Chapter 52 Enemies In The Shadows

• The aroma of freshly brewed coffee lingered in the air, but the warmth it promised never reached the silence between them. Mariana sat across from Diego in his penthouse dining room, stirring her coffee in slow, deliberate circles. The tension between them crackled like an unspoken storm, thick and suffocating.
• Diego was dressed in a crisp white shirt, sleeves rolled to his elbows, exposing the veins that lined his forearms. He barely touched his plate, his gaze locked on the city skyline beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. The wounds of betrayal still lingered between them, raw and unhealed.
• “You still don’t trust me,” Mariana said, her voice steady, but her fingers tightened around her cup.