Jayne considered that. “Old girlfriend?”
“Don’t have one.”
“Boyfriend?” she tried again.
“Don’t have one.” He gave her a droll stare. “Running every few months doesn’t leave much time for a personal life. Nor is it conducive to telling anyone anything about myself, such as my real name.”
“Looks like it came from a closed circuit city camera." Syn turned back to look at them. “So, I suppose our question is . . . who has Nero pissed off?”
ChapterFour
Hadrian scowled at Syn. “Why would Nero have anything to do with someone wanting me dead?”
“Well, ifyouhaven’t pissed off anyone and no one knows your real name . . . what’s left?”
“Someone trying to get back at your brother.” Jayne passed a sympathetic stare to Hadrian. “It tracks.”
Hadrian scoffed. “Nero would never tell anyone about me.Heknows better.”
Syn arched a brow.
“You don’t count.”
“Uh, ouch.” Syn took a drink.
“You know what I mean, Sheridan. You’re the only person alive he trusts and it’s only because of the history you two have and the fact he had to trust you to survive. He would never put my life in the hands of anyone else. He’s too paranoid for that.”
“You’re not wrong. But someone learned about you, somehow. And we know your family’s dead.”
“Do we?” Jayne asked.
Syn nodded at her. “There’s no doubt. Nero saw their parents die. Their brother Trajen and sister Julia escaped together, but had they lived, they’d have been in touch by now. No blip of either of them has ever been found and I do look from time to time. For Nero’s sake. He blames himself for what happened to them.” And if Syn looked for someone, it was like League assassin level of tracking.
No one escaped him.
Hadrian let out a slow sigh. “Just leaves Auggi.”
“And Ani.”
Hadrian scowled at the name he didn’t know. “Ani?”
“Anicetus.”
His heart skipped a beat at Syn’s answer. “The person who took out the warrant? I thought it was my uncle who had that name.”
Syn shook his head. “Yes and no. You had an older uncle, but I’m thinking that this one was meant to be your eldest brother who died before you were born.”
Hadrian gaped in shock. “What?”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why there was such a big age gap between Nero and Augustan?”
Hadrian winced. Yeah, the thought had crossed his mind as the rest of them had been born no more than two years apart.
What Syn said made sense. There was enough gap in Nero and Auggie’s ages to have had a child perfectly placed like the rest of them.
Syn patted him on the back. “Nero doesn’t really talk about it because he was insanely close to Ani and he still feels that burn.” He jerked his chin toward the screen. “I’m thinking whatever sick psycho took out this hit picked Ani because of that. And they did it to really hurt your brother. No other reason.”
Which meant they had to be close to Nero to know something that Nero had kept from him.
