The Dark Side Of Fate

To Sam Street ~Liam~ I felt uneasy about how to handle sharing and discussing the text message.

I worried that mentioning Sophia might trouble Josephine, even though I knew she was resilient.

But I also feared that it could set back the progress we had made so far.

Instead of announcing the text to everyone, I decided to talk to Josephine first.

“Hey,” I said, linking her, and she turned to face me, her brow furrowing.

I expected this reaction, as linking in close proximity was reserved for private discussions.

“I want to show you something,” I said, handing her my phone with the text message.

She took the phone, read the message, and then returned it to me.

“The team should know,” she linked back, and I observed her carefully.

“It wouldn’t bother you?” I asked to be sure.

I was still new to this relationship thing and didn’t want to make any mistakes.

“Not at all, Liam.

We had our discussion this morning, and I’m confident that Sophia’s name won’t bother me anymore.

I promise,” she said with a smile and playfully punched my shoulder.

“I’m not that petty or jealous, Li,” she laughed, and I felt relieved.

“Attention, everyone; Li has something important to share,” Josephine declared, and a chuckle escaped me.

All eyes were on me, and I cleared my throat before speaking.

I put on a serious demeanour because the situation warranted it.

If they had Sophia’s mother’s phone, there was a possibility that something significant had occurred, and their circumstances might have altered.

Navigating through this with limited information wouldn’t be a simple task, but we must exercise utmost caution.

“I just received a text message from Sophia’s mother’s line, the same line she used to communicate with me,” I explained, passing my phone around so they could read the message.

“The last time she spoke to me, it was through Charlotte’s phone, as I hadn’t recovered my line back then,” I added.

Marvin was the first to ask a question.

“So why is she asking us not to search for her?” he inquired.

“That’s precisely my point.

If it were truly Sophia, she would have called instead of sending a text message.

the message suggests

contained more helpful

stay out of the matter to protect you? Sending a vague message would be

she would have called me if it were really

messages; she’s more of a

surrounded by the enemy and needs to

her no choice but to send a text message,

share my theory if I didn’t believe the message was from Sophia, giving me the opportunity to

trying to establish communication

been too long without any word from her, making this message seem

it would have

contained more details about her well-being before asking me to

put my mind at ease,” I

time we spoke was back when we

this message seems off,

that I’ve recovered my line, so she would likely have sent the

wouldn’t risk sending a message to a line that might still be switched off,” I concluded,

I

this message doesn’t provide much information,” Charlotte acknowledged, stating

on the other hand,

this message, a line of communication has been opened between us and

see where it leads us,” she suggested, using air quotes when saying ‘Sophia,’ which elicited a

as Sophia must have a

her or not, you should engage in conversation and share specific details that

can wait for her

being held captive, she might cleverly mislead her

she knows we’re searching for her, and

help us uncover what’s really going

her,

worry about my feelings when it comes

just your friend, nothing more,” she assured

added, but I could sense that

I managed to

she noticed my momentary unease, but it was our inside joke, and the others

safe,”

dispose of her

won’t dare harm her, and if

she’ll likely remain alive until they accomplish whatever they have planned,” Oliver pointed out, and his assessment

but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach

was deeply concerned about her safety and prayed that we could resolve

after seeing the Gamma and the Beta off,

it was clear that Justin had cleverly

smart move

the questioning and making it a casual conversation,

they couldn’t accuse us