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

genuinely from Sophia, it would have contained more helpful details,” I explained, and Noah voiced a different

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 nodded, understanding

called me if it were

more of a phone person,” I explained

if she’s surrounded by the enemy and needs to secretly

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

share my theory if I didn’t believe

establish communication with me while pretending

without any word from her, making this message

it were genuinely from her, it would have

more details about her well-being

want to put my mind at ease,” I

spoke was back when we were in

of this message seems off, as if we’ve

my line, so she would likely have sent the message to Charlotte’s phone to

wouldn’t risk sending a message to a line that might still be switched off,”

I had a gut feeling that I was

you’re right; this message doesn’t provide much information,”

hand, had a

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

continue to interact with ‘Sophia’ and see where it leads us,” she suggested, using

Sophia

engage in conversation and share specific

wait for her

captive, she might cleverly

searching for her, and her captors might

it’s wise for her to mislead them in her answers to help us uncover what’s really going on,”

nodded, looking at her, and

to worry about my

your friend, nothing more,” she assured

could sense that

to

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

she’s still alive and safe,”

won’t dispose

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

they accomplish whatever

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

concerned about her safety and prayed that we could

the Beta

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

was a smart move on

and making it a casual

us of treating