The Next Move

JAY-JAY POVThe room was already cracked. What came next shattered it.

"You think I wanted that for her?" Jenna said, voice trembling.

I turned to her, fury rising. "You didn't stop it."

Her face paled.

"You let them hurt me," I said. "Your husbands. You watched them scream, shove, grab — and you did nothing."

Gasps rippled through the room. Tita Gemma staggered back like she'd been slapped. Maria covered her mouth. Kuya Angelo looked like he couldn't breathe.

"You knew what they were doing to me," I said, louder now. "And you let it happen."

Jenna's eyes filled with tears. "I was scared."

"You were the adult," I snapped. "I was a kid. And you let them break me."

Section E was frozen. Even Aries looked shaken — but not surprised.

I turned to him. "You knew."

He didn't deny it.

"I knew about the engagement," he said quietly. "Yuri came to Angelo. Said he'd help the company if Jay agreed to marry him."

"And you said nothing?" I asked, voice cracking.

He looked down. "I didn't think it would go through. I thought it was just talk."

"You knew," I said. "You knew they were selling me off like a business deal. And you stayed silent."

Jare stepped forward, fists clenched. "You let her walk into that alone."

Aries didn't flinch. "I didn't know about the abuse. I swear. But the engagement... I knew."

Percy's voice was cold now. "You watched her unravel and said nothing. That's not ignorance. That's cowardice."

Yuri finally spoke, voice low. "It wasn't supposed to go that far."

"But it did," I said. "And you let it."

Section E was stunned. Maria looked like she might cry. Angelo looked like he wanted to disappear. And Keifer — always unreadable — looked shaken. His brows furrowed, jaw tight, eyes flicking to me and then away. He masked it well. But not well enough.

"You all let it happen," I said. "And now you want to act shocked?"

No one answered.

Because there was nothing left to say.

"Let's go. You're not staying here anymore," Kuya Jare said firmly.

I walked behind him in silence.

No one tried to stop me.