Chapter 5 - The Deal Behind Closed Doors
The man beside Marcus was my former father-in-law.
Richard Mercer.
I hadn’t seen him since the divorce.
Richard had founded Mercer Strategic Holdings thirty-two years earlier and supposedly retired before Marcus and I married.
Supposedly.
“What does this prove?” I asked.
“Nothing by itself,” Samantha said.
Good answer.
The photograph showed Richard and Marcus entering a private bank in Manhattan three years earlier.
Not illegal.
Not even especially strange.
But Lydia’s statement changed the context.
“Richard created Northstar,” she said over speakerphone.
Samantha asked, “How do you know?”
“I prepared the original formation documents.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
“Purpose?”
“He told me it was for consulting projects.”
“And later?”
“I realized money was being routed through it.”
“By Richard?”
“At first.”
“At first?”
“Marcus found out.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
This story was becoming more complicated, not simpler.
“Did Marcus report it?” Samantha asked.
“No.”
“What did he do?”
“He joined him.”
Silence.
Lydia continued.
“Marcus discovered his father had been hiding losses. Richard had made bad investments. He used company funds to cover them. Marcus could have stopped it.”
“But he didn’t,” I said.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because stopping it would have destroyed the company’s valuation.”
Julian sat back.
“And Marcus wanted control.”
“Yes.”
The pieces began fitting.
Richard had created the problem.
Marcus had inherited it.
Then expanded it.
“What did this have to do with me?” I asked.
Lydia was quiet.
“You noticed Northstar.”
“I remember.”
“Marcus panicked.”
“So he divorced me?”
“I don’t know whether that was the reason.”
I appreciated her honesty.
“I do know he told Daniel to make sure you never saw another ledger.”
“And the affair?”
“I knew about Chloe. I don’t know when it started.”
So there would be no neat answer.
Real life rarely offered one.
Marcus had betrayed me romantically.
He had also concealed corporate information.
The two things overlapped, but we couldn’t prove one caused the other.
And somehow that made the truth more believable.
Lydia agreed to provide documents through counsel.
By evening, Rhodes Capital formally withdrew its acquisition proposal.
Not because Marcus was my ex-husband.
Because unresolved financial representations made the transaction unacceptable.
The news remained private.
For approximately three hours.
At 8:46 p.m., Marcus called me.
I didn’t answer.
He called again.
Then texted.
We need to talk.
I forwarded the message to Samantha.
Her response was immediate.
Do not discuss company matters. Personal communication is your choice.
I chose silence.
Marcus sent another message.
You’re destroying hundreds of jobs.
That made me angry.
Not enough to answer.
The next message arrived.
This is revenge and you know it.
Then:
Call me.
Then:
Evelyn, please.
I stared at that one.
Five years ago I had begged Marcus to explain why our marriage was ending.
He had looked at me with irritation.
Now he wanted an explanation from me.
I put my phone down.
Julian came into the kitchen carrying two mugs of tea.
“Still messaging?”
“Yes.”
“Want me to block him?”
“No.”
He nodded.
Again, no command.
No attempt to control the situation.
He sat beside me.
“Scared?”
“A little.”
“Of Marcus?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
I looked at him.
“That people will think you killed the deal because of me.”
“Some probably will.”
“You say that very calmly.”
“Because people are allowed to be wrong.”
I smiled.
“That sounds expensive.”
“It’s free.”
I leaned against him.
“What happens to Mercer?”
“Not my decision anymore.”
“The employees?”
“If the underlying business is viable, someone will find a restructuring path.”
“And Marcus?”
“That depends on what investigators find.”
We sat quietly.
Then Emma appeared in pajamas.
“I need water.”
“You have water beside your bed,” Julian said.
“It became old.”
“Over twelve minutes?”
“Yes.”
He looked at me.
“Science?”
“Apparently.”
I got her fresh water.
Normal life continued.
That mattered more than Marcus would ever understand.
The following morning, the first public story appeared.
RHODES CAPITAL WALKS AWAY FROM MERCER ACQUISITION
No reason was given.
By noon, financial reporters were calling.
Julian’s communications team issued a short statement:
Rhodes Capital did not comment on confidential diligence matters.
Nothing about me.
Nothing about Marcus.
Then someone leaked my identity.
At 2:30, a reporter emailed my firm.
Is it true that Rhodes Capital CEO Julian Rhodes is married to Mercer CEO Marcus Mercer’s ex-wife?
By three, social media had turned my life into entertainment.
Some people claimed I had engineered revenge.
Others claimed Julian had pursued the acquisition to humiliate Marcus.
All nonsense.
But nonsense moved quickly.
My managing partner called me.
“We know you followed protocol,” she said.
“Thank you.”
“Take whatever time you need.”
“I’d rather work.”
“I suspected you’d say that.”
By evening, Marcus had given an off-record briefing to a journalist.
I knew because the resulting article contained phrases he had used during our marriage.
Sources close to Mercer described Evelyn Rhodes as resentful after a difficult divorce.
There it was.
The old strategy.
If the facts became dangerous, discredit the woman asking questions.
Five years ago, it worked.
This time, I had records.
And lawyers.
And something even more important.
I no longer needed Marcus to believe me.
Chloe called.
“He’s blaming you.”
“I know.”
“He’s telling everyone you manipulated Julian.”
“I know.”
“He told me to say you threatened us.”
That made me sit up.
“Did I?”
“No.”
“Then don’t.”
“I won’t.”
Her voice shook.
“He knows I sent the documents.”
“Are you safe?”
“Yes. I moved out.”
“Good.”
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Richard came to the house.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
“Marcus’s father?”
“Yes.”
“What did he want?”
“The photographs.”
“Did you give them to him?”
“No.”
“What did he say?”
Chloe went silent.
“Chloe?”
“He said Marcus had already sacrificed one marriage to protect the company and he wasn’t going to let me destroy everything now.”
My stomach tightened.
One marriage.
Mine.
“Did he explain what he meant?”
“No.”
“Tell Samantha immediately.”
“I already did.”
Good.
For all her mistakes, Chloe was learning quickly.
That night, Samantha called with an update.
Lydia’s records corroborated portions of Chloe’s submission.
Independent forensic accountants had identified undisclosed liabilities large enough to affect the company’s valuation.
Regulators would determine what happened next.
Then Samantha said, “There’s something personal you should know.”
“What?”
“Lydia gave us an audio recording.”
My heart started pounding.
“Of whom?”
“Richard and Marcus.”
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
“Before my divorce?”
“Three days before Marcus filed.”
I gripped the phone.
“What are they talking about?”
“You.”
I stood motionless in my kitchen.
Julian watched from across the room.
“Can I hear it?”
Samantha hesitated.
“Yes. But prepare yourself.”
The file arrived ten minutes later.
Julian sat beside me.
I pressed play.
Richard’s voice came first.
She saw too much.
Then Marcus.
I can handle Evelyn.
Richard again.
How?
A long pause.
May you like
Then Marcus answered.
And when I heard his next sentence, every explanation he had given me about our divorce shattered at once...
