Chapter 16: Truth and Lies

Romaine's POV

"You're.. supposed to be dead." I stated, staring at Donte with my own two eyes.

"What are you talking about?" he chuckled

"Cut the crap." I jumped out of my chair and stood pensively

"But.. I don't know what you're talking about."

"I said cut the crap! If you're not dead, then where the hell were you?!"

He started cowering as my volume elevated higher.

"B-b-b--Black Zero; I was captured." he replied with a heavy stutter

"Well you sure as hell know when to be captured at the right time! I went to god damn prison because of you! I thought. You were dead."

"Romaine, maybe you should calm down." Cassandra encouraged, "Let's hear him out."

"Yeah," Kyle agreed, "Let's hear his part of the story."

I scoffed, before taking a step back.

"Now Donte," Cassandra said softly, "Tell us what happened when Black Zero took you."

"I..I can't" He stuttered

"I swear if you don't tell us everything~" I was literally about to blow my top at this kid.

"Romaine- Just calm down." Cas interrupted

This situation was rapidly growing old, and I just want him to tell us everything.

"Why can't you tell us Donte?" She asked

"Because..Black Zero said not to say anything."

"Yeah well he can't hurt you now, we're all here to protect you." Reasoned Kyle

"Speak for yourself," I mumbled under my breath

"I can't tell you guys. I swear!"

"Come on." Dondre pried

"No! If I say anything Black Zero's gonna kill my sister!"

"You gotta be kidding me." I murmured, "He brought Shante into this?!"

"Yes! And I gotta~"

"Shut Up." I said, "You're gonna explain everything. You hear me?"

He whimpered. I sharpened my stare, and he began explaining.

~~~~~~~

What Donte explained was more than I bargained for; I just expected him to say that somewhere along the road of our time together, Black Zero decided to threaten him in order to get one of us. But this..

"So..basically.." Kyle opened, "8 months ago.. You and your entire family were kidnapped by Black Zero. He tortured you daily and refused to say why.. At some point, you gained superspeed and tried to fight back, but you were still in shackles. When he knew about your speed, he ordered you to find Romaine and join his team, otherwise he'd kill your mother and sister? He's contacted you a few times after that, the most notable instance being one night in your house, when he came and gave you a piece of paper and instructed you to carry out the instructions, under the guise of freeing your sister if obeyed. Shortly after, on your way home you were abducted by Black Zero and held hostage for another two days. He refused to say a word to you, and was barely around during that period. Did I get all that right?"

"Yes.." Donte whispered

"Well, in that case, Donte was just forced into all this. He did it to save his family, and had been sworn to secrecy by the kidnapper himself, we can't be too hard on him."

"That's garbage." I stated, "I don't care if you were sworn to secrecy; I'm your cousin, you're like a damn brother to me. I could've helped! You should've told me!"

"I.. I'm sor~"

"No!" I belted, "I don't want to hear anything from you! From day 1! You lied to me! About where you came from, how you got your speed, my own family!"

"I said I'm sor~"

"I said shut up! I don't wanna hear it! You've been working with the same guy that wants my head on a platter! He wants me dead! Do you understand that? And he's psychopath; he'll do anything to get what he wants."

"I'm sorry!"

"No.. you're not sorry yet.. you never will be; because you're dead to me. I thought you were dead up until now, but it'd have been better if you were.."

"Romaine don't say that." Dondre advised

"No..I was wrong to let you on the team Donte; we were family, and I thought I could trust you.. but you're just a dumb kid." My heart fell to the floor uttering those words.

Suddenly all my anger had turned to pain. I turned around and sat in my chair. I took a glance at Cassandra; she was clearly speechless.

"Donte.." Kyle started, "You mentioned him giving you a paper of some sort; do you happen to have it on you right now?"

"Umm.. yeah I think so." Donte wiped tears from under his eyes then fished around in his pocket and took out a small folded piece of paper.

He passed the paper to Kyle, who wasted no time in unraveling what it hid.

"It reads:" he said, "Lure Romaine and the rest of the group out to the Bogue Hills Camping Site on October 19."

"October 19," Dondre commented, "That's 3 days from now; this Saturday."

"So.." I spoke up, "You were planning on leading us all to our deaths 3 days from now?"

"No, I completely forgot about it; I haven't gotten the chance to read it yet. I swear!" He defended

"Well it's obviously a trap, there's no sense in us going." Cassandra pointed out

"We could beat him, if we ganged up on him." Donte suggested

"We? There is, no we. You've already done enough; we have no room for traitors."

"What are you saying?.." He questioned

"Romaine," Kyle stopped me, "Let's just calm down before you say something you'll regret."

"I think.." It was a unanimous decision between my mind and my heart, but it still hurt to say it, "I think it's best if you leave the team."

His slight tears got more abundant. It would usually pain me to see him this hurt, but by now all compassion for him was gone.

"Now Romaine, just take a second to think about this." Cassandra advised

"Exactly, you're thinking irrationally right now." Kyle agreed

"No.. guys.." Donte spoke up, "He's right.. I don't belong here.."

Donte walked past Kyle and stepped into the elevator.

"Donte wait," Cassandra stopped him, "Don't go."

"Yeah, we need you here man." Dondre agreed

He gave us all a final look, and stared me in the eyes.

"Goodbye, everyone" - His last words, before the doors had shut, and he went to who knows where.

The room went silent once more, and Kyle focused his gaze upon me.

"That wasn't the right move." he criticized

"Yeah well, I'm the leader around here, so I call the shots."

"Who died and made you boss?" Cassandra rebutted

"You see anyone else around here as the leader?"

She refused to answer.

"Didn't think so."

"Well then what do we plan about doing on Saturday?" Kyle asked

"We've already been given a heads up," I said, "So now, we can catch him at his own game; we're going to set a trap for him."