Anna was always sneaky like that.Sheonly shared what she needed to.
I was coming off the overnight shift and had only gotten about four hours of sleep, butIwas too excited to see my sister to care.Plus,Iwas nosy as hell, soIneeded to know what this super-secret surprise was.
AsIwalked into the lobby area,Ilooked around for the man my sister had described who would be there to greet me.I’dasked her to send me a picture, but she’d told me she couldn’t.JustasIwas about to text her thatIwas here, a man walked up to me and said hello.
“Hi,Iris.I’mNolan,” the man said, sticking his hand out to me.
He was tall, well over six feet.Hehad a slender, athletic build and was clean-shaven.Notexactly my type, but he had a very welcoming smile—which, at this moment,Ineeded sinceIhad no idea what the hell was going on.
He looked like the man fromAnna’sdescription and he knew my name, soIguessed this was him.Thoughjust because something felt off to me with how shadyAnnawas being,Ialso texted my other sister,Cora, to tell herIwas going someplace slightly shady, and ifIdidn’t text her back in thirty minutes to call the cops.Itwasn’t thatIdidn’t trustAnna, butI’dwatched too many true crime documentaries and knew what people were capable of.
“Youdolook likeOGMariahCarey,”Nolansaid to me with a smirk.
Obviously, my sister had told him that comparison.Ithad started as a joke becauseIwas also bi-racial likeMariahCareyand had her curly brown hair from her early career days, butIwas much shorter thanMariahCarey…by a lot.
“Mariah is like five foot nine,”Iinformed him. “AndI’mfive foot four on a good day.”
“What are you on a bad day?” he inquired, his voice laced with humor.
“Five three and a half,”Itold him and he gave me a big smile in response.
But yes, he was right.Ihad been toldIlooked like her on more than one occasion.Ialso had her curves—big hips and big boobs—but skinny arms, whichIloved, because inVegasyou wear a lot of sleeveless shirts in order not to die of heat exhaustion.
Nolan looked up, and his smile disappeared before he turned back to me. “Dome a favor.I’mgoing to point to a statue behind you.Pretendto look at it, but also look at the man in the navy shirt standing over by the check-in desk, and let me know if you know him.Hehasn’t taken his eyes off you since you got here.Justwondering if it’s because he thinks you’reMariahCareyor because you know him.”
People may joke thatIlooked likeMariah, butIwas also twenty years younger than her, so there was no way peopleactuallythoughtIwas her.Ialso wore glasses most days, whichMariahdid not.ButIdid have a big butt and big boobs, and men liked to stare at those, so it was very possible this man at the counter was just staring at my jiggly bits.EventhoughIhad on a pair of very worn jeans and a loose-fitting blueT-shirt—not somethingIwould consider sexy—that didn’t stop creepy men from looking.
He did as he said and pointed at something.Ipretended to look but also scanned the man by the counter.Hewas definitely looking at me.Morelike staring.Hewas quite handsome but also scary-looking.Hereminded me ofPedroPascal—but grumpier—with his longer, wavy hair, short beard, and the broody look on his face.
I turned back toNolanand told himIhad never seen that man before.
“Well, he’s givingmethe creeps, so let’s go upstairs and see your sister,” he said, turning us toward the elevators.
ThisNolanguy seemed friendly, and he talked about my sister and how impressed he was that she won anEmmyat herTVstation.Heobviously knew her and continued to confirm my assumption that they worked together as he detailed the project she had worked on that earned her theEmmy.
“Anna said you work for theNationalWeatherService.Thatsounds cool,” he said while we rode the elevator up.
“It’s my dream job, actually,”Itold him truthfully. “Ididn’t knowI’dend up in the same city my sister used to live in, butIlike it here, soI’mhappy with the move.”
“I just moved here not that long ago, too.I’mfrom up north, so the desert heat took some getting used to,” he told me as we exited the elevator and walked down the hallway, presumably toAnna’sroom.
He gave a weird knock with six raps in inconsistent beats and then used his key card to open the door and walked in first, whichIappreciated because it allowed me the opportunity to bolt ifIsaw her tied to a chair or something.
As soon as the door opened, she was standing right there, smiling huge, andIbarely made it through the door before she hugged me.
“I missed you so much,Sissy,” she said in my ear asIhugged her back.
She took a step back, still smiling, andIfinally turned to look at the room.Thatwas when my smile dropped.Therewere five other people in the room, all with stoic faces staring at me.
I turned my head back toAnnaquickly, my voice very serious. “What’sgoing on?”
“Iris,I’dlike you to meetCaptainKerrigan, head of theLasVegasPoliceDepartment,” my sister said to me.Hisface was firm and stern but kind. “You’vealready met one of his officers,NolanBanks.”
She pointed to the man beside me, who was giving me a small smile as if he hadn’t just lied by omission his way through our ride up the elevator, talking about “working” with my sister.
“The man to your left isCorey, and the woman beside him isSara,” my sister continued. “They’reboth federal agents.Andthe man to your right is my husband,Archer.”
Okay, there was a lot to take in there, but my brain focused on the last part. “Yourhusband?”
