Chapter 1 — The City That Watched

Florence was supposed to be the beginning of everything.

For Emily Carter, it was supposed to be the year she reinvented herself—the year she traded rainy Seattle sidewalks for sun-warmed Italian stone, instant coffee for espresso so strong it made her hands shake, and lecture halls for art studios overlooking the Arno River.

Instead, it became the place where everything cracked.

Emily stood on the small balcony of her student apartment, gripping the cool iron railing as the evening bells of the cathedral rang across the city.

Florence glowed at sunset.

Terracotta rooftops burned gold beneath the fading light. The distant dome of Santa Maria del Fiore floated above the skyline like something unreal.

Normally she loved this moment.

But tonight, her phone screen lit up with a message that made her stomach twist.

Lucastexted:

We need to talk.

Her chest tightened.

Those four words had never meant anything good.

Lucas had come with her to Italy six months ago—her boyfriend of two years, the boy who promised adventure and romance and long weekends traveling through Europe.

At first, it had been perfect.

They drank cheap wine on the Ponte Vecchio, shared gelato at midnight, and got lost wandering streets that smelled like fresh bread and old stone.

But slowly things changed.

Lucas complained about everything.

The language.

The classes.

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