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“And I stayed because the only real opportunity I ever had was here.”
“That’s so untrue. You could have gone anywhere. Done anything.”
“From the time I was old enough to understand words, I knew I would follow in my father’s footsteps.”
Oh, the poor little rich boy. “Well, following in my mother’s would have meant a mindless, never-ending job at a plant, so I guess you got the better end of that deal.”
His lips curled down. “Of course I did. I was wealthy so I never had a single problem in my life and everything fell into place for me.”
“I didn’t say that. I was only saying you had a good opportunity here and I didn’t. So I left and you stayed.” She wasn’t surprised he was getting annoyed with her. She annoyed a lot of people. “You still have all your opportunities, and the world has become one giant garbage dump for me.”
He relaxed a bit. “What happened?”
“You don’t know? I shouldn’t be surprised. I guess I’m not interesting enough for anyone in this town to know anything about me.” She’d thought the man would at least ask around to try to find out more about her after they’d faced off in court.
He sat back. “I know you turned in a client and that it cost you your job and your marriage, but I asked my friend not to tell me the whole story. I thought that should come from you. I’ve met your husband a couple of times. I know you probably don’t need to hear this, but you’re better off without him.”
She didn’t feel better off. “Just so we’re clear, I’m not crying over the loss of my great love. I didn’t love Todd, and he didn’t love me. We made sense, and his father wanted him to settle down. He also needed women lawyers to parade around to show he wasn’t a sexist. So I fit the bill and we got married.”
“If you didn’t love him, what did you get out of it?”
This was the part she often felt bad about though she knew it happened all the time. She wasn’t going to lie tohim. “Marrying him meant I got the job I wanted and I got a seat at the table I wanted to sit at. I also thought I was getting a partner who wanted to work toward the same goals. That was how I viewed marriage. It was supposed to be a good partnership. The way you’re looking at me, I would suspect the last time you saw Todd he was with a woman who wasn’t me. I knew about that, too. I didn’t care.”
“Didn’t care? So you had an open marriage?”
Her heart constricted a bit, and now she was the one getting annoyed. “Not at all, but I knew who he was when I married him.”
“So it was all your fault?”
She didn’t like the sound of that. “Of course not.”
“Then why excuse him? You’re putting the blame on yourself. I find it interesting that you frame your whole marriage as a marriage of convenience.”
“It didn’t turn out to be convenient for me.” The cheating had started fairly early on, but she’d told herself it didn’t matter since they weren’t in love.
So why had she never cheated? Why had she stayed true to a marriage that was basically a sham? Why had she spent years without the consolation of warm arms around her?
For a career that ended so easily?
“What did happen, Jayna?”
It was far easier to talk about this than her marriage. “We had a client who I believe blatantly used insider information to make money on the stock market.”
“Then you had to turn him in. You informed the partners of your firm, right?”
“Of course.” She’d followed all the rules and still gotten burned. “I presented them the evidence of the crime and my father-in-law told me it was a gray area and I should step down as his counsel. I still had the duty and obligation to report the crime, so I did.”
Quaid whistled. “That took some guts.”
“He was a horrible human being, and I’m absolutely certain there were other, more unsavory crimes the man committed. I couldn’t prove those, but I could prove he committed this crime.” She hated the fact that she could feel tears forming in her eyes. It wasn’t because of sorrow. It was anger. She’d felt so helpless. She’d done the right thing and it cost her a life she’d... She hadn’t loved it, but she’d worked hard for it. “I could stop some of the things he did by putting him in jail for insider trading. So I did it. I knew it was likely the end of my time at the firm. I knew it would be the end of my marriage.”
“He was hurting people?”
“I couldn’t prove it, but my every instinct told me the man was a predator, and now every eye is on him because unlike my father-in-law, the federal prosecutors didn’t see any gray area at all.” Getting eyes on the man she’d been certain was involved with the Mafia was the whole point of the endeavor. “They arrested him, and he’ll go on trial next year.”
“Then you did the right thing.”
She sniffled and nodded, wishing those stupid tears away. “I did, and I would do it again. And that is probably why no law firm wants me. I didn’t play ball. I’m also being investigated for misconduct. It’s just a nuisance because there’s nothing for them to find, but it’s going to cost me a whole lot of time and a bunch of money I no longer have.”
