Open Marriage (eBook)

Scorned But Never Defeated

Mary Pen (Autor)

WhosNovel (Yilena Zhang) (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
552 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-0-00-112891-0 (ISBN)

Infos

[Ten million dollars. Her price tag. An open-marriage contract.]

'The credit limit increase is generous,' the lawyer said. 'From one million to ten million annually.'

'What if I change my mind?'

'Then you lose the children,' the lawyer said, matter-of-factly. 'Without family money or independent income, custody battles become very difficult.'

After eighteen years as the devoted wife of billionaire Daniel Harrison, Emma faces a heart-wrenching ultimatum: sign a ten million-dollar open-marriage contract or lose custody of her three children.

Shattered by Daniel's cold betrayal and his affair with his calculating personal assistant, Natalie, Emma's perfect world unravels. Seeking solace, she finds an unexpected ally in Robert Langley-Natalie's betrayed husband from her open marriage, a powerful businessman and devoted father whose quiet strength ignites a forbidden passion neither of them can resist.

As their connection deepens, Emma must choose-cling to the wealth and stability her children depend on or risk everything for a love that could redeem her heart.

When betrayal collides with desire, will Emma choose safety or a second chance at a life she never dared to dream of?

Note: This is a must-read for fans of billionaire romance, open-marriage romance, second chance revenge, marriage of convenience, forced marriage contracts, cheating-husband romance, and custody-battle drama.

Book 1 in The Marriage Ultimatum Series.

(Exclusive copyright owned by WhosNovel )

Textauszug

Chapter 1: Open Marriage Proposal

The night her marriage died, Emma made Daniel his favorite dinner.

She didn't know it would be their last meal as husband and wife in hearts. She didn't know that in two hours, the man cutting into her homemade lasagna would slice her heart open just as easily.

"This is delicious, sweetheart." Daniel smiled across their dining table----the same smile that made her fall in love twenty years ago. "You always take such good care of me."

Emma watched him eat. Watched him chew. Watched him swallow. Act normal while planning her destruction.

"The kids loved it too," she said. Her voice sounded far away, like it was coming from underwater. "Sophie asked for thirds."

"Growing girl." He wiped his mouth with the white napkin and folded it neatly. Everything Daniel did was neat----controlled. "Speaking of the children, are they asleep?"

"Yes. Why?"

"We need to talk."

Four words. That's all it took to crack her world open.

Emma's fork stopped halfway to her mouth. The pasta felt like cardboard on her tongue. Something cold crawled up her spine.

"About what?"

"About us." Daniel leaned back in his chair----relaxed, like they were discussing vacation plans. "About our future."

The word future should have brought comfort. Instead, it felt like a knife sliding between her ribs.

"Daniel, you're making me nervous."

"Don't be nervous." He reached across the table and touched her hand. His fingers were warm. Familiar. The same hands that used to trace her face in the dark. "I love you, Emma. That hasn't changed."

Relief flooded through her. She squeezed his fingers. "I love you too. So much."

"I know you do." His thumb brushed across her wedding ring. The diamond caught the light. "That's why this conversation is going to be so hard."

The relief died. Just like that. One second of hope, then back to drowning.

"What conversation?"

Daniel pulled his hand away. Stood up. Walked to the window overlooking Central Park----the same window where they used to watch snow fall together, where he used to hold her from behind and whisper about growing old together.

"I've been doing some thinking. Some soul--searching." His voice stayed calm, reasonable, like he was explaining a business deal. "About what I need. What we both need."

"I don't understand."

"You will." He turned around----that smile again: patient. Kind. Deadly. "Emma, you're a wonderful mother. A perfect hostess. You keep our home beautiful. You never complain."

But she heard the "but" coming like thunder after lightning.

"But I need more."

More. The word echoed in her skull. She'd given him everything----her body, her dreams, her entire life. What more was left?

"More what?"

"Passion. Excitement. Fire." he said, each word slow, deliberate. "The kind of fire we used to have."

"We can work on that. We can..."

"No." His voice cut her off----still gentle, still reasonable. "We can't. Because the problem isn't our marriage, Emma. It's you."

The room went silent. Even the city noise from below seemed to stop. Everything stopped except the sound of her heart breaking.

"Me?"

"You've let yourself go. Not just your body... though that too. Your spirit. Your curiosity. You've become..." He paused, searching for the right word. "Comfortable."

Comfortable. Like it was a disease.

"I work hard to give you this life." He gestured around the penthouse. "The best of everything. And you've used it to become ordinary."

Ordinary. Another blade between her ribs.

"I take care of our children. I take care of you. I..."

"You exist, Emma. You don't live."

Her hands started shaking. She hid them under the table.

