The meeting ended shortly afterward.
Marcus’s marriage was annulled on grounds of fraud.
Law enforcement moved forward with criminal charges against both Sarah and Julian for child endangerment and financial conspiracy.
Marcus took no pleasure in what happened next.
Watching the woman he had married face criminal proceedings did not feel like triumph.
It was simply the grim conclusion to the worst thing his family had experienced.
He had loved Sarah—or at least the person she had presented herself to be—and there was a particular grief in discovering that the person you loved may never truly have existed.
Marcus grieved the year he had spent believing in her.
The trust he had given.
The affection.
The memories he now had to question.
But he kept that grief separate from Lily.
His daughter needed a father focused entirely on her recovery, not one consumed by his own betrayal.
