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Alicia pointed at her. “Exactly. And I can tell you right now that if an agent had made the same offer to him, he’d have snapped it up. Anyway, I ignored his whining and went ahead with the filming—it was done and dusted within a day. When I got back to the condo, it was to find him positively smashed … as were a lot of my belongings, because he’d trashed the bedroom.”
I felt my lips part, anger crackling in my gut. “He’s such a freaking shit stain.”
“I know, right?” Alicia shook her head, her mouth tight. “We had a huge row. He called me everything from a stuck-up bitch to a traitorous whore. Even threw a plant at me. That was it. I was done.”
Harri spat a curse. “Did he try to stop you from leaving?”
“Nope.” Alicia gave a humorless smile. “He laughed. Said I’d be back when I missed the fame, because I was no one without him.”
Harri’s nostrils flared. “What a narcissistic motherfucker.”
My thoughts exactly. “You made him feel outshined, Alicia, and he just couldn’t hack it. He should have been proud of you. Pleased for you. Instead, he felt threatened, and he made you pay for that.”The dick.“Why does he keep calling you?”
“According to the voicemails he left, he thinks we should ‘try again.’ Claims he regrets that we ‘gave up on us.’”
Harri’s face scrunched up. “Seriously? Why would he think you’d go back to him? And why would he want you to?”
“He’s not interested in me, he’s interested in protecting his channel,” Alicia explained. “Our audience were couples, not single people.”
“So those viewers are now subscribing to channels that feature other couples practicing yoga,” I realized.
“Yup. He tried fixing the problem by including his ‘new girlfriend’ on his videos.” Alicia huffed. “That backfired. Numerous people commented on what an ass he is for moving on so fast.”
“Itdoesmake him an ass,” Harri asserted, to which I gave a curt nod.
“He claimed in his voicemails that she’s really just a friend. One I mysteriously never met in all the time we were together.” Alicia rolled her eyes. “Like I’d buy that.”
“He must hate that your own channel is doing so well,” I wagered with a smug glee.
“He swears he’s proud of me, but I don’t believe that. I don’t believe a single word he says. But he doesn’t seem to think I’m well-aware of his real motivation for calling me, so he just keeps doing it.”
Harri leaned toward her. “What can I do?”
“Nothing except ignore him,” replied Alicia. “It’s honestly the best way to deal with this. Any sort of interaction would only encourage him.”
She was right, but it would be so much more satisfying to make him pay somehow. I bit my lip. “If you told Dad—”
“He’d overreact,” Alicia finished. “That’s what he does. You know his style. I don’t want Dario to have his career ruined or his dark secrets exposed to the world. He’s not evil, he’s just a trivial prick at times.” She planted her palm over her forehead. “I want to slap myself for putting up with his crap for so long.”
I gave her a hard look. “You have no reason to feel any shame. There’s a difference between letting someone walk all over you, and letting small stuff fly over your head while trying to find a balance in a relationship. You didn’t allow him to isolate you from your family. You didn’t tolerate the emotional blackmail. You didn’t let him control your decisions. You asked him to stop his behavior, and you gave him chances to do that. When he took it too far, you left.”
Alicia rubbed at her nape. “I kept thinking he’d go back to the way he’d been during the first year we were together. That we were just going through a ‘bad patch.’ But that patch just stretched on and on, until I realized things weren’t going to get better.”
“There’s no reason to be mad at yourself for not wanting to give up on him or the relationship until you felt positive there was nothing left of it,” Harri told her.
I dipped my chin, in full agreement. “You’re being ridiculously hard on yourself. If it was me or Harri, you’d say the exact same thing.”
Alicia only looked down at her hands and began fiddling with her fingers.
Harri growled. “I’m totally gonna set Dario on fire if I see him again.”
Alicia barked a surprised laugh. “He’s not worth the jail time.”
“But you are.” Harri tossed back the last of her wine. “He hurt you. He should suffer for all eternity.”
“He will, because he’ll mess up his life in no time at all,” said Alicia.
“But I want a hand in it.”
