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

it was genuinely from Sophia, it would have contained more

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

would have called me if it were really

more of a

enemy

choice but to send a text message,

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

to establish communication with me while pretending to

long without any word from her,

from her, it would have been

also contained more details about her well-being

my mind at ease,”

last time we spoke was back when we were

seems off, as if we’ve

isn’t aware that I’ve recovered my line, so she would likely have

message to a line that might still be

not have been entirely clear, but I had

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

hand,

receiving this message, a line of communication has been opened between us

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

is posing as Sophia

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

can wait for

held captive, she might cleverly mislead her

knows we’re searching for her, and

it’s wise for her to mislead them in her answers to help us uncover what’s really going on,” Josephine explained,

nodded, looking at her, and she

have to worry about my feelings when it

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

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

to keep

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

still alive and safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing

won’t dispose of

Mike is working for them, they won’t dare harm her, and if they have some ulterior motive involving her, they won’t dare

she’ll likely remain alive until they accomplish whatever they have planned,” Oliver pointed

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

about her safety and prayed that we could resolve this

after seeing the Gamma and the

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

was a smart move on his

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

couldn’t accuse us