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Alicia clamped her mouth shut and crossed her arms over her chest.
“It’s not Harri you’re really mad at anyway. It’s Dario.” Cocking my head, I gave her a soft smile. “Why don’t you want to spill why you left him?”
Alicia looked down at her lap. “It’s not my idea of fun.”
“Why not?” I gently pushed.
“Because I’m furious at myself.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “Maybe even a little ashamed.”
I felt my brows snap together. “Ashamed? Why?”
“Yeah, what possible reason could you have to feel that way?” asked Harri, frowning.
Alicia let out an annoyed sigh. “I’m not a person who brooks bullshit. I don’t allow people to get away with the kind of stuff he pulled. I should have walked away long ago. Don’t get me wrong, if he’d been violent or cheated on me, I would have left him. But the things he did were so petty and minor and dumb they were easy to write off. I got into a pattern of letting it all fly over my head—even the way he tried making me distance myself from my own family.”
“It’s not like you let him,” Harri soothed.
“But I tolerated it.” Alicia looked at me, her eyes glinting with self-condemnation. “Your hubby wasn’t exactly instantly welcomed into our family, and Dad has been a total asshole toward him at times. But at no point has Dax ever tried to drive a wedge between you and us.”
“Dax isn’t a guy who requires approval, though,” I pointed out. “Dario’s different.”
Alicia grunted. “He got all upset and sulky because none of our family likes him. And even though you all tried getting to know him better to see if you could change that, he didn’t make that same effort. He justexpectedyour approval. And when he wasn’t instantly adored, he decided none of you were worth his time.”
I leaned forward, careful not to spill my wine. “He tried poisoning your mind against us?”
“No, it was more a case of him playing the victim. Whenever I told him I was going to Redwater, he’d say dramatic crap like, ‘How can you want to be around people who hate me?’ or ‘If you loved me, you’d be on my side.’ I’d explain there were no sides, but he wouldn’t listen.”
Harri’s nose wrinkled. “Do you think he actually believed any of that, or were they just attempts at emotional blackmail?”
“The latter for sure,” Alicia replied, unfolding her arms and letting them slump to her lap. “But they didn’t work on me, so then he’d try other things. He’d create a problem either the day before my flight to Redwater, or a few days before. He’d declare he was ill, or pretend he was in pain and needed to go to the hospital. He even faked a heart attack once.”
“Jesus,” I breathed.
Sighing again, she rubbed at her forehead. “He wasn’t like that for the first year; he was so different in so many ways. Bit by bit, his asshole ways started to leak through. But it was petty rather than cruel, you know? You can roll your eyes at ‘petty’ and get on with your day, because it’s mostly just annoying.”
I nodded. “You can get used to it, too. So used to it that it even feels normal.”
“Yeah,” agreed Alicia. “To be honest, though, if I wasn’t so focused on building a following for the yoga channel, I probably would have walked away a lot sooner.”
Harri tilted her head. “What made you finally pack your bags?”
Alicia pulled her legs out from under her. “Do you guys remember I got contacted by that Hollywood agent who wanted me to be a body-double in a particular movie for an actress she represents?”
The memory made my lips kick up. “How can I forget?” I’d been super delighted for Alicia when she’d told me.
“He didn’t like it. Didn’t like that such attention came my way.” Alicia scratched her shoulder. “He considers himself the main star of the yoga channel. When people would recognize us and come over for photos, he lapped that shit up. He was truly in his element.”
“And he couldn’t stand the idea that you’d do something big without him,” Harri surmised.
“Basically, yes.” Alicia dropped her hands to her lap again. “Dario would talk as if she’d asked me to star in goddamn porn. She didn’t even want me to be naked, for Christ’s sake—all I had to do was remove my pants and tee, as if I was in the process of getting undressed. The director just wanted close-up shots of my stomach and legs.”
“I’m not surprised,” I told her. “You’re not only seriously toned, your skin is amazing.”
Harri nodded hard. “I can’t tell you how much I envy you that.”
Alicia’s amused snort was weak. “He was pissed that I agreed to do the scene. He called me insensitive for not caring that he didn’t want other men ogling his woman.”
“But … you flash your stomach and legs when doing yoga videos,” said Harri, voicing my own thought.
