Page 93 of Matteo

Hitting the unlock button on my car, my hand was just on the car’s door handle when a figure moved out of the corner of my eye. I gasped slightly gripping the key fob tight and wondering why I’d thought this shit was a good idea.

Why had I used myself as bait?

“Hello, Rain.”

The blood in my veins had turned colder than ice and I slowly turned to see someone still shrouded in darkness.

“M…Matteo?” I couldn’t stop myself from stammering.

The figure finally stepped in closer.

“No, Stizzy,” he replied. “But I’ve been waiting for you…”

He sounded just like the Boy Scout. His voice was low and full of desire just like Matteo’s. But it wasn’t my man. I was disgusted by the person in front of me.

Xander might have been wearing Matteo’s face.

But he wasn’t him.

“I’m going to need you to come with me,” he said before brandishing a gun. “And please don’t scream but I’d hate to tell Mother we had an accident.”

I felt so nauseous at the thought of harm coming to my baby, and my heart was pounding so hard in my chest.

“Why…why do I need to come with you?” I asked.

A dark chuckle erupted from Xander as he stepped closer and lights from the lamps in the parking lot shined across his face.

Sinister.

“It’s simple…you’re growing something my mother wants and what she wants, she gets…” He shrugged.

“I won’t let you hurt my baby,” I said firmly.

“Be a good girl, and come with me now,” his lips turned into a cruel smile as he pulled me in close.

I didn’t get to think another thought, or utter another word before he was slamming something into the side of my neck. I slipped into a darkness, my mind hollering out for Matteo.

Somewhere, far away, I thought I heard him call out to me.

Chapter 27

Matteo

Inside the tank, my mind was as quiet as the inside of a library. My Corsican seemed to be dormant. Dreams were nonexistent and I had no access to my ability to move into other’s dreams. I merely drifted in the water, with a breathing apparatus strapped to my face, my eyes fixated on the world outside of the tank.

Time seemed to stretch endlessly as I waited. I couldn’t tell time and had no idea how long I’d been floating. How long I’d been placed here to be studied?

All I could do was wait.

Occasionally a scientist would walk by and write something down. I could see their key cards emblazoned with my mother’s symbol.

They would stay only for a moment and I realized they were afraid, jittery. It didn’t matter, I just needed to get out of this tank and get my hands on one of those fucking cards.

Every few days they took me out of the tank to run tests- blood work, scans, and other exams. I endured all of this with one thing in mind.

I needed to keep my family safe.

Mason, Carmine, Cody, and Asher would be off limits, no harm would come to them as long as our mother could study us.

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