All Chapters of His AI Heart: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

It was past midnight when Carlo returned.He'd just stepped into the entryway, loosening his tie as he asked, "Still up?"I sat on the living room sofa, watching him without moving."I was waiting for you."He frowned and narrowed his eyes."You could have just texted. Did you really need to stay up just to wait for me?"I looked at him."Carlo, do you think I talk too much?"His fingers, unbuttoning his shirt, paused."Why are you suddenly asking this?""I want the truth."He tossed his expensive, custom-tailored suit jacket onto the back of a chair, his voice completely nonchalant."Sometimes. A little."I nodded. "When, specifically? For instance?""Like this afternoon, when you sent a picture of some apple pie and asked if I wanted any. Or later, when you wanted to change the wedding flowers to white lisianthus. And then tonight, you said a streetlight on the corner was out and you were scared to walk home alone."He finished with a slight curl of his lip."Lindia, don't you get it

Chapter 2

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

Chapter 3

The Bellini family estate was never short on excitement.Carlo's mother was in charge of all social affairs at the estate.Every month, the long table was filled with esteemed guests, men in sharp suits and women in gold and diamonds mingling about.And every time, Ava was the guest of honor.As for me, the fiancée in name only, I was only summoned to make a token appearance on certain specific occasions.By the time I stepped into the dining room, the meal had already begun.The table was filled with the family's inner circle, and Ava was sitting right next to Carlo.Carlo was turned slightly towards her, a silver knife in hand, patiently cutting her rare filet mignon.His movements were so natural, I almost forgot this was a man who usually couldn't be bothered to tear his own bread at the table.Hearing my footsteps, Ava looked up, her eyes crinkling in a smile."Lindia, you're here! We were all waiting for you."I knew "we were all waiting for you" was just a formality.I was invis

Chapter 4

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

Chapter 5

The Greyhound bus dropped me off at a station in some forgotten town at four in the morning.I used the fake ID I'd been preparing for six months to check into a motel with faded floral wallpaper, paying in cash.I slept until I woke naturally, a sliver of warm yellow light leaking through a gap in the curtains.The old phone was stuffed in the bottom of my suitcase. It had been off all night.The moment I turned it back on, it began to vibrate uncontrollably in my palm.Hundreds of missed calls flooded the screen.Besides Carlo and Madre, there was a long list of unfamiliar numbers from landlines, probably distant Bellini relatives whose faces I couldn't place.My texts had blown up, too.Madre had sent a dozen voice messages.At first, she was struggling to maintain her high-society composure. "Lindia, where have you gone? Why is the priest saying the ceremony is canceled?"By the second one, she couldn't contain her rage. "Our family's honor is at stake. How dare you act alone?"By

Chapter 6

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

Chapter 7

I got off the bus in a small coastal town and started using a new name.The city had an old municipal library that was hiring a part-time librarian.The head librarian was an older Sicilian woman who wore reading glasses perched on her nose. She glanced at my fake ID, then at me, and without asking any more questions, told me to start the next day.My new apartment was on the second floor, facing south, with an old fig tree outside the window.I thought I could live here quietly, watching the seasons change.But on the evening of the third day, when I came home from work, a small, deep blue velvet box was sitting neatly on the doormat.Inside was a new burner phone with a single contact saved in it.I stared at it for a long time before finally dialing.Carlo's voice was hoarser than last time, as if he hadn't slept in days."Lindia, don't hang up." He spoke quickly, as if afraid I would toss the phone into a fireplace the next second."Can we please talk? Just for five minutes."I wa

Chapter 8

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

Chapter 9

"One day. You think that's short? You think it's nothing?" I asked softly."Carlo, I went to six wedding dress fittings. You didn't show up for a single one.""Because every single time, you were at the range with Ava, shooting live targets.""When we were choosing the wedding wine, you insisted on the sweet southern vintage that she prefers.""Our wedding banquet menu had to be planned around the few things Ava won't eat.""When I said I wanted to go look at cathedrals, you said all crosses look the same and I should just pick one.""But that same week, you flew up north to the factory to personally oversee the custom interior, the leather, even the last digits on the license plate for Ava's new car.""It wasn't just one day, Carlo. It was five years. It was one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five days of choices, and every single time, you chose her."I said it all in one breath, my chest rising and falling.Carlo just stood in the doorway, as if he'd been nailed to the spot.He

Chapter 10

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

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