Alle Kapitel von His AI Heart: Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 10

I didn't even have the energy to argue with him anymore. I turned and walked straight back to the master bedroom.I had the next day off, so I woke up late.Before I even opened my eyes, I heard easy laughter coming from the living room.I pushed open the door just in time to see Carlo at the entryway, changing his shoes.His dark hair was soaked with sweat, his tight athletic tank top clinging to the hard lines of his muscles. In his hand, he held two exquisite paper bags.Ava was behind him, her cheeks flushed, laughing and out of breath."Your stamina is insane. You almost ran me into the ground today."Carlo looked back at her, his eyes soft."That's what you get for keeping me up all night. I'll go slower tomorrow, maybe shave off a couple of miles."In the second year we were together, I had tentatively asked if he could take a walk with me around the neighborhood after dinner.He always said he was stretched too thin.I brought it up a few more times after that. He said that man

We had been together for so many years; even if I had to be the one to cancel the wedding, I had to do it face-to-face.To give this sham of a relationship the dignified end it deserved.But when I woke up the next day, the other side of the bed was cold.On my phone screen, however, was a rare message from Carlo.It wasn't the AI this time."Ava's in a mood. Taking her to the island for a bit. Be back."I stared at the words for a long time, my fingertips growing cold.I typed out a reply: "I told you last night, we need to talk about something very important today."The response was almost instantaneous. "Don't make a big deal out of nothing."I knew instantly that the person on the other end of the phone had been replaced by the cold AI again.I let out a cold laugh, didn't reply, and instead pulled a suitcase from the bottom of the closet.There wasn't much to pack.In the five years I had lived in this house, everything that was truly mine fit into a single suitcase.As night fell

The other end of the line went dead silent.In his world, the world of a man in power, I had loved him for five years and bowed my head for five years.Even if I had staged this whole runaway bride stunt, it was just some desperate ploy for his attention.So now he was angry. Angry about his pride, about being publicly played by a woman.Even now, it had never occurred to him that I wasn't throwing a tantrum. I just didn't love him anymore.I spoke. "You don't have to explain anything to Madre.""I've already figured out a way for the Bellini family to save face."Carlo was immediately on alert. "What do you mean?"I didn't answer him. I just hung up the phone.Then I opened my suitcase and pulled a thick leather portfolio from the very bottom.Inside was everything I had carefully copied from Carlo's burner phone over the past five days.I sealed three documents into three plain envelopes.The first was a screenshot of the AI program's code, accompanied by a photo of Carlo's computer

Three days later, I was passing the small tavern next to the library after work.I sat down and ordered a sparkling water. The young waiter smiled, pushed the drink toward me, and slid a folded, cream-colored card under the coaster."A young lady asked me to give this to you."He winked. "She said you'd know who it's from."I pulled out the card.The handwriting was chillingly familiar, Ava's deliberately rounded, ornate Italian script."Lindia,There are some things I think you need to understand.You probably don't know that when Carlo was sixteen, he handled things for the family for the first time.That night, I was the one who stayed with him in the basement until dawn. I was the one who helped him burn the shirt, and I was the one who helped him wash out the blood.He was shaking next to me all night, and I was the one who held him.What we have isn't love.It's blood, it's survival. It's something a girl from your clean little world will never touch.It's something that runs dee

Carlo stayed in my small city for a whole week.For a solid week, he stubbornly performed for me, one by one, all the gestures he had once reserved only for Ava.Every morning at six sharp, a warm brown paper bag would appear on the doormat.They were the first batch of croissants from the best bakery in town. No nuts, not even a trace of hazelnut in the butter.In the afternoons, if the sky even hinted at rain, a new, long-handled black umbrella would be hanging from the doorknob.Whenever I went out late at night, even just to the corner store, a black sedan would follow me slowly, never too close, about two blocks behind.The window was always down, but the person inside never got out.Only at the moment I pushed open the old wooden door to my apartment building would the car silently drive away.This belated devotion, which would have made me weep with joy a year ago, now just felt exhausting.On the evening of the seventh day, I stopped him under the old-fashioned gas lamp in fron