I didn’t respond, but I did smile. A lot. Around 8:00 p.m., my phone basically exploded with notification. Turns out ry’s boss had received the voice clips and immediately called him in for a meeting. From the string of increasingly desperate texts Randy sent me, it didn’t go well. Apparently his boss had been suspicious about some work issues for a while, and hearing Randy call him an incompetent who couldn’t find his ass with both hands was the last straw. Randy was put on probation pending further review. His parents also received their clips and called him in tears asking why he would say such horrible things about them. According to his texts, his mom was hysterical and his dad wouldn’t even speak to him. By 10: p.m., Randy was sending me these long rambling texts about how I had ruined his life and how one bad joke didn’t justify what I had done. He switched between begging for forgiveness and threatening me with legal action. I saved all the texts but didn’t respond to any of them. I slept at Emma’s again that night because I was honestly a little scared he might show up drunk or something, but in the morning I felt lighter, like I had finally stood up for myself after years of letting him walk all over me.

The next step was figuring out what to do with all his stuff. I couldn’t keep 15 garbage bags in my apartment and I definitely didn’t want to see him to give them back. That’s when Emma suggested something that made me gasp. What if we just took it to the dump. It seemed extreme. Even after everything, I wasn’t sure I could just throw away all his possessions. But then I remembered the emails, the planned humiliation, the cheating, the 3 years of supporting him while he laughed behind my back. So this morning Emma borrowed her brother’s truck and we loaded up all 15 bags. I checked through them one last time to make sure there wasn’t anything super important like birth certificates or irreplaceable family items. I’m not a monster. Then we drove to the local dump and, well, we dumped it. I’m not going to lie, watching the garbage truck compact all his designer clothes and stupid video game collectibles was was surprisingly therapeutic. As we were driving back, Randy called from a number I didn’t recognize. I’m guessing he borrowed a phone since I had blocked his. I didn’t answer, but he left a message saying his car had been repossessed and he needed to get his stuff from my place to at least have something to wear to work tomorrow. Too late, Randy. Too late. I’m back at my apartment now. It feels weirdly empty without all his things, but also peaceful. I changed all the locks today. My landlord was super understanding when I explained the situation. I know some people might think what I did was extreme, but after 3 years of putting him first and being treated like a doormat, it felt like exactly what he deserved. More updates to come as the fallout continues. His friend Jake has been blowing up my phone with angry messages, and apparently Amber from work is now confused about why Randy is suddenly being so cold to her. The dominoes are still falling. Edit: for those asking about legal issues, don’t worry. I checked with a friend who knows about this stuff. The car was in his name, but I made the payments as gifts. I was never legally responsible for it. Plus I kept all the really important documents I found. I’m not that petty LOL.

Second update: y’all are literally the best. The support on my last post was insane, and so many of you wanted another update, so here’s the tea on everything that’s happened in the past week since ry’s belongings found their new home at the local dump LOL. So anyway, the morning after the dump trip, I woke up to this weird scratching sound at my apartment door. Like, not loud enough to be knocking, but definitely someone was there. I checked my doorbell cam—thank God I installed one last year after that package thief situation in my building—and saw Randy sitting on the floor outside my door looking completely wrecked. His hair was all messed up. He was wearing the same clothes from 2 days ago, and he was just riding something. I turned up the volume and realized he was sliding notes under my door one by one. I tiptoed to the door, still in my PJs, and saw like seven little paper notes that had been pushed under. Each one had a different message: please talk to me, I need my stuff for work, my boss is going to fire me, my parents won’t talk to me, my car is gone, what did you tell everyone, I’m sleeping in Jake’s car, please answer. Part of me felt a tiny bit bad seeing him like that for about 3 seconds, then I remembered sitting alone in that restaurant for 2 hours while he planned to humiliate me. Nope. Not today, Satan. I qui collected all the notes, evidence just in case, and went to make coffee. My curig decided to stop working mid brew, of course it would choose now to break, so I had to resort to the emergency instant coffee I keep for power outages. The day was already off to a stellar start L. While sipping my sad coffee, I checked my phone: 83 missed calls overnight, texts from numbers I didn’t recognize, and 17 voicemails. Randy had been busy. I was about to delete them all when I noticed one from his mom. Hm. Interesting. I decided to listen to that one. She sounded upset but not angry. She thanked me for opening her eyes about how her son really felt and asked if we could talk sometime. She said she’d had no idea about ry’s behavior and was deeply ashamed that she’d rais someone who would treat a partner that way. I saved that voicemail but deleted the rest. Edit: a lot of you are asking if I called his mom back. Not yet. I’m still processing everything and don’t want to get pulled into family drama. Maybe someday.

