Chapter 28

[Cordelia]

Nothing in my life had prepared me to be treated like a common criminal.

It felt like everyone at the party was watching me being dragged off by two uniformed officers. I could hear whispers as I passed asking, “Who is she? What did she do? - Did someone get hurt? Robbed? Killed?”

A few flickering faces glare at me, their eyes averted as their lips twist in cruel judgment. Nobody stops them. Not even Atlas who stands as still as a statue, his face frozen in disbelief.

“What is this all about?!” I demand as they push me against the hood of their car. “I refuse to come with you until you…”

I hiss in pain when my leg connects with the side of the car, my bruise searing in agony as they tighten the handcuffs and toss me into the back of a police cruiser.

Once we arrive, I am escorted through the police station to be fingerprinted, photographed, and thrown into a dark cell smelling faintly of urine and dry vomit.

“I want to talk to my lawyer!” I scream as the bars cr