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 underlying

would have contained more helpful details,”

you? Sending a vague message would be the best

have called me if it were really

rarely sends text messages; she’s more of a

the enemy and

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

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

think someone is trying to establish communication with me while pretending

long without any word from her, making this message seem

it were genuinely from her, it would have been

more details about her well-being before

will want to put my

time we spoke was

off, as

line, so she would likely have sent

sending a message to a line that might still

clear, but I had a gut feeling that I was

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

on the other hand, had

this message, a line of communication has been opened between us and

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

as Sophia must have

confirm if it’s truly her or not, you should engage in conversation and

we can wait for her

captive, she might cleverly mislead

her, and

her answers to help us uncover what’s really

looking at her, and she smiled

about

your friend, nothing more,” she assured

I could sense that

I managed to

noticed my momentary unease, but it was our inside joke, and the others remained

safe,” Marvin expressed,

dispose of

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

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

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

and prayed that we could resolve

came back after seeing the Gamma and the Beta off, and we

and we all laughed because it was clear that Justin had

was a smart move on

making it a

couldn’t accuse us of