I was getting ready to head to Emma’s—my apartment felt weirdly empty and I kept jumping at every sound—when my doorbell rang. I checked the camera again and Randy was gone, but his friend Jake was there. Great. I didn’t answer, but Jake started talking anyway, knowing I could hear through the door. He said Randy was a broken man and I needed to stop this revenge game because it had gone too far. Then he said something that made me pause. He claimed he had never been at the restaurant and had no idea what Randy did until afterward. Wait, what? But he was there. I literally watched him laugh at ry’s jokes about me. Was he seriously trying to gaslight me too? I checked the doorbell cam recording later and realized Jake had been filming the whole time he was talking, probably trying to get me to say something he could use against me. Sneaky jerk.

After Jake left, I grabbed an overnight bag and headed to Emma’s. On the way, I decided to check my bank account—anxiety, am I right—and saw the car payment refund had already processed. That was fast. Usually these things take forever. I did a little happy dance right there on the sidewalk, probably looking like a complete weirdo to everyone walking by L. At Emma’s, we ordered takeout and I finally felt safe enough to go through everything that had happened systematically. She helped me make a timeline of all the events. I told you, I’m a list person: one, restaurant humiliation Thursday night; two, discovered Randy’s emails about planning it Friday morning; 3, sent voice clips to boss and parents Friday afternoon; four, belongings taken to the dump Sunday morning. It looked so calculated when written out like that. For a moment, I wondered if I’d gone too far. Emma must have seen my face because she grabbed my phone, pulled up the screenshots of ry’s emails planning my humiliation, and made me read them again out loud. Nope. I hadn’t gone too far. Not even close.

Later that afternoon, I got curious about how effective my little telegram operation had been. I created a new Instagram account—don’t worry, used a completely random name and stock photo—and looked up ry’s profile, which was set to public because he’s trying to build a personal brand, his words, not m. OMG y’all, his latest post was a long rambling apology about how he had made some mistakes and hurt people who didn’t deserve it. Classic vag booking without actually admitting what he did. The comments were a mess. His friends were asking what happened. Some girl, probably Amber, had commented call me with a sad face emoji. And his cousin had written Grandma’s asking why you’re not answering her calls. While I was scrolling—okay, fine, I was totally stalking—I got a text from a mutual friend Damon. He’s more ry’s friend than mine, so I was surprised to hear from him. The text just said can we talk, not taking sides, just confused. I ignored it at first, but he followed up with Randy told everyone you hacked his accounts and stole from him but that doesn’t sound like you hacked his accounts stole from him. Oh hell no. I called Damon immediately. He picked up on the first ring and sounded genuinely shocked to hear from me. The conversation was illuminating. According to Damon, Randy had told everyone a completely different story. He claimed I had gone psycho after a tiny joke at dinner, hacked into his personal accounts, stolen money from him, and destroyed all his possessions out of female hysteria—his actual words. He was painting himself as the victim of a crazy ex-girlfriend. I took a deep breath and asked Damon one question: do you want to know what really happened? When he said yes, I didn’t hold back. I told him everything. The 2-hour wait. The public humiliation. The discovery of the planned emails. The voice messages Randy had sent about his boss and parents. The fact that I had been paying for his car while he mocked me behind my back. I even played him one of the voice clips I’d saved where Randy called me his personal ATM to his friends. There was a long silence on the phone, then Damon just said holy. He’s been lying to all of us. Apparently, Randy had been spinning stories about me for months to his friend group, claiming I was clingy, financially controlling, and emotionally unstable. None of it was true, but they had believed him because, well, he was their friend. Damon apologized for not reaching out sooner and asked if he could tell the others the truth. I said he could share what I’d told him.

