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 an

have contained more helpful details,” I explained, and Noah

Sending a vague message would be the best way to ensure

would have called me if

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

surrounded by the enemy and needs to secretly communicate

to send a text message, Li,” he argued, and many others seemed

theory if I didn’t believe the message was

to establish communication with me while pretending to be

word from her, making

were genuinely from her, it

also contained more details about her well-being before

my mind at

was back when we were in

tone of this message seems off, as if

I’ve recovered my line, so she would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s phone

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

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

your point, Li, but you’re right; this message

the other hand, had a

a line of communication

leads us,” she suggested, using air quotes

Sophia must have a

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

wait

held captive, she might cleverly mislead her captors and provide us

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

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

at her,

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

your friend, nothing more,”

could sense that Alex wasn’t

I managed to

but it was

and safe,” Marvin expressed,

dispose

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

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

but the idea that Sophia couldn’t

and prayed that we could resolve this situation as quickly as

Gamma and the Beta off, and we remained on high

it was clear

was a smart

directly conducting the questioning and making it a casual

couldn’t accuse us of treating