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.

message suggests

Sophia, it would have contained more helpful details,”

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

have called me if it

she’s more of a phone person,” I explained

surrounded by the enemy and needs to

might leave her no choice but to send a text message, Li,”

my theory if I didn’t believe the message was from

establish communication

long without any word from her, making this

were genuinely from her, it would have been sent

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

will want to put my mind at ease,” I

spoke was back when we were

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

she would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s phone to ensure

might still be switched off,” I concluded, and Charlotte

clear, but I had a gut feeling that I was

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

hand, had

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

interact with ‘Sophia’ and see where it leads us,” she suggested, using

is posing as Sophia must

or not, you should engage in conversation and share specific

can wait for

held captive, she might cleverly mislead her captors and provide us with

searching for her, and her captors

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

looking at her, and

about my feelings when it comes

know she’s just your friend, nothing more,” she assured

she added, but I could sense

I managed to keep

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

alive and safe,” Marvin expressed,

won’t dispose of

dare harm her, and if they have some

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

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

her safety and prayed that

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

it was clear that Justin had cleverly left us

was a smart move

the questioning and making it a casual

accuse us of treating them