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The Don Let Her Shave My Head—So I Left Him
Novelix
new
Completed
My husband’s best friend shaved off the hair I’d spent ten years growing on livestream, and Dario laughed. When I reached for the clippers, he shielded Livia, threatened divorce for the 101st time, and carried her away while I bled alone on the floor. So I said yes. Then Livia’s scheme left me trapped with a man who assaulted me while Dario’s bodyguard prevented my escape. I called the police, sued her for destroying my $1.2 million endorsement, and walked away for good. Waiting was Emilio, the man who had waited eight years for me. This time, I chose him.
Chapters (3)
第1章
My husband's best friend shaved off the hair I'd spent ten years growing, right in front of everyone.
By the time I realized what she'd done, Livia had draped my hair over her head and was laughing into a livestream.
"Dario, look. Doesn't it look better on me?"
My husband actually laughed.
Comments raced across the screen.
Livia played with my hair and shrugged. "Maybe the stylist shouldn't have said her hair was better than mine. She even said Lena would be perfect for a hair-care campaign."
"Now there's nothing left to compare."
I grabbed the clippers from the counter.
"Then it's your turn."
Livia's smile vanished. She immediately ducked into Dario's arms, and my husband stepped in front of her.
"Enough, Lena. She acted without thinking. If you can't let this go, we'll get divorced."
The 101st time.
Once again, he was threatening me with divorce for Livia.
But this time, I smiled.
"Fine."
Dario froze. "What?"
"Divorce."
Just then, my phone lit up.
The message was from Emilio De Santis, a man I hadn't spoken to in eight years.
"Lena, I saw the livestream."
"If you're really leaving him, give me a chance."
"I've waited eight years for you."
I stared at the last line, then finally replied.
"I'm leaving him."
…
That afternoon, I was at a salon in Newark with Livia when the stylist casually complimented my hair and said it would be perfect for a hair-care campaign. She then told Livia that hers was badly damaged and would need time to recover.
That one comparison was enough to set her off.
The moment the stylist stepped away, Livia grabbed the clippers and started a livestream. Before I could stop her, ten years of hair was falling to the floor beneath the buzz of the blades.
By the time I broke free, I barely recognized myself in the mirror.
Livia only laughed, gathered up my hair, and draped it over her head for the camera. When Dario arrived, he didn't get angry with her. She made a joke, and he actually laughed.
That was the last straw.
I grabbed the clippers to return the favor, and Livia immediately hid in his arms while insisting I could shave her if it would make me feel better.
Of course, Dario wouldn't let me touch her.
"She was humiliated in front of everyone and acted without thinking. Do you really have to make this uglier?"
I looked at what was left of my hair in the mirror.
"Funny. You didn't ask her that when she was shaving mine."
His expression darkened, and once again he reminded me that Livia's father had asked him to take care of her before he died.
Dario never forgot that promise.
He had no trouble forgetting the ones he'd made to me.
I was done listening. When I reached for the clippers he'd taken from me, he refused to give them back, and during the struggle, he shoved me away.
The blade sliced across the top of my foot as it fell.
Blood quickly soaked through my shoe.
Dario finally looked alarmed and started toward me, but Livia suddenly slid down the wall, clutching her ankle.
"I think I twisted it."
His gaze moved from my bleeding foot to her ankle.
Then he chose her.
Dario lifted Livia into his arms. "I'll take her to the ER first, then come back for you."
I looked down at the blood pooling near my shoe.
"What about me?"
"Wait for me."
He hurried toward the door. As he passed, he shifted Livia protectively in his arms and knocked me off balance.
The back of my head slammed against a step.
Pain blurred my vision, and when I touched my head, my fingers came away covered in blood.
"Dario, help me..."
He never looked back.
Only when the door closed behind him did I finally understand that somewhere along the way, I'd stopped being the woman he chose first.
My consciousness was fading when my phone lit up.
Emilio De Santis.
The man I hadn't spoken to in eight years had sent only a few lines.
"Lena, I saw the livestream. If you're really leaving him, give me a chance."
"I've waited eight years for you."
