**Stefano’s POV**

I had chosen the worst possible place to stop.

That thought hit me the second I stepped out of the car, and the city's noise swallowed me whole. I was in a public square, the kind of place I usually avoided like the plague. Cafés spilled onto the pavement, the air smelling of roasted espresso and expensive perfume. People were everywhere, laughing, arguing, clinking glasses. Life moved on around me without permission, loud and vibrant, while I felt like a walking shadow.

I ...