Page 32 of In Love with My Secret Husband

"I never wanted her to feel pressured to watch my games. I thought I was being a good husband, not pressuring her. What I didn't realize was that my wife...she wants to be there for me. And found a way to be there for me even if I didn't know it."

The whole crowd wentaww, and this had her laughing just a little, but she was also finding it harder not to cry.

"I got a lot of things wrong about my wife. I thought, by hiding her away, and not letting the world know about her, I was keeping her safe. But because I spent more time away from her than with her, I wasn't really by her side when it mattered."

"Are we talking about the other man?"

Laina paled at Old Goldie's question, but this only had Troy shaking his head.

"Oscar's a good man. I'll tell you more about him later, but right now, I'm talking about someone else. Or to be more accurate, I'm talking about people I made the mistake of trusting."

Laina's heart was pounding harder and faster than ever, but this time for a completely different reason.

"Laina?"

She turned to Camilla even though her mind was still lost in the past. Because those people that Troy mentioned...

"Do you know who Troy's talking about?"

"I..."

"Are they Troy's relatives?"

Laina bit her lip hard.

"They were the ones who made you believe all these years that Troy had changed his mind about you, but he was just too nice to ask for a divorce. Am I right?"

Laina couldn't speak. She just felt so, so foolish. All these years, Troy's relatives had been so nice to her, and she just...she just accepted that they meant well every time they told her things.

You're so lucky to have Troy!

WAGs play an important role when it comes to building their husbands' social capital outside sports, but Troy is obviously intent on spoiling you.

Troy is a very responsible man. Don't you ever worry about him leaving you. Even if he falls out of love with you or anything, he'll always take care of you.

"These people..."

Troy was talking again, and he was looking straight at the camera—

"They made my wife believe that she wasn't enough for me."

Like he wanted Laina to know he was looking at her.

"They made her believe that I hadsacrificedthe better years of my life when I married her."

And it was Laina he was talking to.

"They made her think, when I finally retired, the least she could do for me was to ask for a divorce."

There was complete silence in The Res as Troy said this. Twenty thousand people, utterly still. And when he spoke again—

"I have always loved my wife. But I didn't care for her the way I should have. I took her for granted without realizing it. And that's how those people got to her."

His voice had gone hollow, in a way that no Waymakers fan had ever heard the great Troy Barrymore speak, and it was that sound...

It was that sound that had Laina no longer able to hold back her tears.

"When she walked out on our marriage, all I could think of was my own pain. It was only today, when I finally got to the truth, it's only now that I'm beginning to comprehend just how much it cost her to do that."