“Have a seat,Sissy, andI’llexplain,”Annaresponded softly.
* * *
Well, this was not whatIexpected at all.
I went from thinking my sister was here on some work trip to cover a story for herTVstation, to finding out my sister was married, a secretFBIagent, and had people wanting to murder her.
I still didn’t know all the details, since some of it,Iwas told, was confidential, butIknew enough to know that this was serious.Ialso found out thatNolanwas going to be my new best friend for the next few days and follow me around my home and job.
They weren’t a hundred percent confident that this mafia family who wanted to kill my sister knew about me, but they weren’t taking any chances.Iappreciated that.
I paused briefly to callCora, who was having a mild panic attack sinceIhadn’t checked in with her.WhileIhadn’t given her any of the security details,Idid fill her in onAnnabeing there and howIwas so excited to see her thatIhad forgotten to text back.
After that call,Isat down with everyone in the room as we finalized my protection plans for the next few days.
I was told thatAnnawould be here for a few days until they caught the men who wanted to kill her and her new husband, whoIlearned was actually her ex-husband from a few years ago.Shehadn’t talked about it a lot, but whenIstarted to glare daggers at the man, she asked me to give her time because both she andIdidn’t know the whole story, though she knew now.Asmuch asIwanted to murder him in his sleep for what he did to my sister,Iwas learning that maybe she was right about not knowing all the details.EspeciallysinceIhad no idea my sister secretly worked for theFBIor that she was somehow the target of a mafia family.
Anna promised me that after all of this was over, she would come visit me and take some time off work so we could hang out.
“I’m holding you to that,Anna,”Itold her. “Andplease be careful.”
“Pinky promise,” she responded before hugging me.
My new best friend,Nolan, andIheaded out together so he could follow me back to my apartment to check the security there.
“CreepyMcCreepersonis still here,”IinformedNolanas we walked out the front door of the hotel.
“I saw.Yousure you don’t know him?” he asked me as he pulled his phone out.
“No disrespect, dude, because the vibeI’mgetting off you is that guy is bad news, but he’s also like sex-on-a-stick hot,”Ianswered. “So,I’dlike to thinkI’dremember him.”
He turned to stare at me with an appalled look on his face. “Didyou just say sex on a stick?”
I nodded as he moved his phone to his ear and began talking to someone. “He’snow chillin’ by the front door takin’ a smoke,” he said and then paused. “Copy.”
He put his phone back in his pocket and then turned to me. “I’vegot someone doing surveillance on him.”
“Well, then.Let’sgo check out my house, brand-new bestie,”Itold him, hearing his light chuckle as we made our way to my car.
20
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Nolan had informed me of the creepy man who had been staring atIriswhen they got up to the hotel room, soIdecided to followNolanandIrisdown when they left to see if it was anyoneIrecognized.Whileit had been a few years sinceIhad seen any of them,Ihad spent weeks looking over every case file of every member of thePaganoFamily, soIliked to thinkIwould have recognized someone in their syndicate if they were in front of me.
Vince andIfollowed them down, staying far enough behind as to not raise suspicion that we knew each other.Wehad just made our way over to the front desk area whenNolancalled my cell.
“Yeah,”Ianswered.
“He’s now chillin’ by the front door takin’ a smoke,”Nolansaid.
“Alright, we’ll head over there,”Itold him.
“Copy,” he responded and hung up.
Vince andImade our way to the front door and spotted the man instantly.Hisgaze was indeed followingIrisas she andNolancrossed the street to the parking garage.
That was good, though, because it gave me a chance to look over his face well without him noticing me.Theman looked familiar, butIcouldn’t pinpoint why or who he was.Vegasattracted a lot of weird people—from scammers to tourists—so it didn’t mean this man was necessarily tied to thePaganoFamilysyndicate.Icould have arrested him for any number of things back whenIwas a cop, so maybe that was why his face looked familiar.