Double Deception

Chapter 2: New York

Flying economy was a big mistake, Nadia soon realized. People were yelling, and it was compact. The person next to her let out a loud, profound fart that made her grimace in disgust.

Her family was wealthy, with her father being the LAPD chief of police and her mom being the owner of a dermatology practice and their inheritance of money. Nora planned to take over their mother’s practice and was finishing up college to join their mom. Their parents worked hard to get where they were, and Nadia was just trying to work hard as well to where she’s at.

She flew before, and she recognized she was lucky to have the life she had; she was blessed indeed. Some wondered what made her want to move to New York. The crime rate was bad there, and her father did good work before moving to LA with her mother. But Nadia was determined to make her own way.

“Excuse me, miss?”

Nadia felt a tap on her shoulder, but she groaned, too deep in sleep to care.

“Uh, miss?” the voice came again.

Nadia remained asleep in her seat till suddenly she was shaken more firmly on her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open, and for a second she forgot where she was until she made eye contact with a pretty flight attendant with an irritated expression, which soon shifted to a warm smile.

“I’m so sorry-” Nadia coughed.

“We landed,” the flight attendant announced.

Nadia looked out the nearest window to see that the plane was at the terminal and had indeed landed. She looked to see people filing off the plane. She scrambled to her feet, thanked the flight attendant, and got off.

New York was three hours ahead of California. When she left the airport and hailed a taxi, it was dark outside. She left the airport from JFK International Airport, the night air was cool on her face, and it was as busy as she imagined it to be. She couldn’t stop looking around at the city lights and the people moving around. She sorta wished she had brought her father with her to get settled. He offered, but Nadia insisted she wanted to do it alone.

Getting all her luggage into her apartment was hard, but she made it. A little nerve-wracking, but once she set down her last suitcase in her one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, it was all totally worth it. She let out a breath of relief and collapsed onto a couch that was already there.

Just as she was scrolling through her phone to look for places to grab dinner, a call was coming in. At first, she expected her parents; she had yet to call to let them know she had landed, but instead it was her best friend.

“Hey, you,” Nadia grinned, answering the phone.

“How was your flight?” said a husky, warm voice. It was the voice of her good friend Callum Hunt.

“It went well,” Nadia lied and kicked off her shoes as she relaxed back on the couch. The AC unit was good, the apartment was freezing, but that's how she liked it, she liked it cold. “I love my new apartment. I need to get settled.”

“I love New York too, it's definitely not Los Angeles, I must warn you that now,” Callum chuckled over the line. “But I’m glad you joined the NYPD.”

Callum was a twenty-eight-year-old friend of hers and also her soon-to-be police partner. He moved to LA, and they attended the police academy together. He was what made her want to move to New York. He showed her the beauty here when Nadia came to visit. He moved here a year ago and was like family to her. He’s her best friend, and of course, some people, ahem, their families wondered if they were together, but Cal and Nadia were just good friends.

“Well, I got some work to do, but you enjoy your day, and I’ll see you tomorrow at work,” Cal said sweetly.

“Sounds good!” Nadia replied before hanging up. She tossed her phone on the couch behind her and yawned and stretched loudly. She was tired from her flight. But she needed to unpack.

After debating on sleeping or unpacking, she went through one hour of unpacking, and then the rest of the night would be spent sleeping.

She needed her rest, after all, tomorrow, the work will begin.