Relationship betrayal

Twenty years in the past, it all began with a friendly blind date.

Chelsea was a mutual friend of Victoria, who is indeed one of the main characters. Being a good best friend, Chelsea set Victoria up on a blind date after her breakup with Victor, whom she had been with for 4 years. Chelsea wasn’t as close to Antonio, but they had a basic friendship that consisted of saying hi and bye in the hallways.

Coincidentally, Antonio had just gotten out of a long relationship with his first love around the same time Victoria did. One casual afternoon, Chelsea set up a friendly blind date at the mall for Victoria and Antonio—without either of them knowing about it. Her plan was to introduce them and let them get to know each other.

Suddenly, what were strangers became friends in a matter of an hour. The day ended, and Antonio asked for her number. He certainly wanted to see her again. As Victoria walked away, Antonio smelled her perfume. What was left was music playing in his head and long thoughts that said, “Everyone falls in love sometime. I don’t know about you, but it ain’t a crime.”

Fast forward two months, and they were your average “perfect couple.” Not one anniversary passed when they weren’t spoiling each other. Not one day went by without texting.

As two more months passed, Victoria would accidentally let some time go by before talking to Antonio. It was hard enough for her parents to pay the bills or do anything, considering they had disabilities. Victoria cared for her parents, so she took multiple jobs as a babysitter, dog sitter, and waitress. With little time to spend on herself, it affected their relationship a lot.

Little did Victoria know, Antonio had some tricks up his sleeve—but she wouldn’t find out until it was too late.

Without attention from his girlfriend, Antonio spent his time at the strip club—often days and nights. One morning, Victoria got a call saying Antonio was making a disturbance at a strip club. As soon as she hung up, she dialed his number, and it went to voicemail every single time. She drove to his house without a heartbeat. What she found crushed her heart into pieces.

When she reached his house, the door was unlocked. When she knocked on his bedroom door, all she could hear was moaning. Her instinct was to kick down the door—which she did. Two strippers paused what they were doing and came over to Victoria, trying to fight. Being reasonable, Victoria took it for what it was, walked to her car, and drove off.

Later that night, Antonio left voicemails.

"Baby, please forgive me, it’s not what you think. They mean nothing to me. You are my world, you’re my rock, you’re my wife."

In a low-pitched voice, he began, “Please don’t judge me, and I won’t judge you. And if you love me, let it be beautiful.”

With that being said, she forgave him without hesitation.

Even though she forgave him, things weren’t as smooth as they used to be. The memory of that horrible day left Victoria with doubts that her boyfriend would be unfaithful. She constantly checked his phone. All the trust they had was gone within a matter of months.

One peculiar day, while Antonio was taking a shower, Victoria found texts from the strippers he had cheated on her with—saying they think they’re pregnant.

Two minutes later, he came out with a playful expression, but what she saw was nothing to smile about.

"Pregnant??!! Pregnant???!! Are you kidding me, Antonio? You weren’t smart enough to use protection? Not just one possible baby, but two? They better be playing. Tell me they’re playing, Antonio."

With an astonished look on his face, he simply said,

"No, sweetie. Of course I used protection."

(Victoria looks puzzled)

"Then why would they send you something so serious as that?"

"I don’t know, baby. It probably was sent to the wrong person. I would never hurt you, baby—it was just a mistake. I promise you, from now on I’ll stay faithful. I only want you," he said, approaching her.

Not knowing what to believe, she hugged and kissed him—confused.

"After all, I love him," she said. "He has been by my side through everything."

That wasn’t the last time her heart would be crushed into tiny pieces.

Two weeks later, Chelsea called her with news she likely didn’t want to hear. There were talks in the streets that Antonio did get the women pregnant—and that he was paying them off to get abortions.

On top of that was the final and worst blow:

The strippers gave him HIV.

(Victoria pauses, half-shocked, half-dumbfounded.)

"I knew that he wasn’t telling me the truth. It was just something about that day I could never get over. I asked him—and he lied to me straight in my face," Victoria says, her voice shivering as she screams,

"I’M HIV POSITIVE!!!!"

"Listen here," Chelsea says. "I want you to cry your heart out until you can’t anymore. Rip his stuff to shreds—and break up with him."

"Thanks, best friend," Victoria said, sobbing.

(Phone hangs up)

Victoria took an hour—and then got the courage to ask him to come over. Two minutes later, the conversation began like this:

"Antonio, we’re done."

