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

it was genuinely from Sophia, it would have contained more helpful details,” I

matter to protect you? Sending a vague message would be the best way to ensure you have nothing

she would have called me if it

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

enemy and needs to secretly communicate

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

then asked me to share my theory if I didn’t believe the message was from Sophia, giving me the opportunity to

someone is trying to establish communication with me

word from her, making

genuinely from her, it would have

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

my mind

we spoke was

off, as if we’ve been in

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

risk sending a message to a line that might still be switched

thoughts might not have been entirely clear, but I had a gut

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

hand, had a different

a line of communication has been opened between us and

‘Sophia’ and see where it leads us,” she suggested, using air quotes when saying ‘Sophia,’ which elicited a laugh from

is posing as Sophia must have a

not, you should engage in

we can wait for her

being held captive, she might cleverly mislead her captors

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

to help us uncover

looking at her, and she

to worry about

friend, nothing more,”

male friends too,” she added, but I could sense that Alex wasn’t entirely

managed to keep my

was our inside joke, and

and safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing my biggest

dispose of her

they won’t dare harm her, and if they have some

remain alive until they accomplish whatever

idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out to me when

that we could

the Beta

did they do?” he inquired, and we all laughed because it was clear that Justin had cleverly left us

was a smart

making it a casual conversation,

us of treating them as