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

have contained more helpful details,” I

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,

have called me

sends text messages; she’s more of

by the enemy and needs to secretly communicate with

a text

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

trying to establish communication

without any word

were genuinely from her, it would have

also contained more details about her well-being

to put my mind at ease,”

time we spoke was back when we were

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

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

might still

not have been entirely clear, but I had a gut feeling that I was onto

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

on the other hand, had

of communication has been opened between us and

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

is posing as Sophia must have

if it’s truly her or not, you should engage in conversation and share specific details that only she would

can wait for her

she might cleverly mislead her captors and provide

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

help us uncover

at her, and she smiled in

don’t have to worry about

your friend, nothing

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

managed to

my momentary unease, but it was our inside joke, and the others remained oblivious to

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

won’t dispose of her

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

until they accomplish whatever

sense of comfort, but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out to me when she

was deeply concerned about her safety and prayed that we could resolve

and the Beta off, and we remained

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

was a smart move

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

us of