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 underlying

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

possibility that she just wants you to stay out of the matter to protect you? Sending a vague message would be the

but she would have called me if it were really

of a

she’s surrounded by the enemy and needs to

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

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

to establish communication with

long without any word from her, making this

it would have been sent

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

want to put my

was

seems off, as if we’ve been

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

might still be switched off,” I

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

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

hand,

message, a line of communication has been opened

us,” she suggested, using air quotes when saying ‘Sophia,’

posing as Sophia must have

should engage in conversation and share

wait for

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

she knows we’re searching for her, and

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

her, and she smiled in

worry about my feelings

your friend, nothing

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

I managed to keep my

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

still alive and safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing my

won’t dispose of her

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

she’ll likely remain alive until they accomplish whatever

idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out to me when she wanted,

and prayed that we could resolve

the Beta off, and

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

was a smart move

and making it a casual conversation,

they couldn’t accuse us of treating them as