Page 72 of Matteo

He was…

Me.

Chapter 21

Matteo

Ihad to be losing my mind. I was registering that that face and eyes and lips that I was staring at belonged to me. It was like staring into a mirror. The other two men were unfamiliar, but both dressed in suits and red ties.

Unease wrestled its way up my spine and my heart was pounding hard in my chest asI continued to survey them.

Synthetic,my Corsican was now wide awake and alert.

We scanned the faces of the other two men and in my bones, I knew I wasn’t ready to take on these three men.

Protect Rain,my Corsican hissed.

Without hesitation, and with swift motion, I vaulted my entire body over the banister without so much as taking a second look.

The second I landed the two men flanking my double were shocked. Their mouths were hanging open and their eyes wide. Only my double’s face stayed the same, not an ounce of emotion showed on his face.

The surprise faded quickly, and they were on me in the blink of an eye, raining down blows on my body. I felt every kick and every punch, feeling winded and weak.

You’re fucking terrible at this,my Corsican said as he rolled his eyes.

I haven’t had as much time as the others to get used to this,I thought back as I finally blocked a bunch.

It didn’t matter because I was getting nailed in the face once more from another angle.

E-fucking-nough!

My dark passenger had had it, and he slid into my minds driver’s seat. We began to move like poetry, blocking and kicking, moving away from Rain.

Glass shattered and shook as the four of us moved through the house. With my Corsican fully in control of my body, he began to choreograph a perfect dance. The more he fought back, the more they advanced until finally one danced in too close.

“I’d rather not kill him,” the words tumbled from my lips as my Corsican spoke through me.

My double smirked before looking at one of the other men with the red ties, sending him a cue.

“The mission is death,” he rolled his shoulders, and I could hear the air popping from his joints

“Fuck!”

My Corsican was already snapping the neck of the red tied man. His body slumped to the floor in a heap, quickly.

Holy shit,I closed my eyes, but it did no good.

Everything unfolded with cinematic intensity, and all I could do was grip the edge of my seat as the second red tie entered the scene. My double lingered in the shadows, just within my peripheral vision, his presence a constant, silent echo of my own. I could hear him popping his knuckles in anticipation.

The other red tie came at me in a rush dodging his buddy’s dead body on the floor. If they were truly synthetic versions of what me and my brothers were the best way to kill them was to make sure their necks were snapped good and hard, otherwise…

They can fucking regenerate…

The thought lingered only for a moment and my Corsican maneuvered into the kitchen. He had a plan, and it involved knives.

Before I could count to three, we were in the kitchen and sliding over the kitchen island. The knives were in a block under the cabinet.

Carmine’s going to fucking kill us,I thought.

---