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288 Vouchers
Chapter 189
Darius
“How about we start from the top,” I told him and narrowed my eyes, looking at him.
“I know little of the back story and how you pretended to be kidnapped so your father would do their bidding. I know everything, so I would advise you to be honest. The offence you have committed is treason, and I am sure you are a smart young man to know the repercussions of your crime. If you tell me the truth and it yields something, I will waive the death penalty and life imprisonment. You are too young for it. Do not let this matter escalate beyond this room. I will quietly send you home to your father if you tell me the truth, young man. Today some people threatened my mate, so I am not feeling kind,” I told him. He nodded quickly and swallowed.
Someone brought the juice, and they helped Liam take a sip. I could see some relief in his eyes which meant they were not feeding him. Knowing he was a minor made me feel bad, and I asked Raphael to look into the prisoners‘ feeding.
It was wrong to starve them. Anyone in the estate’s dungeons is awaiting trial and is just a suspect. It was wrong to treat them as convicted
criminals.
“I am listening,” I said, giving Liam to the floor, and he nodded immediately.
“About two years ago, I started chatting online with a girl called Elaine. I received an email one day inviting me to d******d an app called Friendzone and make new friends. It wasn’t in my spam box. It was in my inbox, and I wondered who must have sent it because it did not look like
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an ad. Being a lonely child eager to make friends, I ignored all the warning signs and d******ded this app. It was called Friendzone. I would later find out that the app was private and it belonged to an organisation. After d******ding the app, I was asked to register my real name and upload my ID to start making friends. As eager as I was, I wasn‘ t stupid, so I joined in as a guest with just my first name and nothing
more.
I received a lot of friend requests, and I was excited.
Unfortunately, I could only accept the request to interact with them if I was fully registered. So I went against my better judgement and registered fully on the app.
Uploading all that was required of me. My full name, ID, phone number, age, address, everything. They asked for everything, and I foolishly gave
- it.
True to the conditions, I was verified and allowed to accept the requests. I did so and messaged everyone that sent me a friend request. There were about twenty–three altogether,” He said and looked at me with shame.
“I felt I had hit the jackpot for someone that did not have any friends to having twenty–three potential friends. I felt like I wasn’t a weirdo anymore, and maybe I had finally found a community that I could belong to,” he said and bowed his head to show remorse.
“None responded except for Elaine. She was pretty, and she was about a year older than me. You needed to see her Alpha, she was gorgeous, and I could not believe my luck. We finally talked, and she told me all I needed to know about her. She was an orphan who lived alone in Gad and worked in a bakery. She wasn’t financially buoyant, but she was getting by. I must admit I had a crush on her,” he said and looked to the side.
I could see that he was relieving his experience, and I could also see that he slowly realised what might have happened to him. He was catfished.
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“We got talking, and six months later, she said she had feelings for me. I did not need to overthink it. She was a huge upgrade, and I did not want to lose her. She asked and pleaded for me to find a way so we could be together and soon decided I would go to Gad,” He said and chuckled painfully.
“All this while I thought I came up with the idea alone, but now I realise she put it there,” he said, and I nodded.
“My father did not want me to go to Gad. He said the west wasn’t safe for someone like me. You had just conquered what was left of it; they were yet to fully accept the direct rule.
He said if it was anyone else, it would be okay, but as the son of the head Alpha of the north, I might be in danger.
I thought he was being unfair, and I threw some tantrums. I told him I had gotten admission to study there, and that was where I would go to further my education.
My mother did not oppose me; she encouraged it and fought my father for it.
Eventually, he caved, and I was off to Gad.
Still, Elaine and I could not be together because my father had placed me in a hostel where they were required to put me under strict watch.
The living condition there wasn’t really great, and Elaine and I would often hang out.
While we hung out, she would tell me the people’s history in Gad and how your father ruined the west.
She also told me you were the reason she was orphaned because of the war you fought to conquer the rest of the west. I believed her, and soon I started following her to strange meetings.
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She said it was a place people affected by the war went to heal. It was also a place for a selected few. I felt it was weired because people in Gad spoke highly of you and loved you dearly. She made me believe it was a pretence out of fear.
In this group, they had a leader called Moses. He had no last name, just Moses, and he was an eloquent speaker.
He spoke of the evils of Monarchy and how it had plagued our world. I was made to believe that other than the north, the rest of the regions lived in fear of being conquered.
I was made to believe people lost their homes, families and lives because of the monarchy.
We were made to believe that an accountable leader was what we needed to ensure the safety of our people and four regions.
They made us believe a lot of things. I honestly saw them as a hate group. but Elaine did not seem hateful.
She just seemed like someone from whom everything had been taken, and she was looking for a place to belong.
There was no crime, so soon, I opened myself up for it.
I would tell my mother what I had learned, and she would tell me not to tell my father as it could lead to trouble. I wonder why she was protecting
- me.
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