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.

of the message

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

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

have called me if

messages; she’s more of a phone person,” I explained

surrounded by the enemy and needs to secretly

send a text

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

trying to establish communication with me while pretending

without any word from

from her, it would have been sent to Charlotte’s

about her well-being before asking me to stop

put my mind at ease,” I

we spoke was back when we were

seems off, as if we’ve been

would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s phone to ensure I received

might still

not have been entirely clear, but I had

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

other hand, had

communication

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

as Sophia

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

can wait for her

held captive, she might cleverly mislead her captors

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

to mislead them in her answers to help us uncover what’s

nodded, looking at her, and she

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

just your friend, nothing more,” she assured

but I could sense that Alex wasn’t entirely comfortable with

managed to

she noticed my momentary unease, but it was our

safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing my

dispose of her

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

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

that Sophia couldn’t

safety and prayed that we could resolve this situation

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

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

was a smart move on his

and making it a

way, they couldn’t accuse us of treating them