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

contained more helpful

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

have called me

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

enemy and needs to secretly

situation might leave her no choice but to send a text message, Li,” he argued, and many others seemed to

I didn’t believe the message was from Sophia, giving

trying to establish communication with me

without any word from

her, it would have been sent

have also contained more details about her

want to put my

last time we spoke was back when we

this message seems off, as if we’ve been in

she would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s phone

risk sending a message to a line that might still be switched off,” I concluded, and Charlotte

been entirely clear, but I had a gut feeling that I was

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

on the other hand, had a

receiving this message, a line of communication has been opened between us

it leads us,” she

as Sophia

engage in conversation and share specific details that only she would

wait for

being held captive, she might cleverly mislead her captors

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

mislead them in her answers to help

her, and she smiled in

worry about my feelings when it

just your friend,

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

to

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

and safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing my biggest

won’t dispose of her

won’t dare harm her, and if they

accomplish whatever they have planned,” Oliver pointed

the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out to me when she

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

came back after seeing the Gamma and the Beta off,

how did they do?” he inquired, and we all laughed because it was clear that Justin had cleverly left us alone with the officers to question

a smart move

and making it a casual conversation, it

us of treating