MARKUS' POV

Even in my drunk state, I knew that I had made a mistake. I also knew that Sophie would never forgive me for telling Matthew that he was Callie's father, and that broke my heart more than the knowledge that she had walked away from me.

There was a reason she didn't want my brother to know the truth. I had broken her trust and she wasn't even here to know that I had done it. I was a fucking idiot and I knew it.

"Callie ain't my daughter." There was a bitterness which I hadn't expected from Matthew when he said Callie's name and that only fuelled the anger I felt towards the man I had long since despised. "Sophie must have been fucking someone else while she was with me."

"She loved you, you fucking asshole." My hands clenched into fists at my sides and I fought the urge to punch the shit out of my brother's face. Sophie might not have made the best decision by sleeping with my brother, but I knew that she loved him and that she had every belief that Matt was going to leave Amena for her.

Unaware of my feelings for her, she had confided in me once about her feelings for my brother, and she had even cried on my shoulder when she realised that Matthew was never going to leave his wife for her. It took her another five month to walk away from her, but now I know just how difficult it is to leave the person you love behind.

"At least she's keeping it in the family I guess," Matt shrugged.

"What—"

"Who's next on her list? Perhaps if our father wasn't dead, she would be begging to take him to bed." And that was all it took for me to, finally, fly across the bedroom at my brother and to put my fist in his face.

It wasn't satisfying enough to just do it the once. No. It wasn't even enough for me to do it four times.

I just wanted him to feel some semblance of the pain I was feeling. I wanted him to know what he had done to me. I wanted him to apologise for being a shitty brother and I wanted him to acknowledge that he was the reason my heart was breaking.

I should have stopped when the blood started pouring from his nose and his eye looked as though it wouldn't open for a week, but I just carried on until a feminine scream put a stop to my actions and I fell to the ground with my head in my hands.

The barrier finally broke and the tears came without preamble. I had lost everything and I had nothing to fight for. Certainly not now that I had told my brother that he was Callie's father, not that he wanted to accept he was the parent of such a beautiful little girl.

"Markus?" I felt Amena's hand on my shoulder and there was a kindness to her voice which I didn't expect. Not when I had just punched the shit out of her husband. "What happened?"

"She left me. She told me she loved me and then she left me."

"She's a slut. That little shit of hers is enough to prove that," Matthew coughed from beside me and, before I had the chance to open my mouth, Amena had beat me to it and was putting her husband in her place.

"Callie. Her name is Callie and she is not a little shit. She is the sweetest little girl I've ever had the pleasure of meeting and, if you not being in her life is the reason for that, then I hope our child turns out half as sweet. You're not worthy of being called a parent and you're certainly not worthy of being called a husband."

"Amena—"

"If Sophie says that Callie is your daughter, then I believe her. I might not like admitting it but she was in love with you and, while I was dealing with the loss of our daughter, she was wondering how to tell you that she was pregnant with your daughter. You're the one missing out, Matthew."

"I can't be the father—"

"Why? Because the doctor told you that you were infertile?" Amena finally snapped.

"Yes—"

"News flash, Matthew. The doctor fucking lied. Sophie got pregnant with Callie and this is the second time I've fallen pregnant. Time to get over yourself and accept that you're a father. Even if you're not fit to be one."

"Callie is not my daughter." There was a fierceness to Matthew's voice which lit a new fire within me.

"You're right. Callie isn't your daughter. She's mine." And it was scary just how true that was. From the moment I met the little girl, she brought light to my life and a smile to my face, and I would do anything to be her father.

I loved her mother and, if it meant that I could be Callie's father, I would marry the damn woman and spend the rest of my life with her. I would be Sophie's husband and Callie's daddy: the two things which sound most appealing to my drunken mind right now.

"Then what the hell are you still doing here, Markus?" Amena laughed and I'm sure my brother muttered something under his breath, but I was too consumed with thoughts of my could-be family to give a damn about what he said. "You need to go and get them, before you lose them forever."

"But—"

"And you can shut the fuck up because your opinion is irrelevant. In fact, your entire existence is irrelevant."

I had always thought that Amena and Matthew were untouchable, even with my brother's inability to keep it in his pants, but as I've come to learn, love is complex and confusing. You could be the happiest person in the world, until you found out that your husband was a cheating scumbag and your world was turned on its axis.

But, here I was, letting my one shot at happiness get away from me. I had consumed a stupid amount of alcohol to forget how fucked up my life was, and to forget that I had ever had feelings for Sophie. And for what?

Nothing. Because it didn't fucking help. I wanted Sophie and Callie in my life, and I wanted desperately to provide them with the happiness they both deserved and desired.

I hadn't forgotten either of them. All I had done was mess with my own head and fuck my life up even more than I had already done. I was a joke and Matthew knew it, even my mother knew it when she disowned me as her son and took every piece of my father with her.

"Markus doesn't even know what love is," Matthew taunted. If Amena hadn't have been stood beside me with her hand on my arm, I would've flown across the room at my brother again. I would have been sure to give him more than just a bloody lip and black eye this time as well. "The only person who ever loved my baby brother was our father. He can't possibly understand love."

"Matthew—"

"Do you love Sophie and Callie?" Amena's questioned surprised me.

"I love Callie like she's my own and I love Sophie to the point I want to make her my wife in the future," I shrugged. It might have only been three weeks ago that I met Callie for the first time, but it was impossible not to fall in love with her. Her smile could light up a room and she was so sweet, so innocent, that there was nothing to do besides love her.

I wanted her to be my daughter. I wanted to be her father and to love her in a way my brother never could. Because Callie deserved the world and I could give it to her, if only her mother would give me the chance to do so and to prove that I could be the father Callie needed.

"In that case, I refer to my previous question. What the hell are you still doing here, Markus?"

What the hell was I still doing here?

The woman I was in love with was at the airport, on her way back to the UK, and I was stood here throwing glares at my brother. I could get as drunk as I wanted and I could kick the shit out of my brother for what he had done to me, but neither of those things were going to stop Sophie from leaving and neither were they likely to prove to her just how serious I was about her.

I had to go after her. I had to show her that I loved her and that I wanted her for more than just one night.

I had to show her that I didn't need her to be perfect and I didn't need her to put me back together again. I just needed her.

I needed her to wake up beside me every morning and fall asleep beside me every night. I needed her to tell me that she loved me to my face. I needed her to be my wife and the mother of my children. I just needed her.

And I was going to get her.

"I am going to get the girl I love. I am going to get Sophie back."

I apologise for taking so long to update. I have been working pretty much every single day for the last three months, and have been sleeping when I have gotten home from work because I've been dead.

I hope that this was worth the wait though, and I hope that you enjoyed the insight into Markus' mind. He's a little bit messed up and is hopelessly in love with a woman, and her daughter, who walked away from him.

Anyway, we are nearly at the end now *cries* and there is still the question to be answered...

Will Markus and Sophie reunite? Or will Sophie walk away and never look back?

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