Ezio sits in a chair with lights shining on him. It’s the basement room of the frat house, but with slightly different decor.
“What’s your big secret, then?” a voice I don’t recognize asks. It must be one of the previous frat leaders.
Ezio smiles at the camera. “My name isn’t actually Ezio Roland.”
Huh. A simple name change isn’t a huge secret usually.
“Oh? So what is it actually?”
“My name is Ezio Romano,” Ezio answers.
I tilt my head. Is that supposed to be significant?
I check with Pandora and Asch, but they seem equally confused.
“So what? Tell us a real secret,” the frat leader says.
Ezio laughs. “Thatisa real secret. My grandfather was Lauro Romano, of the Romano Family. The Romanos who were eradicated ten or so years ago.” Ezio’s grin turns brittle. “The week after my tenth birthday, my entire family was massacred.”
I pause the video. “Does that mean anything to you?”
River shakes his head. “I don’t know anything about a Romano family,” he says, then looks at the three of us. “Do you?”
“No. This doesn’t seem like a good enough secret for the frat, unless there’s more to it,” Asch says.
Pandora’s lips are parted, though, and her eyes are wider.
“Romano. Romano.” She tilts her head, then traces the shape of Ezio’s younger face. “Do you think…”
She pulls her phone out and types a text to somebody. Then she taps the button to make the video continue.
There are still a few seconds left.
“Nice sob story. So what?” the frat leader asks.
Ezio shrugs casually. “I’m going to avenge my family. I know who murdered them. I figure I’ll kill everything he holds dear. That’s my promise. I’ll do whatever it takes to get back at the fucker who destroyed my life.”
“So who is the fucker?”
I hold my breath.
“Giulio Pavone,” Ezio says. The video ends.
Pandora’s phone rings.
I startle and nearly fall on my ass.
Pandora answers the phone, but she sets it to speaker.
“Hi, Uncle Slayer,” Pandora says, her voice shakier. “Um. Are you alone right now?”
“Yeah,” a masculine voice says from the other end of the line, sounding alert and terse. “Why are you asking about the Romanos?”
“Randomly. The name came up.” Pandora moves to the couch to sit next to River.
“Came up where?” Slayer asks. “No one named Romano should—” He interrupts himself, then continues, “No one should be talking about the Romanos anymore. Who’s talking, Panda?”
“Are they the ones? The ones who kidnapped me when I was a baby?” Pandora asks.
