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.

the message suggests an

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

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,” he suggested, and I

have called me if it

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

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

believe the message was from Sophia, giving me the

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

word from

were genuinely from her, it would have

details about her well-being before asking

will want to put my mind at ease,”

we spoke was back when we

seems off, as

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

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

might not have been entirely clear, but I had a gut feeling that I was

you’re right; this message doesn’t provide

on the other hand, had a

line of communication has been opened between us

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

posing as Sophia

her or not, you should engage in

can wait for her

cleverly mislead her captors and provide

for her, and her captors might have informed her

wise for her to mislead them in her answers to help us uncover what’s really going on,” Josephine explained,

nodded, looking at her, and she smiled

don’t have to worry about my

just your friend, nothing more,” she

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

to

was our inside joke, and the others

she’s still alive and safe,”

dispose of her

harm her, and if they have some ulterior motive involving her,

likely remain alive until they accomplish whatever

the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out to

her safety and prayed that we could resolve this

seeing the Gamma and the Beta

did they do?” he inquired, and we all laughed because it was clear that

smart move on

the questioning and making it a casual conversation, it wouldn’t be considered an

us of treating