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 an underlying

contained more helpful details,” I explained, and Noah

the matter to protect you? Sending a vague message would be

she would have called me if it were

she’s more of a phone person,”

the enemy and needs to secretly communicate

send a text message,

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

trying to establish communication with me while pretending to

word from her, making this message

were genuinely from her, it would have been

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

to put my mind at ease,” I

was back

off,

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

might still

been entirely clear, but I had

understand your point, Li, but you’re right; this message doesn’t

the other hand, had

line of communication has been opened between us and

‘Sophia’ and see where it leads us,” she suggested,

Sophia

should engage in conversation and share specific details that only she

we can wait for her

might cleverly mislead her captors

her, and her captors might

her answers to help us uncover what’s really going

at her, and

don’t have to worry about my feelings when it

friend, nothing more,”

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

to

my momentary unease, but it was our inside joke, and

safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing

dispose

is working for them, they won’t dare harm her, and if

alive until they accomplish whatever they have planned,” Oliver pointed

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

concerned about her safety and prayed that we could resolve this situation as

came back after seeing the Gamma and the Beta off, and

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

a smart move on

and making it a

couldn’t accuse us of treating them