Novelas de Kaydee

Avery’s POVI had read the same sentence three times without understanding a single word.Mr Briggs was standing at the front of the class, explaining something about cellular responses, while the projector displayed a diagram I would normally have been interested in. Around me, everyone was taking notes, occasionally whispering to one another or flipping through their textbooks.I was doing none of those things.My pen rested between my fingers, and my notebook was open to a page containing approximately four lines of notes. I had written the first two sentences at the beginning of the lecture, then spent the next twenty minutes staring at them. My thoughts were elsewhere.More specifically, they were with a certain dark-haired man who was supposed to marry another woman in two months. I pressed my lips together and looked down at my notebook.This was becoming ridiculous.I had tried distracting myself with my coursework. I had gone jogging yesterday. I had watched television with E

Avery’s POVMy heart was beating so hard against my chest that I could feel it in my throat. I slowed my pace as I approached Elisa’s street, my breathing coming out in heavy, uneven bursts. Sweat had gathered along my hairline and the back of my neck, and my running shirt clung uncomfortably to my skin. My legs were beginning to ache, particularly around my calves, but I kept walking, allowing my body a few minutes to recover from the jog.I checked the time on my phone. It was a little after eight.I had been running for almost forty minutes, longer than I initially intended. But I needed it. I needed something to occupy my mind, something that required enough concentration to keep me from thinking about everything else. It hadn’t worked entirely, of course.Luca still managed to find his way into my thoughts, usually when I was least prepared for it. Sometimes it was his face I remembered. Other times, it was the announcement, the photographs of him and Gianna, or the uncomfortabl

Luca’s POVIt was a little after three when I finally decided to call Gianna. I had spent most of the afternoon reviewing documents and responding to emails, but my attention kept drifting towards the phone sitting beside my laptop. Avery hadn’t contacted me, and I wasn’t expecting her to. Still, I needed to do something about the situation with Gianna.My father’s announcement had turned an arrangement that had existed for months into a public commitment. The wedding preparations were already underway, and avoiding them wouldn’t make them disappear. If I was going to go through with this, there were certain things Gianna needed to understand before we got any further.I picked up my phone and dialled her number.She answered after the second ring. “Luca. What a pleasant surprise.”“I want to discuss the wedding arrangements. Are you available this evening?”There was a brief silence. “Of course. Is everything alright?”“We need to talk.”“That sounds rather serious.”“It is.”She lau

Luca’s POVThe apartment felt different without Avery. I had spent most of the previous night pretending otherwise, occupying myself with work I could have easily left until morning, checking security reports that Marco had already reviewed and pouring myself a drink I barely touched. It was easier than sitting in the living room and looking at the empty space on the sofa where she had been sitting before she left.She had sent me a message. She was safe, she was with Elisa, and she needed some time.I had read it several times before replying. I wanted to call her. I wanted to know whether she had eaten, whether she was crying, whether she had managed to sleep. I wanted to hear her voice and tell her that I was sorry, although I wasn’t entirely sure which part of the evening I was apologising for. The announcement? The photograph? The fact that my father had made a decision about my future in front of half of Venice? All of it, maybe. But she had asked for time, and I wasn’t going to

Avery’s POVBy the time I reached the narrow street leading to Elisa’s apartment, I had cried enough to give myself a headache. And everything was pissing me off.The restaurants were beginning to fill, their outdoor tables occupied by couples leaning towards each other over glasses of wine. A few tourists stood near the canal, taking photographs of the buildings as though they had never seen anything quite so magnificent. Somewhere behind me, a street musician was playing a familiar Italian melody, and the warm glow from the shop windows spilled onto the pavement. Life was going on while my heart felt like it would stop beating at any moment.People were laughing, talking, making plans for dinner, and walking home with shopping bags swinging from their hands. Nobody seemed to know that two months from now, the man I loved was supposed to marry another woman.I tightened my coat around myself and kept walking.Getting out of Luca’s apartment had been easier than I expected. I had noti

Avery’s POVI read it once. And again, and again. The words didn’t change. My fingers moved without me being aware of moving them, tapping the article open, and the photograph loaded beneath the headline.Luca stood beneath the warm lights of Palazzo Contarini, dressed in a dark suit that fitted him perfectly. His shoulders were straight, his expression composed, his dark hair neatly arranged. He looked every bit the man Venice expected him to be. And Gianna stood beside him.Her raven-black hair fell over one shoulder in smooth waves, and the dress she wore seemed to have been made specifically for the room she stood in. She looked beautiful in the effortless, expensive way of a woman who had spent her entire life knowing where she belonged. Her hand was linked through Luca’s arm. They looked like they belonged together.I hated that thought the moment it crossed my mind, but it was there all the same.My hands shook as I kept scrolling. I could feel my heart breaking and each breath