Page 67 of Revealing Mark

“Stop yelling,” I shot back from my seat on the sofa. My patience with my brother was wearing thin but I wasn’t going to tell him anything until Sophie arrived. “I’ll tell you everything when Sophie gets here.”

He had paced back and forth since he had arrived. He was driving me nuts.

I had wanted to speak to my parents before saying anything to my siblings, but when Matthew had arrived on my doorstepand refused to leave until he got an answer, I conceded on the condition he had to wait until Sophie could come over.

I did wonder if Mark might have mentioned what he believed but if my brother had believed for one second that was true, he would have lost his shit. At least Mark had the sense to keep his ideas to himself. I could at least thank him for that.

Once I had called Sophie, she had told me she would come over right away. But that wasn’t quick enough for my impatient brother who was struggling to keep his temper under wraps. I didn’t want to tell one before the other so he would just have to wait and no amount of yelling was going to change that.

When there was a knock at my door, I jumped to answer it.

“Hey,” I greeted when I opened the door and saw my sister.

“This’d better be good.” She was also mad. I couldn’t blame them but I knew they would understand once I told them what had happened.

“Just give me a chance to explain.” I gave a pleading look.

She studied me for a moment and crossed her arms. “Fine.”

I closed the door and she followed me into my small living room. Matthew was still pacing the length of it but he stopped when he saw our younger sibling.

“Finally,” he retorted.

“Don’t start with me.” She shut him down.

“Stop, you two.” I put my hand to my head. I could feel a headache coming on and I wanted to get this over and done with. “I need you both to stop bickering.”

“Okay, we’re listening.” Matthew stopped pacing to stand beside the chair Sophie sat down in.

I wasn’t sure where to start. I sat down in the sofa opposite them. I wrung my hands. It was probably best to start off with the phone call that had started it all.

“I was contacted by an attorney about an inheritance.”

“I don’t get it. No one we know died,” Matthew said, and I pinned him with a glare. He put his hands up. “Carry on.”

“The inheritance is from my father.” And there it was. I watched the confusion and then the questions.

“What are you talking about?” Sophie snapped. “That’s rubbish. Dad is fine.”

“Yourfather is fine. Mine is dead.” I made a point of using the word father instead of dad as I still considered their dad to be mine.

“I don’t… What are you saying?” Matthew questioned with a confused look.

“Mom had an affair and she got pregnant with me.”

They both looked stunned. Matthew faltered a step.

“No way.” My brother refused to believe me. “There is no way that’s true.”

I didn’t expect them to believe me immediately. I had prepared myself for this. Matthew was rebelling against my news and Sophie was still sitting with a stunned expression, still grappling with what I had revealed.

“I didn’t believe it either at first, but there is proof.” I got the document that Sebastian had given me. I knew I would need it to convince Matthew. He snatched it from me and began to read it.

When he finished reading it, he snapped it closed and threw it across the room. He ran a hand through his hair and I sat patiently, watching my siblings ride out their emotions.

“And?” Sophie looked up at Matthew.

“It’s true,” he whispered, with a whirlwind of emotions playing across his features.