I'm Here For You

The FBI Agent

Betty's POV
My father is finally coming to Riverdale. I haven't seen him in months, usually he would come back to Riverdale to see me and Polly, but for the past few months his work has been really busy and he doesn't have the time to visit us. My dad moved to New York seven years ago when he and my mom divorced. They didn't feel the love they once had for each other anymore, plus my mother wanted him to be able to pursue his dream career. The only sad part about him coming to Riverdale, is that he is here for work purposes but it was better than nothing.

Dammit! Veronica isn't in school again. She has been missing from school for two weeks now. I can't even contact her because she blocked me, but I can't blame her, I didn't talk to her after her parents confronted me last month. I ignored her every time I saw her, I avoided her, we all did. But as much as we hated doing it, we had to. It was all part of the plan, so we can't screw it up. If we screw up the plan, it would mean that we would never be able to help Veronica.

Flashback (after Betty left the hospital)
I kept thinking and thinking, why does the name 'Lodge' sound so familiar? I know I have heard it from somewhere before. At first I didn't pay attention that Veronica's last name was Lodge, but now after I heard that her parents were abusing her, something in my mind started working. I was quickly snapped out my thinking when I heard my phone ringing- it was my father. I picked it up. We spoke for almost an hour, but right before we hung up, I remembered my question. My father has been living in New York for seven years he must have at least heard the name 'Lodge' once.

"Wait! Dad, have you heard of the 'Lodge' before?"

His tone immediately changed to a serious one. "Yes I have, they run an illegal business here in New York, but recently they have been unusually quiet."

"Have you told this information to me before?"

"Yes I have, why?"

"Because one of my friends has that last name and recently her parents moved here from New York."

"Listen Betty, if her parents are who we think they are, you have to be careful. And I mean it, they are a dangerous bunch. I will try talking to my boss about this, hopefully I will be assigned this case. If you have any information that you think might be useful, tell me."

"Okay I'll be careful and I have some information that may be useful, but I'm not too sure. From what she has told me, her parents are abusing her. It's horrible I have seen the bruises. Her body is covered in them."

"This could be useful, thanks. I'll try to tell my boss about this, we have been trying to catch them for years, maybe we can now."

I head knocking on the door. I looked outside to see who it was, I've never seen them before but they look like Veronica. So I'm pretty sure it's her parents.

"Hey dad? I have to hang up now, I think Veronica's parents are here, I'm not sure what they want."

"Okay, but please don't do anything irrational, they are very dangerous people. So stay safe and call me right after this."

"I will." I replied and hung up the phone, and quickly  went to answer the door.

"Yes? How may I help you?"

"Hey we're Veronica's parents, you are Betty right?"

"Yes I am. Why?" I said warily. I knew what Veronica's parents did to Veronica, and I also didn't know what they were doing here.

"We need to talk"

"About?"

"Veronica, so we rather not delay this."

"Ok....come on in." I said with caution, I had to be careful.

They stepped inside my house.

"Would you like anything to drink?" I asked trying to be polite even though they didn't deserve it.

"No, it's fine. We really need to talk about Veronica anyways."

"Okay? Have a sit at the dining table."

We all sat down. The tension between us was so clear.

"So you wanted to talk about Veronica?" I asked attempting to loosen the tension.

"Yes we do, Veronica has told us about you. She told us that she wants to stop being friends with you because you are annoying. But she has never actually done it because she felt bad for you, you never had much friends until you met her. We just wanted to let you know of the situation, a Veronica has always been like this especially back in New York, lying about almost everything. We didn't want you to be hurt by her anymore that's why we decided to tell you this information. What you choose to do with it, it's your choice." Hermione said

My face immediately darkened when I heard this information.

"What about what she told me about you abusing her? Pretty sure she wouldn't lie about that." I asked trying to convince them that I believed everything I said.

"She told you that?!"

I nodded my head

"I can't believe she said that. We would never abuse our daughter, we love her too much to do that. Veronica has always been a little troubled, but we wanted her to grow up in a normal environment. I'm really sorry about what Veronica said to you. If you are still in doubt about Veronica being troubled, we have some medical papers we can show you. We would have a little talk to her about what she's done. But now we really have to leave, Veronica should be waiting for us at home."

I nodded my head and showed the Lodges out. Bullshit I can't believe that you tried to convince me to stop being friends with Veronica. Something hit me, they probably are going all around town to all of our other friends. I quickly rushed to get my phone and send them a group message, telling all of them that Veronica's parents may visit their houses and try to manipulate them into believing false information about Veronica and they had to be careful. They immediately responded confused about what I had just sent, I told them that I would tell get back to them with more information about this soon but they had to be careful first and try to convince her parents they believed her.

After that, I quickly got back with my father. I told him that it was indeed Veronica's parents who were at the door and that they were trying to convince me to stop being friends with her. We agreed to call later with all my friends to come up with a plan to try help Veronica out. Soon I got messages from all my friends confirming that Veronica's parents did indeed visit them and tried to convince them that Veronica was lying to them about the friendship. We agreed to all meet up at my house in an hour so that we can talk to my father and discuss of they were actually the people the FBI is looking for. Cheryl has camera footage of them at her property so she'll be able to send it to my dad.

Soon after we all gathered at my house, I called my dad and though they footage, we were able to confirm that Veronica's parents were indeed the ones the FBI was looking for. My dad told us that it was best if we all sent Veronica messages about not being friends anymore as we wanted her parents to think so. But no matter what Veronica could not know of our plan yet, as it would only put her in harms way. We also were not allowed to talk to her or the plan would fail.

End of flashback

It's killing me not to go over to Veronica's house and demand to see her. I just want to know is she's alright. But I know if I did so I would be ruining all of our plan and we might not be able to help Veronica at all. Suddenly halfway though English class, the door opened to reveal a frail and tired looking Veronica. She mumbled a small apology to the teacher and quickly went to her seat. I looked over to her, she look so pale, so weak, she also looked like she has lost all the joy she used to have. Her face now is just filled with pain.

I whispered to her "Are you okay?"

She hissed back "Why do you even care? You listened to my parents and didn't even ask if what they said was true."

I turned back to face the front again, she was right, I couldn't argue back. I felt so guilty for sending that message to her, but I had no other choice. I wanted to save her so badly from her parents. It hurt me every time I had to ignore her, and when I finally caved in to the feeling and talked to her all I got was a cold response. I really hope she forgives me for doing this to her.