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

from Sophia, it would have contained more

Sending a vague message would be the best way to ensure you have nothing to work with,” he suggested, and I

called

she’s more of a phone person,” I explained before

the enemy

leave her no choice but to send a text message, Li,” he argued, and many

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

is trying to establish communication with me while

any word from her, making this

it would have been

details about her well-being before asking me to

will want to put my mind at

time we spoke was back when we were

message seems off, as if we’ve been in frequent

would likely have sent

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

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

your point, Li, but you’re right; this message doesn’t

on the other hand,

communication has

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

posing as Sophia must have a

her or not, you should engage in conversation and share

we can wait for

captive, she might cleverly mislead her captors and provide us

certain she knows we’re searching for her, and

to help us uncover what’s really going on,” Josephine explained, perfectly echoing my

at her, and she smiled

worry about my feelings

she’s just your friend, nothing

I could

managed to keep my

was our

safe,” Marvin expressed, echoing my biggest

won’t dispose of her

working for them, they won’t dare harm her, and if they have some ulterior motive involving

remain alive until they accomplish whatever they have planned,” Oliver pointed out, and his

idea that Sophia couldn’t reach out to me when she wanted, troubled me

that we could resolve this situation as quickly

the Gamma and the Beta off, and we

was clear that Justin had cleverly left

a smart move on

it a casual conversation, it wouldn’t be considered

accuse us of treating them