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.

message suggests an underlying

more helpful details,”

the possibility that 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 nodded,

she would have called me if it were really

sends text messages; she’s more of a

by the enemy and

send a

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

someone is trying to establish communication with me while

word

it were genuinely from her, it would have been

contained more details about her well-being before asking me to

to put my mind at

time we spoke was back when we

off,

likely have sent the

to a line that might still be switched off,” I concluded, and

not have been entirely clear, but I had

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

the other hand, had a different

of communication has been opened between

we continue to interact with ‘Sophia’ and see where it leads us,” she suggested, using air quotes when saying ‘Sophia,’ which

as Sophia must

engage in conversation and share

can wait for her

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

and

her answers to help us uncover what’s really going on,” Josephine explained, perfectly

at her, and

really don’t have to worry about my feelings when it comes to

know 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

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

and safe,”

dispose of her

her, and

until they accomplish whatever they have planned,” Oliver pointed out, and his

but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out to me when she

and prayed that we could resolve this situation as quickly

back after seeing the Gamma and the Beta off, and we remained on high

because it was clear that Justin

was a smart move

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

us of treating them as