The next morning, I finally felt ready to go back to my apartment. Emma came with me—she’s seriously the best friend ever—to make sure Randy wasn’t lurking around. The hallway was clear, but there were more notes under my door. This time they were angrier: you’re ruining my life and you regret this, and my personal favorite I know what you did with my stuff. Um yeah, I took it to the dump. That wasn’t exactly a secret La. I spent the day deep cleaning my apartment and rearranging furniture. It’s amazing how moving a couch to a different wall can make a space feel completely new. I threw out the sheets from our bed—too many memories—and ordered new ones online. I even hung up some art prints I’d been keeping in the closet because Randy thought they were too girly. My apartment was becoming mine again.

Wednesday morning brought a new development. I got an email from ry’s workplace—not from his boss but from HR. They were investigating a situation and wanted to know if I would be willing to provide any relevant information about ry’s professional conduct. I’m guessing his boss showed the voice clips to HR after putting Randy on probation. I replied that I would share what I knew, which was limited to voice messages Randy had sent me voluntarily where he discussed his workplace and colleagues. I emphasized that I hadn’t recorded anything myself or obtained anything illegally. They seemed satisfied with that and asked me to forward any relevant messages. I sent them three of the worst ones where Randy called his boss incompetent, claimed to be doing his boss’s job for him, and admitted to taking extended breaks without telling anyone. I don’t know what happened after that, but but ry’s Instagram that evening had a cryptic post about unemployment in America, so draw your own conclusions LOL.

Thursday was when things got weird. I was at the grocery store when I literally ran into ry’s mom. Awkward. I tried to smile politely and move on, but she stopped me. She asked if we could talk for a minute. She wasn’t angry at all. Instead, she thanked me for sending those voice clips. Apparently she and ry’s dad had been supporting him financially for years without realizing he was mocking them behind their backs. The car I thought I was helping pay off, they had actually put the down payment on it and co-signed the loan. Randy had been taking money from them and me. She apologized for raising someone who would treat anyone the way Randy treated me. I could see she was genuinely heartbroken. I didn’t have the heart to tell her about the emails planning my humiliation or the other girl. Some things parents just don’t need to know.

When I got home, there was a package outside my door. No notes this time, just a small Amazon box. I was nervous to open it, thinking it might be some weird gift from Randy, but inside was a Starbucks gift card and a note from my neighbor across the hall thanking me for finally getting rid of that loud jerk. Apparently Randy would blast music when I wasn’t home and had been rude to several neighbors.

Last night, exactly one week after the restaurant incident, I finally changed all my social media to private and blocked ry’s new accounts. He’s created three since I blocked his original ones. I also changed my phone number, which I’d been putting off because it’s such a hassle, but it was worth it for the peace of mind. And then this morning, drum roll please, I got a letter from the car loan company confirming that the loan had been terminated and the vehicle repossessed. They included photos of the car being towed from outside Jake’s apartment where Randy has apparently been crashing. The letter stated that due to the evidence provided regarding fraudulent represent they wouldn’t be pursuing any further action against the loan was ry’s problem now. Emma called to check on me and asked if I felt bad about any of it. I thought about it for a minute and realized I don’t. Not even a little bit. Randy spent 3 years taking everything he could from me—my money, my time, my self-esteem. All I did was show everyone who he really is using his own words and actions.

