Ella's POV
I sat at the back of the police cruiser with my wrists cuffed behind me, the chain short enough that my shoulders ached already. The metal was cold, but it warmed only where it touched skin.
Officer Reyes, badge number 417, first name Mateo, though he never told me that… Sat in the driver’s seat, engine running, the cad radio crackling low with dispatcher chatter
He hadn’t said much since he put me in here. “Hands behind your back. Legs apart. Stay still.”
Normal routine. Sounded professional, except for the way his thumb had lingered a second too long when he clicked the cuffs shut.
Now the car was parked behind the shuttered auto-parts store on the edge of town, far enough from the main road that few cars passed and headlights didn’t sweep over us often, close enough th