I stared at the screen, then replied with blood on my fingers.
"I'm leaving him."
Then everything went black.
第2章
When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. I had stitches on the top of my foot and gauze around the back of my head.
Dario sat beside me. As soon as I opened my eyes, the tension left his shoulders. "The doctor says it's a mild concussion. By the time I came back for you, the salon had called an ambulance."
I didn't tell him that the last person I'd seen before I lost consciousness wasn't a salon employee.
His phone kept ringing. A shipment at Bellini Transport needed his decision, but he ignored every call. Instead, he picked up an apple and slowly began peeling it, as though that could erase what had happened yesterday.
"Go take care of work," I said. "Have your lawyer send me the divorce papers."
The knife stopped moving. "I only said that because I was angry. Where would you go on your own?"
He'd known how afraid I was of being without a home after my mother died. Now he was using that fear to remind me I couldn't leave him.
"That's for me to figure out."
Dario rubbed his forehead. "Livia and I aren't involved the way you think. I promised her father I'd take care of her."
The door opened, and Livia walked in carrying a yellowing wig. "I spent ages picking this out. It's my apology."
Without waiting for me to agree, she pressed it onto my head. Leaning close, she laughed softly. "It's made of dog hair. Suits you perfectly."
I yanked it off and threw it back into her arms. Tears sprang to Livia's eyes. "I knew she wouldn't forgive me. I'll go."
Dario stopped her, took the wig, and pushed it back down on my head. "She bought it for you. Can't you just accept it?"
I smelled it. My neck began to itch, and my chest tightened. "Get it off me. Dario, I'm allergic to dog hair."
"Another excuse?"
He slapped me.
A nurse heard the commotion and hurried over from the doorway. I pushed Dario away, pressed the call button, and told her in a hoarse voice, "Please take the wig off. I'm having trouble breathing."
She removed it immediately and called a doctor. Dario stood to the side, his face slowly draining of color. At last he remembered: years ago, exposure to dog hair had sent me to the ER. He'd held my hand the entire night.
"Lena, I forgot."
"I remember you ordering for Livia. You never forget to leave onions off her plate."
I asked the nurse to call hospital security and have them document what had just happened. When Dario tried to touch my cheek, I pulled away.
"Get out."
After he left, I looked at the reply I'd sent on my phone. For the first time in eight years, the thought of leaving Dario didn't frighten me.
第3章
The doctor cleared me to leave the next afternoon. I went back to our apartment in Jersey City intending to collect my ID and work laptop, then find somewhere else to stay.
Dario had a key. When he arrived, Livia and a man I'd never seen followed him in. One of Dario's bodyguards waited outside the door.
Dario held his phone in front of me. In the video, the man, his face bruised and swollen, claimed I'd hired him to hurt Livia the night before.
"I don't know him," I said.
"He even told me how much you offered to pay."
"You brought him here. Did you ask him for proof I paid him?"
Livia clung to Dario's arm, her voice trembling. "I hope it wasn't Lena, too."
Dario put his phone away. "Admit it now and I'll let it go."
I glanced toward the bodyguard. "You heard that? He doesn't even have evidence."
Dario's expression darkened. He ordered the bodyguard to keep watch at the door, then turned to the man. "Make her tell the truth."
I took a step back. "You brought someone who claims he was going to hurt Livia into our home, and now you're leaving me with him?"
"I'll be right downstairs. He won't dare try anything else."
Livia tugged his sleeve. "Dario, let's go."
After they stepped out, I heard the lock turn. The fear vanished from the man's face. I grabbed a table lamp and smashed it into him, then rushed to the door and shouted for help. The bodyguard outside didn't open it.
For a long time afterward, I couldn't bring myself to say the whole thing aloud. The man sexually assaulted me.
As he left, I heard someone arguing with him outside the door. Then the footsteps receded. I gripped my phone and called 911 first, then Emilio.
"I'm at the apartment." My voice shook so badly I could barely speak. "I need you to help me find a lawyer."
The line went quiet for a second. "I'll handle that. Don't clean up anything before the police get there. I'm on my way."
