Page 52 of Breaking
"As if you care," she cut in, her voice flat.
His jaw clenched. "Of course I care."
She let out a short, humourless laugh. "Really? Since when?"
"Don't do that," he said, frustration creeping into his tone. "Don't act like I never cared about you, about our family."
Jenna met his gaze, something sharp flashing in her tired eyes. "Cared? You let your family treat me like some gold-digging charity case. You stood there and said nothing while they looked down on me, while they made it clear I wasn't good enough. And you-you never once defended me."
Troy's mouth opened, but no words came.
Jenna's voice trembled, but her anger carried it forward. "You never asked about my life, Troy. Never showed any interest. Did you even know I was working? That I've been an illustrator for years? That I finished my degree through night classes while raising our kids?"
His brows furrowed. "What?"
She let out a bitter laugh. "Of course, you didn't know. You never cared enough to ask. You assumed I just sat at home, waiting for you to come back from your business trips. Do you even know what it was like to be me? To live in that house, playing the perfect wife while you were off-" She stopped herself, shaking her head, her breath coming faster.
Troy's expression darkened. "You think I didn't care? That's not fair."
"Fair?" Her voice pitched higher, shaking with emotion. "What part of my life with you was fair? Even your secretary has easier access to you than I did. She is like the guard dog at the door. How could you let her screen all my calls and messages? I have to hear from the kids when you were out of town. I sat through dinner after dinner whereyour mother made snide comments about how I wasn't good enough. And Lila-"
Troy tried to interrupt "Jenna-"
She didn't let him finish. "Do you know what it's like to feel like a ghost in your own marriage? To walk into a room and see your husband smiling at another woman the way he hasn't smiled at you in years? Do you know what it's like to feel humiliated, over and over, while your so-called partner does nothing?"
Troy inhaled sharply. "There was nothing going on with Lila. I swear. I never saw her that way."
Jenna's eyes burned. "Maybe you didn't. But she did. And she made sure I knew it. And you let it happen."
Olivia placed a gentle hand on Jenna's arm, but Jenna pulled away, her body trembling. Her breath came in ragged bursts, and then, as if something inside her finally broke, the tears came.
Great, ugly, heart-wrenching sobs.
Her shoulders shook, her hands coming up to cover her face as the weight of it all crashed over her. Years of silence, of humiliation, of pain that had been buried too deep to voice-now spilling out in violent, uncontrollable waves.
Troy stared at her, stricken and helpless, his own breath uneven. He let the silence settle between them for a full minute while she got herself under control before finally speaking, his voice unsteady. "If you want a divorce, I will give you that. But you need to listen. I have some things to tell you."
He hesitated, then glanced at Olivia and the opposing lawyer. "Can we speak alone?"
Jenna tensed. Olivia's eyes flickered with concern, but Jenna exhaled sharply and nodded. The lawyers exchanged glances before stepping out, leaving them alone in the stark room.
Troy made brief eye contact before looking down, his fingers tightening into a fist. His voice started slow, hesitant, then gained momentum. "As you know, my father came from a noble, illustrious line. My mother was from an extremely wealthy family. And as their firstborn son, I was supposed to be perfect. But I wasn't." He exhaled shakily. "I didn't speak, not even when Grant had already started forming sentences. My parents knew something was wrong. They hired a tutor who also had a degree in psychology. I had special help with my speech. But this was back in the eighties. Things were different then."
Jenna's brows furrowed, but she remained silent.
"Mack was my only friend because our parents were friends. Social situations were... hard for me. I had embarrassing habits." He paused, the muscles in his jaw tightening. "I used to stim-tap my fingers. There was an incident once at a dinner party. I was overwhelmed, and I started tapping the table in this repetitive rhythm. My father was mortified. He dragged me out of the room and told me I'd never embarrass him like that again. I was four."
Jenna blinked, thrown by the raw vulnerability in his voice.
"They home-schooled me until I grew out of the worst of it-the spells when my mind would just... shut down. My dad hated that I struggled with eye contact. I trained myself out of it. Fortunately, my symptoms are very mild." He let out a hollow chuckle. "To this day, I'm still not sure, but I think I'm borderline ASD-high-functioningautism. And the reason I don't know for sure is I am afraid of what I would learn. "
Jenna sat frozen, absorbing his words, the pieces of their life together suddenly shifting into an entirely different shape.
"Mack knew. That's why, when we started the company, he handled the social parts. I did the technical work-math and computers were soothing to me." Troy swallowed. "But then I met you. And I don’t know how to explain. You…you were my person. You slid into my life seamlessly. You were my safe place." His voice turned raw. "When I shut the door of our bedroom with you in it, I could finally breathe. You never made demands, you just seemed to know exactly what I needed."
Jenna sat there, stunned into silence, her tears drying on her cheeks. Troy had still not looked up.
She didn't know what to say.
