so, um, I called in a favor from one of my military buddies who knew someone who knew someone and…suffice it to say the second PI wasn't necessarily on the up and up."
Selene looked at him with confusion plastered all over her face. "He had connections let's say," Adam explained.
"Connection connections?," Selene asked with wide eyes. "Like the mob or something?"
"Or something," Adam answered. "We didn't ask questions. Look, we were desperate." Her parents looked like they feared she would be upset with them.
"I'm not judging your methods," Selene assured them, "I'm just dumbfounded that it somehow all worked out and you found me."
Anie smiled faintly, "It wasn't easy. It took awhile for your father to get his degree and get hired in Los Angeles. We had been in San Diego at the time and moved here when he got the job. Then it took awhile for him to go through case records to narrow down the possibilities. It's really all just a big miracle."
Selene nodded, "Or it was just meant to be." She smiled at her mother and then gave her a long hug.
"You're not upset with us," Anie asked with tears about to flow over.
"Of course not," Selene answered. "After everything you went through to find me, how could I be mad?"
Later that day, when Ben came home for the evening, they told him the secret as well. Just like Selene, he was very surprised. Even more so perhaps since he figured his own investigation would have led to him finding out earlier.
"You guys did an excellent job of hiding her," Ben smiled in admiration. "Thank you."
"We're her parents," Adam said. "Of course, we would protect her with everything we have."
"Of course," Ben agreed. "Um, I guess today is a big day for news then because I have some of my own." He turned to Selene and gently held her hand as he said, "Your foster fa-, I mean, Hugh Brown…He's dead."