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I want to live----really live. With women who challenge me, excite me, make me feel alive."

Women. Plural.

Emma felt something break inside her chest. Not her heart----that was already bleeding. Something deeper. Something that had kept her whole.

"You want to cheat on me."

"I want to be honest with you." He moved closer and sat on the edge of the table, looking down at her like a teacher explaining math to a slow student. "I could have affairs behind your back. Most men in my position do."

Most men in his position. Like cheating was just part of being successful.

"But I respect you too much for that."

The word "respect" was poison wrapped in silk.

"So I'm proposing something better. Something honest." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out papers----legal papers. "An open marriage agreement."

The papers landed on the table between them: white pages covered in black text----the death certificate for their love.

"What is that?"

"Freedom, Emma. For both of us." His voice was honey now----sweet, warm, deadly. "I get to explore my needs. You get to keep your security. The children get to keep their family."

She stared at the papers. The words blurred together----legal terms, conditions, rules for sharing her husband like a library book.

"You already had these drawn up."

"I wanted to be prepared. I thought you'd appreciate that."

Prepared. Like he'd been planning her humiliation for months.

"How long?" Her voice was whisper--quiet.

"How long what, sweetheart?"

Sweetheart. He still called her sweetheart while cutting her open.

"How long have you been with them?"

His pause lasted forever.

"That's not important now."

"It's important to me."

"Emma..."

"How long, Daniel?"

"Two years."

Two years. Two years of kisses that tasted like lies. Two years of "I love you" that meant nothing. Two years of her life stolen while she slept beside a stranger.

"Two years." She repeated it like a prayer. Like a curse.

"But it doesn't change anything between us. I still come home to you. I still love you."

Love. He kept using that word. But it didn't mean what she thought it meant.

"You love me." Her voice sounded dead. "But you need them."

"Exactly." He smiled like she'd finally understood calculus. "You're my wife. My foundation. They're just... recreation."

Recreation. Like her heart was a theme park.

Emma stood up slowly. Her legs felt like water. She walked to the window and looked out at the city----at all those lights, all those people living their lives while hers ended.

"What if I say no?"

"Then you'll lose everything." His voice stayed gentle, patient. "The house. The money. The children. My lawyers are very good at proving maternal unfitness when wives become... difficult."

Difficult. Like having a heart was difficult.

"You'd take my children from me."

"I'd take our children to a stable environment. Away from a mother who chose selfishness over their well--being."

The threat was wrapped in concern----dressed up like love. But Emma heard it clearly.

Sign or lose everything.

"Think about Liam," Daniel continued. "He's applying to colleges next year. Do you want him to lose his trust fund? His future? And Sophia----her music camp costs thirty thousand dollars; Yara's violin lessons; their private school."

Each word was a chain around her neck. Each responsibility a lock on her prison door.

"They need stability, Emma. Security. Not a broken home because their mother couldn't be reasonable."

Reasonable. There was that word again.

"What about what I need?"

"You need your children to be happy. You need financial security. You need to stop being selfish." His reflection appeared beside hers in the window. "This agreement gives you all of that."

Emma closed her eyes. Behind her lids, she saw her children's faces----trusting, innocent, depending on her to protect them.

Even if protecting them meant destroying herself.

"I need time."

"You have until morning." The papers rustled as he picked them up. "My lawyer will be here at nine. We can make this easy, Emma. Or we can make it hard. Your choice."

Easy. Like there was an easy way to agree to share your husband.

She heard his footsteps. The study door closing. The sound of her life changing forever.

Emma stood at the window for a long time. The city lights blurred----not from tears, she was past crying, but from something deeper. Something that felt like death.

Her reflection stared back at her----thirty--eight years old. Still beautiful, people said. Still young. Still worth loving.

But not enough.

Never enough.

The word echoed in her head like a bell tolling: Not enough, not enough, not enough.

She thought about their wedding day----how Daniel's eyes had sparkled when she walked down the aisle, how he'd promised to love her until death do us part.

Death. Maybe this was death. Maybe love could die while people kept breathing.

Emma pressed her forehead against the cool glass. Tomorrow, she would sign the legal papers. Tomorrow, she would become a silent partner in her own marriage. Tomorrow, she would begin the slow process of disappearing.

But tonight... tonight she would remember what it felt like to be whole.

Just for a few more hours.

The study door opened downstairs. Daniel's voice drifted up----warm, charming, alive----talking to someone who wasn't her, someone who was enough.

Emma's hands pressed flat against the window. For one wild moment, she imagined pushing through the glass, falling twenty stories----ending this before it really...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 23.12.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 0-00-112891-4 / 0001128914
• ISBN-13: 978-0-00-112891-0 / 9780001128910