“I suspected something three years ago. Right before your wedding. Some details didn’t add up. His supposed childhood home had been torn down years before his listed birth date. His elementary school had no record of him. But I couldn’t prove anything, and you were so happy.”
“But you kept digging.”
He nodded.
“I hired private investigators. They found more gaps. More impossibilities. Nothing that tied him directly to Marcus. Not until eight months ago.”
Carter stepped in.
“We were tracking Marcus Vulov’s financial network. One of our analysts noticed payments to a document forger in San Antonio. When we pressured him, he gave up a client name: David Miller. From there, facial analysis on older photos confirmed it. David Miller and David Vulov are the same man.”
I stared at him. The certainty of it made the room tip.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Dad crouched in front of me so I had no choice but to look at him.
“Because we didn’t know his orders,” he said. “Was he meant to kill you? Kidnap you? Destroy your life slowly from the inside? We didn’t know. And if we confronted him too soon, Marcus would send someone else. Someone we wouldn’t see coming.”
“So you watched me live with him.”
“We had agents around your house,” Carter said. “We monitored David’s movements. The moment he moved toward direct violence, we were ready.”
“But he never did,” Dad said softly. “For eight months he went to work, came home, had dinner with you. Like a normal husband.”
“Why is that worse?”
Dad looked wrecked.
“Because Marcus Vulov is patient. He spent twelve years building David for this. Men like that don’t rush revenge.”
His hands started shaking.
“He wanted me to suffer the way he suffered. He wanted me to watch my daughter be destroyed from the inside. Betrayed by someone she loves. Carrying the child of the man who was supposed to—”
He broke off.
I stood so fast my chair scraped backward.
“The baby,” I said. “How does David know about the baby?”
Dad and Carter exchanged a look.
“We believe your home is bugged,” Carter said. “Audio surveillance. Possibly video. Maybe more. We’ll know once we scan you properly.”
