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 suggests

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

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

called me if it were really

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

if she’s surrounded by the enemy and needs to secretly

her no choice but to send a text message, Li,” he argued,

if I didn’t believe the message

think someone is trying to establish communication with me while pretending to

without any word from

it would have

have also contained more details about her well-being before asking me

want to put my mind

time we spoke was back when we were in

message seems off, as if

line, so she would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s phone to ensure

a line that might still be

might not have been entirely clear, but I had a

message doesn’t provide much information,” Charlotte acknowledged, stating the

on the other hand, had a different

a line of communication has been opened

and see where it leads us,” she suggested, using air quotes

is posing as Sophia must have

engage in conversation and share specific

we can wait for

held captive, she might cleverly

searching for her, and her captors might have informed her about

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

her, and she smiled in

to worry about my feelings when

she’s just your friend, nothing

I could

managed to

she noticed my momentary unease, but it was our inside

hope she’s still alive and safe,” Marvin

won’t dispose of her

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

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

some sense of comfort, but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach

her safety and prayed that

after seeing the Gamma and the Beta

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

a smart move on

the questioning and making it a

accuse us of