The Open Marriage

Part 2: The Secret Behind the Marriage

At 9:30 the following morning, I arrived at a small coffee shop near downtown Denver.

Thomas Mercer was already waiting.

He sat in the corner, wearing a charcoal-gray suit. His coffee remained untouched, and his expression looked considerably older than it had the previous evening.

“Thank you for coming, Natalie.”

I sat opposite him.

“You said you knew something about Evan and Sabrina.”

He glanced toward the window.

“I know more than I should have. And I should have told you months ago.”

I crossed my arms.

“Then start talking.”

Thomas took a slow breath.

“Evan didn’t suddenly decide he wanted an open marriage. Sabrina has been pressuring him for months. She wants to marry him.”

I almost smiled.

“Then perhaps she should have waited until he was divorced.”

“It’s not that simple.”

He opened a leather folder and placed several documents on the table.

I looked down.

There were bank transfers, company invoices, and copies of internal financial reports.

“What am I looking at?”

“Payments made through one of our development subsidiaries. Several million dollars have disappeared over the past year.”

I stared at him.

“Why are you showing me this?”

“Because some of those payments went to companies connected to Sabrina.”

My stomach tightened.

“Are you saying Evan has been stealing from his own company?”

“I’m saying someone has been moving money without proper authorization. Evan’s signature appears on several documents.”

I studied the paperwork.

Then I noticed something.

One of the companies listed as a consulting firm had been paid for architectural planning services.

I recognized the project name.

It was a luxury residential development in downtown Denver.

My firm had submitted a proposal for that project six months earlier.

But Mercer Development had rejected it.

“Why is my firm’s name connected to this?”

Thomas looked uncomfortable.

“Because Evan told the board your company had withdrawn from the bidding process.”

I frowned.

“We never withdrew.”

“I know.”

He slid another document toward me.

It was an email printed on company letterhead.

The message supposedly came from me, explaining that Brooks Studio no longer wished to participate.

But the signature was wrong.

The wording was wrong.

And the email address wasn’t mine.

Someone had impersonated me.

I slowly looked up.

“Your son forged my correspondence?”

“I believe so.”

I leaned back.

For four years, I had believed my husband respected my career.

Now I was discovering that he might have been using my professional reputation for his own financial arrangements.

“Why are you telling me this now?”

Thomas lowered his voice.

“Because last night, Evan told me he intended to transfer a significant portion of his personal assets before you filed for divorce. He believes an open marriage agreement would help him protect those assets.”

I stared at him.

“An open marriage agreement?”

“He wanted you to sign a document acknowledging that both of you could pursue other relationships without financial consequences. Sabrina’s attorney prepared it.”

I felt a cold wave move through me.

“So the dinner wasn’t about honesty.”

“No.”

“It was about getting my signature.”

Thomas nodded.

“He wanted your agreement before you discovered the financial discrepancies.”

I closed the folder.

“Why would you help me? You’re his father.”

Thomas looked down at his hands.

“Because I built that company honestly. And I recently discovered that my son has been using it to finance a life I don’t recognize.”

He paused.

“And because my wife knew about Sabrina.”

That caught my attention.

“Patricia knew?”

“For months.”

I remembered her silence at dinner.

Her uncomfortable expression.

The way she had begged me not to make things difficult.

Thomas continued.

“She believed Evan would eventually choose Sabrina. She thought you would accept an arrangement because you had too much to lose by leaving.”

I felt something inside me harden.

“They underestimated me.”

“Yes,” Thomas whispered. “They did.”

See more Stories :

I stood.

“Mr. Mercer, I appreciate the documents. But I’m not going to investigate your son’s business for you. My attorney will handle anything involving my marriage or my firm.”

Thomas nodded.

“That’s fair.”

I picked up my handbag.

Before I could leave, he spoke again.

“There is one more thing.”

I stopped.

“Sabrina is pregnant.”

For a moment, the coffee shop seemed to become completely silent.

I slowly turned around.

“How far along?”

“According to Patricia, nearly three months.”

I stared at him.

Evan had been sleeping with Sabrina for ten months.

And now he wanted an open marriage.

Not because he wanted freedom.

Because he wanted me to remain his wife while he built another family.

I felt sick.

But I didn’t cry.

“Thank you for telling me.”

I walked out.

Rachel was waiting at her office when I arrived.

I gave her the folder.

She spent nearly an hour examining the documents before finally looking up.

“Natalie, this is serious.”

“I figured.”

“First, we’re going to protect your firm. Second, we’re going to examine every financial disclosure connected to your marriage. Third, I want an independent forensic accountant to review anything involving joint funds.”

“Can Evan take money from my business?”

“Not legally. But we need to check whether he has already attempted to claim an interest in it.”

Rachel opened my prenuptial agreement.

Then she pointed to a paragraph near the end.

“Your business was explicitly excluded from marital property. So were your original designs, intellectual property, and future business earnings.”

I exhaled.

“Good.”

“There’s something else. If the financial disclosures Evan provided before your wedding were materially false, that could affect how certain provisions of this agreement are interpreted. We’ll have an independent attorney review that question.”

I nodded.

“Do it.”

Rachel closed the folder.

“Now, tell me something. Do you want to save this marriage?”

I looked at her.

“No.”

“Are you certain?”

I thought about the anniversary trip.

The hospital visit.

The birthday dinners.

The ten months of lies.

Then I remembered Sabrina’s pregnancy.

“I don’t want to save something that was already broken before I knew it.”

Rachel nodded.

“Then we’ll proceed carefully.”

That evening, Evan called seventeen times.

I ignored every call.

Then he sent a message.

We need to talk. You’re making this much worse than it needs to be.

Another message followed.

I never said I wanted a divorce.

I finally replied.

You wanted another woman and a wife who would quietly accept it. Unfortunately, I am not interested in that position.

He called immediately.

This time, I answered.

“Natalie, what the hell is wrong with you?”

I almost laughed.

“Good evening to you too.”

“Dad told me you met him.”

I said nothing.

“He had no right to involve you in company matters.”

“Then perhaps you should stop involving my name in company documents.”

Silence.

Then his voice changed.

“What did he show you?”

“Enough.”

“Natalie, listen to me. Those documents are confidential.”

“Then you should have kept my name out of them.”

He took a sharp breath.

“You don’t understand what you’re looking at.”

“I’m sure your lawyers will explain it.”

“Don’t do this.”

I looked at the city lights outside my apartment.

“Evan, you had ten months to tell me the truth. You chose to invite your mother to dinner instead.”

“You’re my wife.”

“Not for much longer.”

I ended the call.

For the first time in four years, I slept peacefully.

But the next morning, I discovered that Evan wasn’t finished trying to control the story.

At 8:05 a.m., a photograph appeared on social media.

It showed Evan and Sabrina standing outside a luxury maternity clinic.

His hand rested on her stomach.

The caption read:

Some people enter your life at exactly the right time. Excited for our next chapter.

Within an hour, several people had sent it to me.

Then my phone rang.

It was Rachel.

“Natalie, don’t respond to anything online.”

“Why?”

“Because Evan’s public relations team just issued a statement.”

I opened the link she sent.

The headline made my blood run cold.

MERCER CEO AND WIFE AGREE TO MODERN OPEN MARRIAGE AFTER FOUR YEARS TOGETHER.

The article described me as supportive, understanding, and fully aware of Sabrina’s pregnancy.

They had turned his betrayal into a mutual decision.

I stared at the screen.

Then I called Rachel.

“Let’s end this.”

Her answer was immediate.

“Good. Because I think it’s time they learned who they’re dealing with.”