Kill Him Nine Times Chapter 04
The world cracked apart again.
Matteo’s dead face shattered into pieces before knitting itself back together.
The third loop began.
It was still raining.
I was soaked through.
Summer had just started in New York, and the rain had been relentless.
In my hand was a box of Trojan condoms.
There was also an iMessage from Matteo on my phone:
[Cosima, go buy me a box of condoms and bring them to my place on Long Island.]
[Don’t get the wrong idea. They’re for me and Genevieve. Someone like you is only good for running errands.]
[And remember, get the largest size.]
The timeline had rolled back six months.
The system had gone from ordering me around to pleading.
“You can’t kill him again.”
I nodded.
“As long as he agrees to be my boyfriend, I won’t.”
The system fell silent.
By then, I was already standing outside Matteo’s house.
My finger pressed the doorbell.
If I remembered correctly, in the first loop, those two had been making out in the living room.
Back then, Genevieve had laughed at me.
“You’ll really do anything, won’t you?”
“You don’t actually think you get a piece of this, do you?”
Matteo loved having people run errands for him.
Once he took what he wanted, he’d shut the door in my face.
This time, the moment the bell rang, I heard Genevieve’s soft laugh.
“Matteo, your little follower actually brought them.”
It sounded like she was getting up to open the door.
Then I heard Matteo’s voice, tight with fear. It wasn’t speech so much as a strangled gasp.
He was hyperventilating.
The memories of his first two deaths were still fresh.
First, the fall from the rooftop.
Second, the bottle through his artery.
Genevieve had already started toward the door.
Matteo shouted hoarsely, “Don’t open it!”
Too late.
I knew the entry code.
011207.
Genevieve’s birthday.
Matteo had told me the code a long time ago.
He wanted me to buy him food, bring him medicine, deliver documents—be on call anytime.
He’d once made me make the trip while I was burning up with a hundred-and-two-degree fever.
If I refused, the system electrocuted me.
If I agreed, I ended up in the hospital for three days.
After the fever broke, I still had to keep running errands for him.
No matter what I chose, I lost.
The door was already open.
I stood there in the rain.
Lightning flashed, illuminating my face for the people inside.
I raised the box of condoms and asked with a smile, “Matteo, can I be your girlfriend?”