Emilio's POV
I took a seat at the small wooden table, settling in to wait for Adrienne's return. Her offer of coffee, coming immediately after I called her out on getting Jacob drunk, was a transparent surprise. I knew it was nothing more than a simple pretext. I correctly suspected she was maneuvering toward something far more significant and potentially compromising than a snack, and entirely against my better judgment, I decided to play along. A cold, hard clarity settled deep in my gut: I was deliberately walking into a dangerous situation with no clean way out.
The room was dimly lit, the shadows dancing on the walls, casting an eerie glow that seemed to mirror the turmoil within me. I glanced over at Jacob's motionless form, his chest rising and falling with each shallow breath. He
