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 suggests an underlying

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

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

have called

more of a phone person,” I explained before Sebastien

she’s surrounded by the enemy and

to send a text

I didn’t believe

communication with me

been too long without any word

were genuinely from her, it would have

also contained more details about

put my mind at ease,” I

spoke was back

message seems off, as

isn’t aware that I’ve recovered my line, so she would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s phone to ensure

a message to a line that might still

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 information,” Charlotte acknowledged,

hand, had

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 elicited a laugh from

is posing as Sophia must have a

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

wait for

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

her, and her captors might have informed

help us uncover what’s really

at her, and

have to worry about

just your friend, nothing more,” she assured

male friends too,” she added, but I could

managed to keep

she noticed my momentary unease, but it was our inside

hope she’s still alive and safe,”

dispose of her

and if they have some ulterior motive involving her, they

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

this gave me some sense of comfort, but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out

that we could resolve this situation as

seeing the Gamma and the Beta off, and we remained

because it was clear that Justin had cleverly left us alone with the officers to

smart move

the questioning and making it a casual conversation,

they couldn’t accuse us of treating them