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.

of the message suggests

more helpful details,” I explained, and Noah voiced a

a vague message would be the best way to ensure

called me if it were

more of a phone person,” I explained before Sebastien

she’s surrounded by the enemy and needs to secretly communicate with

but to send a text message, Li,” he argued, and many others seemed

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

is trying to establish communication with me while

too long without any word from her, making this message

it would

also contained more details about her well-being before asking me to stop

want to put my

time we spoke was back when we

message seems off, as if we’ve been

aware that I’ve recovered my line, so she would likely

wouldn’t risk sending a message to a line that might still be switched off,” I concluded, and Charlotte nodded

but I had a gut

message

hand, had

a line of communication has been opened between us

to interact with ‘Sophia’ and see where it leads us,”

posing as Sophia must have

her or not, you should engage in conversation and share specific details that only she would

wait for

captive, she might cleverly mislead her captors and

knows we’re searching 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, perfectly echoing my

nodded, looking at her, and she smiled in

don’t have to worry about my feelings

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

I could

managed to keep

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

she’s still alive and safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing my biggest

won’t dispose

and

until they accomplish whatever they have planned,” Oliver pointed

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

that we could

the Gamma and the

inquired, and we all laughed because it was clear that Justin had

was a smart move

the questioning and making it a

way, they couldn’t accuse us of treating them as