So what’s next? I’ve started putting the car payment money into a savings account instead, and I’m considering adopting a cat from the local shelter, something Randy would never allow because he claimed to be allergic. He wasn’t. I once found anti means in his gym bag that he’d take before visiting his cat owning parents. As for Randy, last I heard from Damon, he’s still staying on Jake’s couch. Still doesn’t have a job. His car is gone. His stuff is gone. And his reputation is in shambles, all because he couldn’t resist publicly humiliating the one person who had been supporting him for years. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, I guess. Edit: thanks for all the support everyone. To address some common questions: one, no, I don’t think I’ll ever speak to Randy again, not even for closure; two, yes, I did check with a friend who knows legal stuff, everything I did was within my rights; three, no, I didn’t keep anything of his except important documents which I’ll mail to his parents; four, yes, I’m thinking of changing the locks again because I’m paranoid he made copies; five, I’ll update again if anything major happens, but hopefully this chapter of my life is closed. Edit two: several people have asked about the voice messages and how I sent them. I didn’t do anything complicated. I literally just forwarded the telegram voice messages he had sent me to the people he talked about in them. Telegram makes it super easy to forward messages or save them and send them in a new chat, no hacking required.

Last update: hey Reddit fam, it’s been ages since my last update, like 6 months OMG, and so many of you have dm’d asking how things turned out after the whole Randy saga. Figured it was time for a proper closure post. First off, I moved about a month after everything went down. I was still feeling weird in my old apartment. My lease was ending anyway, so I found a smaller but cuter place across town. It costs a bit more but is worth every penny for the peace of mind. Also, I got a cat. Her name is commie and she’s this sassy tortoise shell who absolutely hates men for some reason. My brother came over to help me assemble bookshelf and she hissed at him the entire time, but she literally sleeps on my pillow every night purring like a lawn mower. Soul sister much. I’ve been saving the car payment money that used to go to ry’s Mustang, and it’s added up to over $2,300. I’m using some of it for a solo trip to Portland next month. I’ve never traveled alone before and I’m nervous but also super excited. Characters 1015. Now for the Randy updates because I know that’s what most of you are here for LOL.

About a month after my last post, Randy lost his job completely, not because of the voice messages I sent, though those didn’t help, but because he kept showing up late and apparently had a meltdown in a meeting. I know this because his mom still texts me occasionally. We’ve developed this weird, not friendship exactly, but mutual respect. Randy moved back in with his parents for a while, but according to his mom that didn’t last long. He kept breaking their house rules, coming home drunk at 3:00 a.m., not helping with anything, being rude to them, so they gave him an ultimatum: get a job and contribute or move out. He chose to move out and is now apparently crashing on various friends’ couches, though his friend circle has shrunk dramatically. His car was sold at auction by the loan company and get this, it’s sold for less than what was still over on it, so he still has to make payments on a car he doesn’t even have anymore. His mom said he tried to blame me legally for this, but his own lawyer told him he didn’t have a case since the payments I made were considered gifts and I had evidence of his fraud. The girl from his work Amber is now apparently his girlfriend, though from what I’ve heard through mutual friends it’s super toxic. She found out he was talking to other girls on Tinder while with her but took him back anyway. They’ve broken up and gotten back together like four times already.

Poor girl is where I was 3 years ago, and I genuinely hope she figures it out faster than I did. Oh, I almost forgot the weirdest part of this whole saga. 3 months ago, ry’s brother reached out to me on Instagram. We’d only met like twice during my relationship with Randy so it was super random. He apologized for his brother’s behavior and then asked me out. I was like sir this is not appropriate LOL. I politely declined and blocked him too. Some people have zero self-awareness, I swear. I added up approximately how much I spent on Randy over our three years together, between the car payments, covering rent when he was between jobs, paying for most of our dates, and various loans that were never repaid, and it came to over 30,000.

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