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

more

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,” he suggested,

called me if it were really

she’s more of

the enemy and needs to secretly communicate

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

me to share my theory if I didn’t believe the message

establish communication with me while pretending to be

any word from her,

it were genuinely from her, it would have been sent

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

will want to put my mind

time we spoke was back

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

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

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

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

you’re right; this message doesn’t provide much information,”

other hand,

by receiving this message, a line of communication has been

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

Sophia must have

you should engage in conversation and share specific

we can wait

captive, she might cleverly mislead her captors and provide

certain she knows we’re searching for her, and her captors might have informed her about

her answers to help us uncover what’s really going

looking at her, and she

have to worry about my feelings when it comes to

just your friend,

I could sense that Alex wasn’t entirely comfortable with that

to

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

still alive and safe,”

won’t dispose of

working for them, they won’t dare harm her, and if

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

the idea that Sophia couldn’t

about her safety and prayed that we could resolve

back after seeing the Gamma and the Beta off,

and we all laughed because it was clear that Justin had cleverly left us alone

was a smart move on his

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

way, they couldn’t accuse us of treating