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

would have contained more helpful

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,”

called

rarely sends text messages; she’s more of a

enemy and needs

send a text

I didn’t believe the message was

communication with me

been too long without any word from

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

also contained more details about her

want to put my mind at

we spoke was back when we

this message seems off, as

isn’t aware that I’ve recovered my line, so she would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s phone to ensure I

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

clear, but I had a gut feeling that

this message doesn’t provide much information,”

hand,

of communication has been opened

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

is posing as Sophia

should engage

wait

she might cleverly mislead her captors and provide us with

she knows we’re searching for her, and her

to help us uncover what’s really going

at her, and she

worry about my feelings when

your friend, nothing

she added, but I could sense that

to keep my

momentary unease, but it was our inside joke, and the others remained oblivious to our

she’s still alive and safe,” Marvin

dispose of her

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

any case, she’ll likely remain alive until they accomplish whatever they have planned,” Oliver pointed out,

comfort, but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out to me when she wanted, troubled

prayed that we

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

it was clear that Justin had cleverly left us alone with the

was a smart move

conducting the questioning and making it a casual conversation, it

they couldn’t accuse us of treating them