Page 27 of The Next Door Billionaire's Deception

“I wanted to talk about the picture that hung there yesterday.”

She sets her cup down. “I’m sorry, Mr. Burnes, but I can't—”

“Please. I need to know.”

She regards me curiously. “Why are you so interested in knowing him?”

I rub my hands. Melissa can’t know Alex is my best friend. At least, not until I’ve found out what their relationship is.

“Alex is, uh, a business partner. How are you related to him, Melissa?”

Silence hangs heavy between us. Melissa rubs her hands together, wringing her fingers. After long moments, she sips her chocolate.

An answer isn’t forthcoming.

“You know what? I’m sorry. This is probably a bad idea. I didn’t mean to pry into your private life. It’s just, seeing Alex, or someone that looks like him—I’m sorry. Thanks for the drink.” I rise from the couch.

She releases a heavy breath. “Alex is my older brother.”

Dazed, I slump back.

Her brother?

The sister of my best friend is the woman I’ve been monitoring all this time?

“Wow. I—I’m sorry. It’s just … it’s very surprising. So you’re Alex’s sister. What are the odds?”

“Not much, I suppose. I’m surprised as well. How did you know Alex?”

“Business, as I said. He’s, uh, helped me out with a case before. Been weeks since we last spoke, however.”

Melissa, lifting her cup to her mouth, goes quiet once more. Silence fills the living room, but for the occasional sipping from both of us.

It's a long while before she answers, and her voice is low when she does. “I don’t know.”

She doesn’t know where her brother is? That makes no sense, does it?

It doesn’t, unless they aren’t talking. What could be the reason for that?

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She opens her mouth to answer but stops as if thinking better of it. She pauses for a long moment.

“Not really, no.”

I press on. “Can I ask another question?”

She regards me with her remarkable green eyes. “Yeah.”

“Why did you remove the frame?”

She glances at the wall where the frame rested less than a day ago. She downs the last of her drink and sets the cup on the coffee table nearby.

“That picture of Alex was taken a few weeks before Mom’s death. We had gone to show her our grades, and Alex was proud of his new camera. He wouldn’t stop bragging about it that day.”

She pauses, her eyes blinking rapidly.

“Hannah, our aunt, took the pictures. She took three more, that day, and Alex was so proud of them that he framed them all, giving us all one each and keeping one for himself. Dad wasn’t there.”

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