Matteo's Rapture

Cinq

Emma Chassériaux

Corsica, France
The Chassériaux family villa
The twenty-eighth of June, 9:13 a.m.

"You come into my home under the guise of aligning our families and this is what you do!?" Papa seethes, his glare is as scorching as the Mediterranean sun. It's aimed at every foe, filled with disgust—but that's not enough to mask the look of hurt and betrayal swirling with his reality whenever he looks at Christian.

His only son, his successor.

"And you," Papa isn't done, his tone murderous as he watches Christian walk over to the other side of the table. Matteo's side, his allegiance. "how dare you? Ta propre famille, Christian. T'as perdu la tête?"

"You have no one to blame for this but yourself, Louis." Matteo swiftly cuts in, smooth and composed even though everyone here with half a brain knows he's anything but.

A ticking time bomb is what he is—and someone, today, inevitably, is going to set him off.

"You let me into your home, around your wife, around your daughter." I can't help but shake within Gabriele's grip, the pain in my wrist slowly becoming more unbearable by the second. "Which wasn't very wise on your part considering all the sneaky merda you've been doing. Did you think we wouldn't find out? That I wouldn't find out?"

I know before papa's about to say he doesn't know what Matteo's talking about—it's a lie. The horror of recognition doesn't go over my head, so it most certainly hasn't gone over Matteo's. "I don't know what you're t—"

"Don't lie to me,"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Matte—"

"I said, don't fucking lie to me!" Matteo roars, up in a flash as he flips the table to the side in one effortless move. Papa doesn't stand a chance, his collar ensnared in the angry grip of a man whose self control is teetering on the edge of next to none. "Don't fucking lie to me, Louis."

"Louis," I can hear Mama faintly and my heart drops when I see the look on her face. Her struggle to get the words out from behind a hand meant to silence. Her fear, her anger, her heartbrokenness. "tell him, Louis. Just tell him."

"You know Louis?" Matteo's arm flexes as he pulls papa closer, "That's one hell of smart bitch you've got yourself over there, maybe you should take her advice before I really lose my temper."

It's silent for a few moments, no one speaks and no one moves. Papa's always had this very hard exterior, sure and honest with his words. Being flustered is something foreign to him—something I've never seen before. But I see it now, crystal clear. The burden of a secret he meant to kept hidden.

"I-It was a mistake." Matteo shoves papa away from him before straightening into that brooding stance of his. What's going on? What was a mistake?

"Yes, Louis, it was."

"I had no idea they were there, Matteo. If I had, I wouldn't hav—"

"Wouldn't have what?"

There's something bone-chilling about Matteo's completion of papa's confession. He's cold, frosty. Livid and seeking a release. I'm beginning to put the puzzle pieces together in my head, one by one. This is bigger than just me for him, beyond me. It's deeper—rooted beneath a secret everyone seems to know but me.