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.

message suggests

Sophia, it would have contained more helpful details,” I explained, and Noah voiced

Sending a vague message would be the best way to ensure you have nothing to work

would have called me if it

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

by the enemy and needs

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

if I didn’t believe

to establish communication with me

long without any word from her, making this message

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

contained more details about her well-being before asking

my mind at

we spoke was back when we were

of this message seems off, as

isn’t aware that I’ve recovered my line, so she would likely have sent the message

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

I

you’re right; this message doesn’t

hand,

by receiving this message, a line of communication has been opened between us and whoever sent

where it leads us,” she suggested,

posing as Sophia must

truly her or not, you should engage

we can wait for her

might cleverly mislead

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

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

nodded, looking at her, and

really don’t have to worry about my feelings when

know she’s just your friend, nothing more,” she

could sense

managed to keep my

laughed, signifying that she noticed my momentary unease, but it was our inside joke, and the others remained oblivious to our unspoken

alive and safe,”

won’t dispose of her

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

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

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

her safety and prayed that we could resolve this situation

seeing the Gamma and the Beta

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

a smart move on

not directly conducting the questioning and making it a casual

us of treating