Jonas took a deep breath before continuing, "Mumma passed away when I was a little younger than you. I was seven. My dad single parented me for five years, after which he remarried."

I was shocked, to say the least. I definitely had not seen this coming.

"The one you heard me talking to just now is my stepmother. She always cared for me like a real mother though. But you know, it's never really the same." He let out a sigh of agony.

"Remember I told you about my little sister Amy? She's my step sister."

I didn't know what to say, so I just patted his shoulders the way he did to comfort me. He gave a weak smile.

"My heart hurts thinking about Xav Bro though," he whispered while glancing over to make sure Xaviers was not present.

That reminded me of the incident that took place in the other room a while back. The new blow had overpowered it from my mind. I confided in Jonas about the whole thing.

"You touched his parents' picture?"

I nodded.

He let out a breath of woe before saying, "Xav Bro lost both of his parents in a car accident when he was thirteen, you know."

No, I didn't know, and in no way I had expected this.

"Xav Bro didn't have a great childhood. He was sent to a boarding school after his parents' deaths, where he spent years all alone. Calling it 'Miserable' would be an understatement."

How many more 440 volts blows were left?

In a sense, I lost both my parents too. But maybe my pain was nowhere near his. Who could have possibly seen the thirteen year old broken child behind that strict, firm face that he shows to the world?

"How did you two meet?" I asked in an attempt to divert the topic.

Jonas started the story from the point when he was in his last year of high school- four years back. His father wanted to get him a private tutor, and that was when Mrs. Amberson suggested about Xaviers. Xaviers was really bright when it came to teaching, but due to financial issues, he could not continue his final year of detective training. Mr. Amberson helped Xaviers financially while he continued teaching Jonas. With time, however, Jonas became more interested in joining Xaviers in his detective training than normal universities. Mr. Amberson wanted his son to pursue whatever he liked, so he didn't object.

"Xav Bro was already an official detective when I graduated. There he made me his assistant, and I came all the way here from Venice to live with him around last year since the best detective training is provided in Rome. And if you're wondering, then yes, I'm still doing my bachelors in criminology," Jonas narrated the story with his usual eagerness.

"Honestly saying, Xav Bro feels closer than my own family now. I can be more of myself with him," he added as a conclusion.

"I'm pretty sure your Xav Bro feels a lot less lonely after having you too," I smiled thinking about the inimitable beautiful bond they shared.

"So, you're two years older than me?" I asked after calculating it in my mind.

"Yep, I'm twenty-one. I miss teenage years."

"Ah, Brian says that too. He's twenty-two," I recalled.

"Miss Amyra," a call sliced from the back.

I looked back; it was Xaviers.

"You can go to your room now," he said in a normal tone. I noticed the photo frame in his hands.

But wait, his eyes were swollen. Did he cry all this time?

I wished to comfort him the way Jonas and I comforted each other, but I knew that was not possible. I simply nodded and went back to my room, hoping Jonas would do the work.

Jonas came to my room a few hours later. He informed that Xaviers was sleeping. He didn't mention anything more about Xaviers, so I didn't ask either. Probably Xaviers didn't want me to know that he was crying.

"So, what are your plans for the case?" Jonas asked after a short silence.

The case- it had completely slipped out of my mind amidst all these.

I let him know that before being able to trace the murderer, I first required to look for evidence that proved that both the deaths were murders in the first place. He nodded.

"Heart attack and car accident..." Jonas murmured to himself.

"There must surely be something beyond that, but I can't see what," I sighed.

Jonas got up and paced to and fro for some minutes while I tried to focus on my part of analyzing.

"Maybe Uncle Dave's car was tampered with, which led to the accident?" I suggested.

"That's not entirely impossible, but a lot possible," Jonas replied.

"But Pappa..."

"Your dad had heart problems from before, right?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Cracked something!" Jonas exclaimed after a bit more processing.

He subsided down on the bed with a kind of spark in his eyes as if he was a fifth-grade child who had just cracked out the answer to a tough math problem after countless trials and errors.

"Did you know that heart patients can be killed by an improper dosage of their medicines?"

His theory suggested that Pappa could have been killed by either an overdosage or underdosage of his heart medicines.

"Learned about all those tactics while observing Xav Bro's cases hehe."

"That can't be, I'm hundred percent sure that he took the correct amount of his medicines each day. I used to give him myself," I responded after a deep thought.

"Hmmm, but I can't see any other way out," he huffed. "The car thing makes sense though."

"I just hate the fact that there's no way we can make sure it's true."

"Hmmm," Jonas paused to wrap his brain around the whole matter.

"Or maybe there is," he replied at last. "Where's Uncle Dave's car Amy?"

"Valdez Mansion's garage," I answered, feeling defeated.

To my surprise, Jonas was smiling. Something was cooking up in his head.

"Wait, you don't intend to-"

"I exactly intend to do it," he grinned, feeling proud of his own idea. "What's the fun without risks?"

Fun, seriously?

I moved my lips to mouth the words 'You are not going to do it'.

He merely giggled at my reaction.

"Tomorrow morning, after Xav Bro leaves," he notified with a smile curved across his plump face before leaving the room.

Please don't forget to vote, comment, and share if you enjoyed reading this chapter!

- Love,
Your dear author <3