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.

vagueness of the message suggests an

Sophia, it would have contained more helpful

of the matter to protect you? Sending a vague message would be the best way to ensure you

would have called me if it were

more of a phone person,” I

if she’s surrounded by the enemy and needs to

choice but to send a text message,

believe the message was

establish communication with me while pretending

any word

it would have been sent to Charlotte’s

have also contained more details about

my mind at ease,” I

time we spoke was back

of this message seems off, as if we’ve been in frequent

I’ve recovered my line, so she would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s phone to ensure I

might still be switched off,”

thoughts might not have been entirely clear, but I had a gut feeling that I was

your point, Li, but you’re right; this message doesn’t provide much

other hand, had a different

but by receiving this message, a line of communication has been opened between us and whoever

continue to interact with ‘Sophia’ and see where it leads us,” she suggested, using air quotes when saying ‘Sophia,’ which elicited a laugh from

as Sophia

if it’s truly her or not, you should engage in conversation and share specific details that

wait for her

cleverly mislead her captors and provide

searching for her, and her captors might have informed her

mislead them in her answers to help us uncover what’s really going on,”

nodded, looking at her, and she

really don’t have to worry about my

friend, nothing more,” she

but I could sense that Alex wasn’t entirely comfortable

to keep

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

hope she’s still alive and safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing

dispose

for them, they won’t dare harm her, and if they have some

remain alive until they accomplish whatever they have planned,” Oliver

gave me some sense of comfort, but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out to me when she wanted, troubled

deeply concerned about her safety and prayed that we could resolve this situation

back after seeing the Gamma and the Beta off, and we remained on high

do?” he inquired, and we all laughed because it was clear that Justin had cleverly left us alone with the officers to

a smart move on

not directly conducting the questioning and making it a casual conversation, it

accuse us of treating them