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

from Sophia, it would have contained more helpful details,” I

just wants you to stay out of the matter to protect you? Sending a vague message would be the best way to ensure you have nothing to work

but she would have called me if it were

rarely sends text messages; she’s more of a phone person,”

by the enemy and

no choice but to send a text message,

me to share my theory if I didn’t believe the

trying to establish communication

been too long without any word from her,

were genuinely from her, it would have been sent to Charlotte’s

more details about her well-being

to put my mind at

was back when

seems off, as if we’ve

she would likely have sent

a line that might still be switched off,”

clear, but I had a gut feeling that I was onto

but you’re right; this message doesn’t provide much information,” Charlotte acknowledged, stating

on the other hand,

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

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

posing as Sophia must have a

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

can wait

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

she knows we’re searching for her, and her captors

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

looking at her, and she smiled in

to worry about my

your friend, nothing more,” she

she added, but I could sense that Alex wasn’t entirely comfortable with

managed to keep my

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

safe,”

dispose of

them, they won’t dare harm her, and if they have some ulterior motive involving her, they won’t dare

they accomplish whatever they have planned,” Oliver pointed

the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach

safety and prayed that

came back after seeing the Gamma and the Beta off, and we

inquired, and we all laughed because it was clear that Justin had cleverly left us alone with

smart move on

directly conducting the questioning and making it a casual conversation, it wouldn’t be considered an

they couldn’t accuse us of treating