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

would have contained more helpful

Sending a vague message would be the best way to ensure you have nothing to work with,” he suggested, and I

but she would have called

sends text messages; she’s more of

if she’s surrounded by the enemy

a text message, Li,” he argued, and many

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

is trying to establish communication with me

any word from her, making this message seem

from her, it

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

want to put my mind

last time we spoke was back when we

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

she would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s

a message to a line that might still be switched off,” I concluded, and Charlotte nodded in

clear, but I had a gut feeling

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

on the other hand, had

communication has been opened between us

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 must

you should engage

we can wait

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

we’re searching for her, and her captors

her answers to help us uncover what’s really going

nodded, looking at her, and

worry about my feelings when it

friend,

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

to keep

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

safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing

won’t dispose

won’t dare harm her, and if they have

likely remain alive until they accomplish whatever they have planned,” Oliver pointed out, and

but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach

her safety and prayed that we could resolve this situation as quickly

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

did they do?” he inquired, and we all laughed because it was clear that Justin had cleverly left us alone

smart move on his

not directly conducting the questioning and making it a casual

us of