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

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

she 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 with,” he suggested, and I

have called me if

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

the enemy and needs to secretly communicate with

send a

share my theory if I didn’t believe

is trying to establish communication with me while pretending

without any word from her, making this message seem

it were genuinely from her, it would have been

more details about her well-being before

want to put my

was back

of this message seems off, as if we’ve

that I’ve recovered my line, so she would likely have

to a line that might still be switched off,”

have been entirely clear, but I

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

other hand, had a different

receiving this message, a line of communication has

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

Sophia

confirm if it’s truly her or not, you should engage in

wait

held captive, she might cleverly mislead her captors and provide

she knows we’re searching for her, and her captors might have informed

answers to help us uncover what’s really going

nodded, looking at her, and she smiled

about my feelings when

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

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

I managed to keep

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

she’s still alive and safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing my

dispose of

them, they won’t dare harm her, and

until they accomplish whatever they have

comfort, but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out to me

prayed that we could

after seeing the Gamma and the Beta off,

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

was a smart move on his

it a casual conversation, it

us of treating them as