Page 154 of When We Fall: Part Two
I nodded. “I do.”
He was quiet for a moment.“I loved Marissa and Anthony. I never thought I’d be without them.”
“Me either,” I murmured.
“I’m sorry we didn’t tell you everything. I’m sorry for a lot of things. We should have?—”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, staring him down. “It doesn’t. My parents loved you. I love you. I understand.”
His dark eyes misted over, and he gave me a curt nod.
“I didn’t ask you here to discuss my parents,” I continued as he wiped at his eyes. “I asked you here to see if you knew what this is.” I tossed him the coin.
He caught it and stared at him for a long time before he breathed out and reached into his pocket. I watched him bring out an identical coin.
I sat forward, my heart pounding.
“We created these in college,” he murmured. “They were meant to be activated in case we needed help.” He looked at me. “Did Anthony leave these to you?”
I shook my head. “No. When we went to the underground, I found Fox holding it. How would he get it?”
Emilio frowned. “I don’t know.”
I sat back, watching as Emilio stared down at it. “It was activated.”
“How come if it was activated, you didn’t know about it?”
“I-I don’t know…” He was quiet for a long time. “Was Fox ever around Matteo?”
“Briefly. He had to get Rosalie from him when she was attacked in the alley.”
“He never said anything about making a deal with him?”
I shook my head again. “No. He was being weird the last few weeks before he died. I thought it was because he was upset over my marrying Rosalie. It seemed that was the cause because hecheered up a bit once I told him I wanted us all to marry her.” I paused. “Matteo was in on these coins?”
“He was. They were his idea,” he said. “When we were all friends. He came up with the idea because things started to get complicated the deeper we delved into this world. He kept thinking his father was going to kill him, and if he didn’t, then Sergio would. This was his solution.”
“How did he create it?”
Emilio smiled sadly. “Matteo has a master’s in engineering. Bet you didn’t know that. He was always a whiz with electronics and designing. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science, with a specialization in programming. He was proud when he created these.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t know when Fox activated it if they’re all connected. How do you know if one has been activated?”
“The button on it.” He pressed and held it for a moment. Nothing happened. “They buzz when activated,” he said softly. “And they don’t stop until deactivated. They’re a one-time use.”
“How do they get deactivated?”
He let out a soft huff of sad laughter. “In a similar way that they’re activated. You push the button twice and hold it to deactivate it.”
“And why would it be deactivated?”
“Two reasons,” he murmured. “Either you’ve been rescued, or a job has been carried out.”
“A job?”
“You know the kind.”
We sat in silence. I rolled his words over in my head for a long time before I hit the intercom next to my chair.
