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 an

have contained more helpful details,”

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

called me if

of a phone person,” I explained before Sebastien

the enemy and

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

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

too long without any word from

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

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

my mind

was back when

tone of this message seems off,

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

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

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

you’re right; this message doesn’t provide much information,” Charlotte acknowledged, stating the

on the other hand,

but by receiving this message, a line of communication has been opened

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

posing as Sophia must

not, you should engage in conversation and share specific details

we can wait for

she might cleverly mislead her captors

knows we’re searching for her, and her captors

for her to mislead them in her answers to help us uncover what’s really going

nodded, looking at her,

don’t have to worry about my feelings when it comes

friend, nothing

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

I managed to keep my

was our inside joke, and the others remained oblivious to our unspoken

alive and safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing my

dispose

harm her, and if they have some ulterior motive

until they accomplish whatever they have planned,”

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

concerned about her safety and prayed that we could resolve

Gamma and the Beta off, and we remained

and we all laughed because it was clear that Justin had cleverly left us alone with the officers to question

was a smart move

directly conducting the questioning and making it a

us