“Please step away from my children,” he said, forcing steadiness into his tone. “Who are you.”

The woman looked up at him slowly, her expression neither frightened nor defensive…The first thing Matteo Alvarez noticed was the sound of footsteps changing rhythm, a subtle but unmistakable difference that sent a sudden chill through his chest as he lifted his gaze from the message glowing on his phone. The afternoon crowd filled the old plaza of San Belluno, a sun washed city nestled between the hills and the sea, where life moved slowly and strangers brushed past one another without concern, yet in that exact moment the air around him seemed to tighten with quiet urgency.