Chapter 12 - Matteo couldn't stop staring at the photograph.The young man looked exactly like him.
Not similar.
Exact.
Same jaw.
Same scar above the eyebrow.
Same eyes.
Even the same crooked smile.
Anna took the phone.
“How?”
Matteo shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Leonardo approached.
“It's not possible.”
Isabella looked at the image.
“Not impossible.”
She pointed at the lower corner.
A code.
M-01.
“The first Matteo.”
Matteo stared.
“So I'm a copy.”
“No.”
Isabella looked at him.
“Maybe you're the second.”
Matteo felt something inside him collapse.
His entire identity had become a question mark.
His father had spent years replacing people.
What if Matteo himself had been replaced?
What if the real Matteo had died twenty-seven years ago?
What if the man standing here had simply been given his memories?
Anna looked at Sofia.
“Tell us.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“We don't know.”
Matteo stared.
“You don't know?”
“I knew there were two.”
“Two what?”
“Two versions of Matteo.”
Marco looked at her.
“You never told me that.”
“I was trying to protect Elena.”
Matteo looked at him.
“You knew?”
Marco shook his head.
“Not until tonight.”
Anna demanded:
“Where is the facility?”
The location arrived on Matteo's phone.
An old underground research center beneath a monastery.
The team moved immediately.
The monastery had been abandoned for decades.
They entered through a tunnel.
At the end was a giant steel room.
Inside stood a glass chamber.
And inside the chamber was Matteo.
Young.
Alive.
Sleeping.
Matteo stepped toward the glass.
His younger face stared back.
A machine displayed one sentence:
MEMORY TRANSFER: 97%.
Matteo whispered.
“That is me.”
A voice came through the speakers.
“Yes.”
His father.
Again.
“You were the second.”
Matteo turned.
A screen activated.
On it appeared footage from twenty-seven years ago.
The original Matteo was strapped to a chair.
His father stood behind him.
Sofia was crying.
Marco was bleeding.
A newborn baby cried in another room.
Then the original Matteo spoke.
“I won't cooperate.”
His father smiled.
“You won't need to.”
The footage showed a machine.
Electrodes.
Memory mapping.
Drugs.
Pain.
Then darkness.
The original Matteo stopped breathing.
Sofia screamed.
Marco tried to attack.
Men restrained him.
The screen changed.
A younger version of Matteo opened his eyes.
Same memories.
Same personality.
Same voice.
But not the same soul.
Matteo staggered.
“No.”
His father continued.
“The original died.”
Matteo stared at the sleeping body.
“I am him.”
“You are what he left behind.”
Matteo's father appeared on another screen.
“You were designed to believe you were Matteo.”
“What about Elena?”
“Designed to obey you.”
“What about Isabella?”
“A backup.”
“Leonardo?”
“A weapon.”
His father smiled.
“You were never a family.”
Matteo looked toward his daughters.
He saw their faces.
Their fear.
Their pain.
And something inside him hardened.
“Then I'll become one.”
He turned toward the chamber.
“Open it.”
Anna shouted.
“Don't.”
Matteo ignored her.
The system activated.
The chamber opened.
The younger Matteo woke.
He looked at Matteo.
Then Elena.
Then Sofia.
He smiled.
“You found me.”
Matteo stared.
“Who are you?”
The young man answered:
“The one who died twenty-seven years ago.”
Then he looked at Elena.
His expression changed.
“You're alive.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Do you remember me?”
He nodded.
“You were a baby.”
Then he looked at Matteo.
“You stole my life.”
Matteo's heart sank.
“I didn't choose it.”
The young man raised a weapon.
“But you lived it.”
He pointed directly at Matteo.
“I want it back.”
May you like
A gunshot.
The screen went black.
