Catching the Storm

6. Two Choices. Choose Wisely

Sorry for the late update. Been busy with school starting back up again and one of my dogs ended up rupturing a disk in his neck so he's been on medication and on lockdown until it heals.

So, I've been busy.

Anyway, Enjoy!

Crystal's POV

I hadn't always known who or what my father actually was. And then when I finally did discover it for myself, I didn't want to believe.

Blame it on Marrek and his condescending tone when he told me the truth. Of course, I had already known most of it. Just not all. I hadn't known how truly evil my father was.

It was a truth I didn't want to listen to. And then, of course, I had to look into it. Marrek had known that. Though, even now, I didn't know if Marrek had honestly been telling me for my benefit, or if he'd simply wanted to see what my reaction was going to be.

That had been two years ago.

Since then, I had made it my mission to find out exactly everything my father was involved in, who he was involved with, and who he had employed for him. The list was long. Much longer than I would have liked.

It had been almost a year ago now that I had contacted the FBI and since then I'd been their prize witness. Their sole source of intel. And their biggest secret.

I had been dealing with two FBI Agents and the director. That was it, no one else was allowed to know who I was. No one was allowed to know that the FBI had been building a case against Lawrence Carver with my help. For their safety and for mine.

I hadn't wanted to do this. How could I put the man who raised me, who gave me nothing but his unconditional love, in jail?

I hadn't had an answer to that. But the more I had been digging into what my father had been doing, the more I realized he needed to be put away. Not for my safety, no, my father wouldn't lay a hand on me . . . though if he ever found out what I was doing that was likely to change. But for the safety of pretty much everyone else.

I stared back at Jackson while he seemed to look at me with fresh eyes, with a fresh perspective. I figured it would be best to explain . . . some things, before he started putting anything together himself.

"Two years ago," I started. "I was . . . enlightened, to the things my father was doing. And I ended up deciding I couldn't sit by and watch as he destroyed any more lives. Though, I also knew there was no way I could bring him down by myself, so . . ."

"You contacted the FBI," Jackson said, eyes narrowed in a suspicious way.

I shrugged. "Yes, I did. They were skeptical at first until they saw that I was truly innocent in all of this and wanted to help stop my father." I walked over and stared out a window at the ocean surrounding us. "I meet up with them a few times every couple of months. Give them intel and so forth."

Jackson said nothing, but I could feel his gaze burning into me.

I turned to face him once more. "Recently, however, my father got wind that someone was giving information to the FBI. So, he sent someone to take care of it. And suddenly any and all evidence that had been gathered against Lawrence Carver just disappeared." I shrugged as I went back to staring out the window. "That was over a month ago now. My father had also tried to learn the identity of whoever was selling him out, but luckily for me, that secret had never been in writing, on any recording, or put into any computer. So, my father couldn't find out."

I let out a resigned sigh. "That's not to say he won't still find out." I turned back to Jackson, staring him down. "My time is running out and the FBI are becoming impatient. Luckily, I had saved every last detail of the evidence to a backup micro SD card."