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.

vagueness of the message

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

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, and

but she would have called me

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

surrounded by the enemy and

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

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

establish communication with me

any word from

it would have been sent

details about her

my mind at

was back when

off, as if we’ve

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

to a line that might

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

but you’re right; this message doesn’t provide

other hand, had a different

line of communication

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

posing as Sophia must have

her or not, you should engage in conversation and share specific

we can wait

held captive, she might cleverly mislead her captors and provide us

searching for her, and

in her answers to help us uncover what’s really going on,” Josephine explained, perfectly

at her,

really don’t have to worry about my feelings when

friend, nothing more,” she

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

managed to

but it was our

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

dispose of her

harm her, and

they accomplish whatever they have

sense of comfort, but the idea that Sophia couldn’t reach

safety and prayed that we could resolve this

Gamma and the Beta off, and

laughed because it was clear that Justin had cleverly left us alone with the

a smart

making it a casual

they couldn’t accuse us of treating them