Found my fiancée's hidden daughter—three years in

TIFU by finding out my fiancee has been living a double life for three years. My name is Derek and I am thirty one years old. I thought I knew the woman I was about to marry. Turns out I only knew the version she wanted me to see. Sarah and I met at a coffee shop and everything felt like fate. She was sweet, funny and always available whenever I needed her. Looking back that should have been my first red flag. Nobody is that available unless something does not add up. We got engaged last spring and started planning a wedding for this summer. Her parents live overseas so they could not visit often, which she always explained away with work excuses. I never questioned it because I trusted her completely. Two weeks ago I was helping her clean out her closet for donations. I found a small metal box hidden behind old shoes. Curiosity got the better of me and I opened it. Inside were photographs of Sarah with another man, holding a baby that looked just like her. There were hospital bracelets, a marriage certificate and letters written in a language I did not recognize. My hands were shaking as I read the date on the marriage certificate. It was from four years ago, before we even met. I confronted her the moment she walked through the door that evening. She turned pale and tried to grab the box from my hands. I asked her flat out who this man was and why she had a child with him. She broke down crying and told me the truth was complicated. Turns out Sarah was still legally married to a man in another country. They had a daughter together who was now three years old. She said the marriage was arranged by her family and she never loved him. She claimed she left him and moved here to start over and forget that life. But she never actually filed for divorce because it required going back home. Home meant facing her family and the shame of leaving her husband. So instead she buried that entire chapter and pretended it never happened. She said she was planning to tell me eventually, just not yet. I asked her how she could plan our wedding while still married to someone else. She had no real answer except that she loved me and did not want to lose me. I felt sick knowing our entire relationship was built on a lie this massive. Every anniversary, every meeting with my parents, every promise, all of it happened while she had a husband and daughter waiting somewhere. I asked about the daughter and she admitted the little girl still lives with her grandparents. She sends money every month but has not seen her in over a year. That detail broke something in me more than the marriage itself. How do you abandon your own child and still look me in the eyes every single day. She begged me to understand, saying she was young and trapped when she got married. She said moving here was her only escape and I was her fresh start. I wanted to believe her, but trust does not rebuild itself overnight after something like this. I told her I needed space and left to stay at my brothers place that night. My phone would not stop buzzing with her calls and messages begging me to come back. She said she would fix everything immediately if I just gave her another chance. Three days later she sent a message saying she filed for divorce paperwork online. She also said she wants to bring her daughter here once things are settled. of me feels for that little girl who never asked for any of this mess. Another part of me wonders how many other secrets are still buried in that same closet. My parents already adore her and keep asking when we are rescheduling the wedding. I have not told them the real reason everything got postponed so suddenly. Sarah keeps saying we can still have our happy ending if I just trust her one more time. I keep replaying every memory, wondering what was real and what was just a very good performance. Now I am sitting here wondering if loving someone through their worst secret makes me strong or foolish.