The room was too bright.
That was the first thing Hikaru noticed when the patrol car door closed behind her, and she was guided into the police station building. The place was clean, orderly—far from the chaos she had expected to find. She passed several officers along the way, yet to her surprise, none of them seemed to realize that Hikaru was connected to the infamous Ivan family of Moscow.
She was led inside without resistance and seated on a small sofa in a room that felt more like a break room than an interrogation chamber. The coat was still wrapped around her body, yet the cold continued to creep in from within. Her hands trembled uncontrollably, as if her body had yet to accept the fact that she was no longer running or trying to escape as far as possible from Ivan's estate.
The officer who had brought her in stood nearby. He removed his cap, then chose to sit across from her before speaking again.
