Aria's POV
The police arrived within minutes, their sirens cutting through the sterile hospital air like knives. I watched through the waiting room window as the squad cars pulled up, lights flashing red and blue against the darkening sky, painting everything in alternating colours of blood and bruises.
Two officers walked in with the kind of measured confidence that comes from doing this a thousand times before. Detective Maria Rodriguez and Detective James, their badges gleaming under the fluorescent lights. Their faces were professionally neutral, but I saw the way their eyes swept over us, cataloguing, judging, already forming conclusions.
"Ms Winters. Mr. Cross. Ms Thompson." Detective Rodriguez's voice was firm, authoritative. "We need you to come down to the station for questioni