"Why, baby?"

"I’m too good to you."

"So am I. I’ve been there for you since the first day I met you!"

"You take my love for granted."

"I’ve always told you how much I care about you!"

"I just don’t understand it."

In a quick moment, Antonio reached his car quicker than you can count to ten.

From then on, Antonio saw all the hurt he caused his girlfriend. He tried to prove to her every day that he could change—constantly texting her good morning, goodnight, and asking if she wanted food.

Though he made the biggest effort, it still didn’t lead Victoria to trust him—which made it worse. There were endless nights when Victoria would go on, bickering about the past.

Somewhere near a year into their relationship, Victoria was still routinely checking his phone. She noticed the tremendous amount of withdrawals from his bank account. Later on, she received a call from her bank saying that her account was overdrawn by $1,500.

The bank called to make sure it wasn’t fraud. Apparently, after four purchases made at a strip club, the card was declined.

"Thank you, Ms. Smith. I’m glad you notified me of this. It wasn’t fraud, sadly, because the person who used it had authorization to my card."

Victoria had a plan.

What plan, you might ask? Keep listening to find out.

Days before Valentine’s Day, she wouldn’t stop talking about how they should get away on a vacation.

"Antonio, we should go on a trip somewhere. Anywhere, actually. Maybe Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Hawaii—let’s just get away from everyone."

"Okay, baby. I think we should go somewhere exquisite—like Maui."

"That sounds like a good idea."

While in the back of her head, there were thoughts of vengeance.

Step 1: Seduce him and tie him to the bed

Step 2: Take every last thing of his

Step 3: Threaten him at gunpoint to keep quiet

Step 4: Break up with him and flee Maui

The only sound in the room was crickets—until Victoria started to talk.

"Did you really think you’d get away with everything you did to me?" (laughing hysterically)

"I took enough of your games and now it ends here. There’s no coming back. I mean—I would kiss you goodbye, but you don’t deserve it. After all, you’re lucky I didn’t put a bullet in your skull."

"Don’t leave me like this. I didn’t do anything wrong!"

"I should’ve never let you in."

"You aren’t glad that we met?"

"You’re the worst. And you know what you did to me."

Two years later, Victoria had never looked back. Not only was she in a healthy relationship, this time—she was a wife, with kids.

One thing she didn’t lose for Antonio was the love she once had. Although she had moved on and been through thick and thin, they still kept it cordial. Here and there, she’d check in on him, and he would do the same.

Often, it was the same conversation on repeat.

"How’s your perfect life?" Antonio would say.

"Well, it’s what I always dreamed of."

(Low pitch) "That’s great."

"How about you?"

"I’m trying to get off the streets and stop doing drugs."

"I can’t believe you’re on the streets."

"Me either. The depression after our breakup led me to do everything dangerous."

"I’m sorry to hear that, but... I gotta go." (Phone hangs up)

Antonio sobbed into the phone as if she were still there. He reminisced about the good times they had—and would never have again. He sobbed even more thinking about what he put her through. In a desperate attempt to get her back, he dialed her number again.

(Ring)

It went on like that three times.

The fourth time, she picked up—but in a rude tone.

"Why are you calling me?"

"Without you, my world feels empty. I don’t feel like I’m living for anything."

"In that case—maybe you shouldn’t be living anymore."

"How could you say something so cruel?"

"The breakup wasn’t only harsh on you. I reached my breaking point. So I did what I had to do."

"But we had so much history together!"

"I cannot waste no time. I’m really timeless."

"That’s really heartless of you to say—considering I just said I want to leave this planet."

The last and final words Antonio would ever hear from her were:

"If I ever said I loved you—I was lying."

(Phone rings)

Oh, it’s Chelsea. I haven’t heard from her in a while.

"Girl, I have something to tell you—and it’s a little hard to take in. So sit down and promise to remain calm."

"Antonio is dead."

Pure silence

"What??? You can’t be serious. I was just talking to him a few days ago!"

(Sobbing) "My last words to him were that I lied about loving him."

"Why would you say that? You knew he was depressed about you!"

"I had just gotten off the phone with him, and I couldn’t stand to hear him talk like that. So I hung up—and lied about having to go."

"That’s really disrespectful. I can’t believe you would say something like that."

"I know. I feel horrible. That was the last thing I said to him."

"They’re planning to have the funeral in a week. I want you to show up and make a speech."

"I will. I’ll make him proud."